the ruskin bride diary

[scrumpy]

A little while ago we got onto the topic of dahlia suppliers and i had a litle moan at these



So i decided to take a few cuttings from them. The cuttings were taken on the 30th April and today they looked like this, ready for planting.



As i've finally got a couple of plants of it that look half decent, and as i've never grown it before, i thought it might be a way of showing all of you keen amateurs just starting off on the exhibition trail how exactly we learn about a dahlia variety, how it grows, how long it takes to flower, etc,etc.

The challenge then is to get it to flower, with 6 blooms on each plant, on the 15th September.

So we know when the cutting was taken...30th April.
It was planted today, 19th June, and stopped today, leaving 4 pairs of leaves for the laterals to grow from.
So now, it's just a question of letting nature take it's course, and then fine tuning it a bit

[Tel]

It will be interesting to see the progress of your dahlia, with your bit of fine tuning, heres hoping you get a good tune out of it on the 15th Sept.

[scrumpy]

Not easy to see, but this is 23rd July.

As can be seen, buds are forming and i reckon they'd be ready about 20th August, which we don't want. Both plants have 4 reasonabl strong stems, and a couple of weaker ones



So, those buds have to go so i've cut them off to two pairs of leaves from the base of each stem, where side shoots are forming. These side shoots will grow on to produce the flowering bud...




.....and this is a bud about to open from a stop made as above but way back in May. Like Tel, my allotment seems to attract every insect known to man, so some serious spraying will have to be done

[Tel]

Your plants, the leaves have little damage on your pics compared to what mine have suffered on the new allotment. The plants on the original allotment, except for the odd plant, are not doing to badly.

[Cherry]

Very interesting Scrumpy, and Tel you are proving that the soil makes a difference.

[scrumpy]

By insects i mean thrips, pollen beetles, aphids, hover flies, etc, all congregating on the buds.
Touch wood, haven't seen any earwigs or slugs...maybe those nematodes i watered in have done the trick, because last year the allotment had loads of slugs.

[scrumpy]

This is what i'll be aiming for in september.



and these are the nasties



i would love to know how to stop these critters....any suggestions?

[Tel]

I have used aerosol Raid, fly and wasp killer on a still day, but it is not advisable to spray directly at the blooms.
Spray above the blooms and let the insecticide fall down on to the bloom, if sprayed directly at the blooms it will because of the force of the spray turn the bloom brown, i found that by letting the spray just fall on to the blooms it will leave it unmarked.
I also use it after cutting blooms after the flowers are placed in the bins.