Pretty dahlias, alyrics. You must've had good luck planting in pots!

Thanks linht. I look forward to the dahlias at the end of summer. In my shady yard they don't really get going till September usually no matter what I do, but they close down the garden at frost with the finale.

alyrics,

Just curious, when does your frost usually come in OH? And what are your typical temp ranges in the summer?

We sometimes have light frost before Halloween, but not a killing frost till a few weeks later in Nov. This year will prob make a liar out of me - LOL. Have had snow for Thanksgiving the past few years.

I kind of have a microclimate at my house because we are back in the woods and I have very few hours of direct sun in any one place. Thats why I do the dahlias in pots, which has worked really well for me.

summer is late to start - really our vegetable planting date - same for dahlias is around Memorial Day, altho this year I started the tubers in baggies back in mid April. temps ranged from 50 at night to 96 in the day.

Hmm, sounds alot like MN! I asked because your foliage looks extremely healthy while mine has been attacked by everything that bites, chews and sucks. I'm thinking of putting a few 3 footers in pots next season. What size pots do you use (diameter & depth)? Have you had to drill extra holes on the bottoms of the pots to help with drainage at all?

I don't put extra holes in the pots but I have experimented with soil mixtures. I used straight Pro-mix out of the bag and it was too moisture retentive and I didn't get good tuber growth. This year I mixed in aged compost and aged mulch in for more drainage. I fertilized with Mighty Plant which was good stuff. I also planted with bone meal. My pots range from prob 20 to 60 gallon. You have to leave some space for the tubers to grow. I used to fill the bottom of the 60 gallon pots with pop cans to make them lighter, but found the dahlia roots growing through them all the way to the bottom, so they wanted the extra space. I also plant shallow and add soil as the shoots come up.

Thanks for the info alyrics! I'll try the pot thing next season and maybe give MP a try too.