Can dahlias survive through the winter?
Dahlias, known as the "aristocrat among flowers", always make flower friends anxious every late autumn-can these tropical beauties originating from Mexico survive safely in our country's cold winter? As a typical summer flower variety, its fleshy tubers are indeed sensitive to low temperatures, but as long as key maintenance techniques are mastered, it is not difficult for dahlia to survive the winter smoothly. The core difficulty of dahlia's overwintering is a fatal threat to tubers. When the temperature drops to 0 ° C, the underground tubers of dahlia will enter a dormant state. If a continuous low temperature below-5℃ is encountered at this time, irreversible frostbite will occur in the cell tissue, which will be manifested by wrinkled tubers 'epidermis and liquefaction of internal tissues. According to horticultural experimental data, the survival rate of tubers without protective measures in-3℃ is less than 30%. Precise temperature and humidity control requirements An ideal wintering environment needs to maintain a constant temperature of 5-8 ° C, and the air humidity should be controlled at 45%-60%. Excessive temperature will break dormancy and sprout in advance; excessive humidity will easily cause tubers to rot. It is recommended to configure a temperature and humidity meter for real-time monitoring, and special attention should be paid to the placement of heating rooms in the north. The triple protection method for planted plants in the ground planting and potted overwintering scheme·Stop watering 15 days before frost falls to promote nutrient backflow·Cut the stubble 10cm away from the surface, apply healing agent to the incision·Cover with a 30cm thick mixture of pine needles + humus soil, The key points for refined management of potted plants wrapped in cold-proof cloth are recommended to adopt the sand storage method: remove the tubers, soak them with carbendazim, and store them in layers with moist river sand at a ratio of 1:3. Choose a breathable pottery jar, check the humidity of the sand bed every half of the month (it is advisable to hold it tightly into a ball and let go of it), and place it on a closed balcony facing north without direct light. The key signal for spring recovery is that when the environmental temperature stabilizes above 15℃ and the tuber buds expand to the size of soybean grains, the light can be gradually increased. The initial watering amount is controlled at 1/3 of daily life, combined with a rooting agent diluted 2000 times, and normal maintenance will be carried out after two weeks.
Through scientific management, the overwintering survival rate of dahlia can be increased to more than 95%. What is important is to flexibly adjust maintenance strategies based on plant conditions, regularly observe tuber conditions, and deal with abnormal conditions in a timely manner, so that these summer elves will bloom year after year.