Product review – “garden4less” 3 dahlia tubers (Natalie G, Linda’s Baby, Chocolate & Candy)

I decided to buy another 3 dahlias, as I wanted some more Ball/decorative dahlias in Pink/Coral colours. So I ordered 3 dahlia tubers from garden4less. (http://www.garden4less.co.uk)

1. Natalie G (Ball)

2. Linda’s baby (Ball)

3. Chocolate & Candy (Decorative)

My order came very quickly, so I was impressed with the delivery/processing times.

However one item was out of stock (Natalie G) and one item looked in bad condition and had no signs of tuber eyes (Chocolate & Candy). So I emailed and explained I was disappointed to only have 1 viable tuber. That same day I received a phone call apologising and they said all 3 tubers were now in stock and they would send all 3 out to me again free of charge. I thought this was fantastic customer service and less than 48 hours later I received my replacement.

All tubers are supplied by ‘Taylors’ and I opened all 3 tubers with eager anticipation. The ‘Linda’s baby’ tuber from the 1st and 2nd lot are in great healthy condition with visible eyes. However the other 2 varieties are not great, especially the ‘Chocolate & Candy’ Tubers, neither have eyes, both have damaged tuber stems and the replacement is shriveled as if the tubers have dried out. This is the first time I have seen shriveled wrinkled tubers.

I decided to plant them all this morning:

2 x Linda’s Baby (both great condition)

2 x chocolate & candy (both poor condition, with replacement tuber shrivelled)

1 x Natalie G (broken tuber stems)

So we will wait and see what happens – see if they grow any eyes?

I’m not impressed with the quality of these tubers and I’m not sure if that is ‘Taylors’ fault or whether the fault lies with ‘Garden4less’ for not quality checking their products? Either way I probably wouldn’t order again, but we will wait and see if they grow before deciding.

Of note: damaged tuber stems can still grow as the tuber I reviewed from Wilkinsons also had damaged tuber stems, however it did have eyes, and these tuber eyes seem to be growing well.

I’m not as confident about these though as there are no visible eyes on the ‘Natalie G’ or ‘Chocolate & Candy’ dahlia tubers.

See progress update here: NOT GOOD RESULTS!

https://wordpress.com/stats/month/stunningdahlias.wordpress.com

17 Apr 2014 – New tubers – Purple Gem (Cactus) & Natal Red (Pompom)

My excitement at waiting for the 7 new Dahlia cuttings I ordered in November was too much, so I impulsed bought 2 new tubers whilst I was waiting for the cuttings to arrive. I bought:

1 x Purple gem (Cactus) Dahlia from ebay.co.uk

1 x Natal Red (Pompom) Dahlia from Wilkinsons online.

The tuber for the Purple Gem Dahlia from ebay was in very good condition but huge and looked to have at least 7 eyes, so I decided to split it right down the central stem using a sharp knife and then I put the 2 large tubers in separate 8 inch pots indoors. After a few days the eyes on both tubers seem to be developing and I hoping in a week or so they develop some shoots.

 

The Dahlia Natal Red (Pompom) tuber was only £1 from Wilkinsons and again was quite large with a lot of tubers. However a lot of the tuber stems were damaged and broken. Also their website photo was quite different to the photo on the actual packet. Their website showed hints of blue which made me intrigued as I’d read that Dahlias grow in every colour except blue! It looks like one of their marketing/sales or web developers has become a little giddy on photoshop!

Anyway, I planted the tuber whole in 1 pot 2 days ago and it looks to have 9-10 eyes, however none of them have changed since I potted the tuber. So I am going to wait and see what happens because as I mentioned a lot of the tubers stems were damaged.

So now I just have to wait and stop myself from buying anymore tubers or cuttings as my back yard is tiny! Its about the size of a single bedroom.

 

15 Apr 2014 – Growing Dahlia Tubers indoors

This year I decided to take Dahlia growing a bit more seriously and I started my Dahlia Tubers off indoors to give them a kick start. I’m starting a new job in May in which I will  be working away from home a lot, so I wanted to put as much love and care into starting my Dahlia before I disappeared.

I dug up 4 Tuber mounds from 2 Dahlia varieties in Oct/Nov 2013 (1x Boom Boom Red Ball Dahlia; 1 x Unknown which I bought a few years ago). I split the tubers in Oct/Nov 2013 and completely forgot to label them. Consequently I now have 12 tubers and no idea how many for each variety! So I will wait till they flower and keep 2 of each variety and give the remaining 8 plants away to friends and family.

I started off the tubers in a plastic tray in march, then transplanted the quick growing healthy ones into 8 inch pots after a few weeks. 7 of 12 grew very quickly, but 5 were rather slow growing and these were left in the tray. I have no idea why some are slower growing than others, perhaps the slower ones are from the different Dahlia variety? Its difficult to tell at the moment as the leaves look identical.