Virus Protocol

VIRUS PROTOCOL AND SANITATION:

If you are new to growing dahlias and not familiar with dahlias and dahlia viruses, please educate yourself. There are many online resources to educate yourself. Dahlia viruses are common. American Dahlia Society reports that 87% of healthy-looking dahlias may carry a virus. Unfortunately, you cannot look at a tuber to determine if it has a virus, and oftentimes it takes time to develop within a plant. They can develop at any time, and usually, it is not known at what point they were infected. I cannot guarantee virus-free varieties. I do plan on testing certain varieties in 2026, whether they show signs of virus or not, but it is unrealistic and cost-prohibitive to test every single plant. Realistically, I cannot guarantee virus-free tubers.

MY COMMITMENT: I am committed to minimizing the spread of virus by closely monitoring every plant in my garden. Any plants that show signs of any virus are removed immediately. If the virus signs are very apparent, the plant is thrown away (not composted) immediately. If I feel the need to monitor a plant, I move it to my quarantine garden, which is miles away from my big garden. These are the plants I will test. But I also plan to test asymptomatic plants that I will do my own cuttings from.

I am committed to utilizing protocols for very strict sanitizing of tools and hands between plants. I use a rinse of blue Dawn dish soap (to get off dirt & debris), followed by either Virkon soak or a 10% bleach soak for at least 10 minutes. I have a lot of snips, Xacto blades, cutters, etc that are rotated when I am taking cuttings, disbudding, deadheading, or simply cutting stems for bouquets (tending, harvesting, and dividing). Each plant gets a fresh snipper/cutter.

TUBER DIVIDING: I use the same sanitation protocol when I am dividing tubers. I use a rinse of blue Dawn dish soap (to get off dirt & debris), followed by either Virkon soak or a 10% bleach soak for at least 10 minutes. I have a lot of snips and cutters, etc. that are rotated when I am dividing tuber clumps. Each clump gets a fresh snipper/cutter.

RESTRICTED ACCESS:  I restrict access to my garden area. No one but myself and my husband has access (& he doesn’t like to step foot in there because I usually put him to work!).

PEST MANAGEMENT:  Working in my garden almost every day and monitoring the plants, I use a foliar molasses spray that may include a powdery mildew treatment, potassium bicarbonate, Epsom salts, or fertilizer, or a pest treatment to reduce pest pressure and maintain plant health and vigor. I tend to spray in the evenings when pollinators are not active. I also use treatments in the soil when planting to reduce powdery mildew and fertilize. I also use dry, granular, unsulphured molasses and mycorrhizal when planting to help those roots and the soil microbiome.