I Skipped Drip Irrigation on the Dahlias; Here's What Happened
November 7, 2022
The growing season of 2022 will fondly be looked back on as our first year of expanding into our new flower field and property. 2022 will also hold a space of loathing in my heart as the year of extreme drought conditions, stunted plants, and soil as hot and dry as the desert.
Drought is a phenomenon occurring actually quite often throughout the world and across the United States, and the worsening effects are caused by climate change. In our Great Lakes Region, we are geographically blessed and surrounded by large bodies of water. Because of this, we tend to experience drought at a much lesser rate than other regions. Drought does occur though, and as the effects of climate change become more extreme, so will drought conditions. As farmers, it is important we take this information seriously and start formulating climate change mitigation strategies on our farms, but that’s a topic for another post.
Related: This is Why We Grow a No-Till Flower Farm
So in 2022, a drought year for our normally average rainfall region, I decided to skip drip irrigation on the dahlia patch.
There are some flower farmers on Instagram who claim that irrigating dahlias is not necessary and you can grow a perfectly productive, healthy field of dahlias with no added water through the whole season. This is a load of BULL. It is basic knowledge that dahlias require a lot of consistent water to grow into healthy, robust plants. Let it be known that I was not taking this bad advice, I was simply too busy and had too much going on to bother irrigating the dahlias, all the while knowing that I should have.
Related: Will Deer Eat Your Field of Dahlias?
The first month of zero irrigation went fine. Typically we don’t water the dahlias until green growth appears out of the ground, which takes anywhere from two to four weeks anyway. The month of June went by, it rained a few times, and we were doing well.
Then July came around and we went well over a month without rain. It also hardly rained the entire month of August. This was during the period of growth when the dahlias were beefing up their green base and really, really needed water for proper growth and bud production. Out of desperation, I hooked up a hose to our newly-installed water line and spent hours (HOURS, DAYS) hand watering 900+ dahlia plants.
Related: Vole-Proof Tulip Planting
Here’s what happened to the dahlias during a drought period with no irrigation plan in place:
The dahlias grew slower than slow… the slowest they’ve ever grown! Therefore, harvest was delayed.
The dahlia plants were stunted.
At times, the plants were actually wilting in the field because they needed water so badly (plants should never get to this point of dehydration if you want them to be productive and able to naturally repel pests and disease).
I, and my partner, wasted hours of our lives hand watering with a hose.
It stressed me out. Whenever possible, farmers should always try to mitigate stress when possible, and having an irrigation plan is one way to do that.
If I’m being honest, had I set up drip irrigation in the first place, I believe the plants still would have been thirsty. They still would have become stunted over the drought period. Nothing can cure a thirsty plant like rain. Municipal water out of a hose (which is what we’re working with) cannot do what rain can, that is to say, municipal water will only keep the plants from dying. It will not provide trace minerals and the goodness that pure water falling from the sky does.
The great news is, the dahlias did end up producing flowers and growing some of the most spectacular blooms we’ve ever had coming out of the dahlia patch! I owe this success to my last-minute plan to set up two overhead sprinklers in the field.
Related: Fertilizing and ‘The Law of Return’
I’ll repeat that last part: I ended up setting up overhead sprinklers in the dahlia field and it helped IMMENSELY. The plants responded almost immediately to a regular watering schedule and it freed up the need of hand watering with a hose AND laying/removing drip lines.
The happiest part of this story is that not laying drip lines forced me to put overhead water in the field, and I ended up loving it. Going forward, I plan to water my dahlia patch using sprinklers instead of drip lines. Not only is it super easy to set up, but it also repels spider mites (they love dry conditions and hate water). Overhead watering also attracts birds, who work on eating caterpillars and other bugs that cause damage, off the plants.
The exact sprinkler heads I used are these: Orbit 27793 T-Post Sprinkler Attachment on Amazon. Two of these heads, attached to 10’ T-Posts, covered a 50’ x 120’ area. I attached the hosing to a timer and set it for every-other day at 4:00am for 20 minutes. When it actually did start to rain again, I used the rain delay option on the timer and eventually by mid-September turned the system off altogether.
Overhead Sprinkler Supplies We Used:
The moral of the story is...
Dahlias need irrigation, regardless of whichever system (drip, overhead, etc.) you decide to go with. Don’t heed stupid advice from every flower farmer on Instagram (ie. “dahlias don’t need to be watered”).
Drought is going to stunt growth no matter what irrigation plan you have in place.
We love overhead sprinklers on dahlias!
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peace, love, and regular rainfall for all,
Fran Parrish
