dahlia maxi struggling

tmq

i bought these about a 4-6 weeks ago.... they were looking great when i planted them, but are struggling now. Flowers don't last long, and are looking pale and not their strong colour of before.

they are south facing, but get afternoon shade from a tree. I gave them vegetable fertilizer when i planted them as i read they preffered low nitrogen, high potassium feed.

Any tips?

pwurple

Looks like drought to me. It's not really been raining, and they won't have a deep root system established yet.
Have you been watering them every day since being planted?

lazybones32

Dahlia flowers usually don't last long but it keeps sprouting new ones, so dead-head the spent flowers and feed regularly. Dahlias are 'hungry'.

tmq

Well i thought i'd been feeding them, but perhaps not enough.... it has been dry. I'll up the attention a bit and see if they recover.

lk67

I don't think they look that bad to be honest. They need to be deadheaded regularly to keep new blossoms coming. Looking at the photo that's your bigger problem.

Qualitymark

Your dahlias look glorious to me!

tmq

dahlia update... they died right off, and then when I'd nearly given up on them they recovered. Might have been the wet and cooler weather...?

Anyway, looking good for now!