10/16/2026
Why is there a little bag on every one of my dahlias?
This is the part of flower farming nobody puts on a postcard.
Spotted cucumber beetles love dahlias — especially the white and pale ones. They get inside the bud before it opens and chew their way out, so by the time the flower unfurls, every petal is already full of holes. You can’t fix it after the fact. The damage is done before you ever see the bloom.
So I slip an organza bag over each bud by hand, before it opens. Dozens and dozens of them, every single week. It’s slow, it looks a little ridiculous out in the field, and it’s the only thing that works without spraying.
That’s the difference between the first flower in this video and the rest of them.
And here’s the part you don’t want to miss — these are the last dahlias of the season. I’ll have them this Saturday and one final time on October 31. After that, they’re done until next summer.
Come find us at the Salem Public Market. Hours, vendors and everything else at salempublicmarket.net.
