The tuber might have rotted, and the plant might be developing new roots. Happens all the time with too much trapped moisture at root-level. You could dig one up carefully to see if I'm right... just be sure not to disturb it too much.

If this is what's happening, rest assured that the plant will get going soon.

If this is not happening, and the tubers are healthy with feeder roots stretching out, fertilize them with a time release tomato plant formula, and sprinkle a tablespoon Epson salt around the root line. Mine are begging for this right now, so I have to get on the ball this week to feed them.

Cici - can you tell us more about the Epson salts - why do you do this? Do you need this step if you are using a liquid fertilizer, or just time release?

Epson Salt is a good cheap source of magnesium. By itself, magnesium greens up the plant, but it also assists the plant to uptake the other nutrients in the fertilizer or soil.

You don't 'need' to do this step, as magnesium is in most general fertilizers. It might actually be better to sprinkle it around the plants in a few weeks after fertilizing, as magnesium is highly water soluble, and would boost the plants even with the time release.

liquid fertilizer vs. time release-
It's all good-use whatever you prefer... I was speaking mainly to casual growers that may not get around to feeding every couple weeks, and the time release is an easier way to go. But time release get very expensive when you start growing multitudes of plants, so serious growers typically formulate their fertilizer 'numbers' based on their individual soil tests, and apply less fertilizer but more frequently.

Thanks for the info, cici

Hmmm...I wonder if I am doing it wrong this year.

Last year I fed every 2 weeks with Miracle Grow Bloom Booster. This year, I decided to try a more organic approach. We mixed Black Cow composted manure with a potting soil formulated for raised beds/containers. I have not felt like I needed to feed my plants at all this year.

A couple are still have not budded, but based on some research I think it is more the nature of that type of dahlia. Others, such as my borders, Pacific Ocean, and Miss Eileen are all budding and flowering well.

I water every day. It has been very, very dry here in WNC and I am using a kiddie pool as a raised bed.

The only thing that has not "taken off" is my torch lily. I think I planted her too late though. Hopefully I will see flowers on her next year.

Thanks cici. It's highly possible I overwatered it.

Overwatering: it's hard to know what is too much or too little sometimes. Wide diversity of soil makeup, rainfall amounts and air humidity/temp from garden to garden should tell you that any straight and narrow rule of watering should be regarded with suspicion.

My rule of thumb is STICKING MY THUMB as deep as I can in the bed, and see where the soil is on the scale range of soppy wet, cool to the touch, or desert dry. Cool = adequate moisture. I know that I can water in a day or two, but right now would be overdoing it. Not a scientific determination, but it works to gauge moisture amount at the level that the roots are at.

I personally water about every three days (all plants in the ground, watered with soaker hoses and leaf mulch on top to hold in moisture) unless there is a saturating rain or the weather is abnormally hot. This routine keeps a bit of moisture available at all times for the greedy feeder roots to drink without drowning/rotting them. This works for my garden soil, in my climate and my watering delivery system.

Cheers!

CiCi

Lol. So far they seem as happy as a pig in, well, manure. I was watering every evening up until late last week. We have had consistent afternoon showers every day, so it has been nice to let mother nature pick up the work for a bit.

I should say that I am doing the container thing again this year. I turned a kiddie pool into a little garden. The only down side to my planning has been my torch lilies are being crowded out by the dahlia leaves. I have a couple of planters on the deck with a single dahlia in each.

It has been really hot during the day so by the time I water in the evening, the soil is dry.