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Post by Tel on Mar 20, 2012 7:19:43 GMT
Can you remember the date you stopped them last year, WF
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 20, 2012 7:27:07 GMT
I'm afraid not, I'll go back over last years thread to see if I can find out.
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 20, 2012 7:40:04 GMT
Is 'stopping' when I started to take out the side shoots? If it is I started this on the 7th of July last year.
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Post by Tel on Mar 20, 2012 7:53:45 GMT
Is 'stopping' when I started to take out the side shoots? If it is I started this on the 7th of July last year. It is when you take out the growing tip leaving the same number of pairs of leaves on each plant ie 4 pairs of leaves gives you 8 stems of blooms, i think you stopped them around the 15th May if you had too many blooms out the week before the show you could stop them a week later. You did mention about a Show on the 10th of Sept last year. Depending on the number of plants you have this year, with the younger plants you could stop them at the end of june for that show.  |
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 20, 2012 8:42:50 GMT
Now that you mentioned nipping the tops out, I do remember doing that. I have a feeling they were still in their pots when I did that. It must have happened before the "Dahlias for beginners" thread was started. There is another show in September, I don't have enough room to grow two lots of plants and by the time the show came around last year my plants had turned into triffids and it all got too complicated  Last year we were going to pop in to see what the competition was like. The show is held in the local village hall and they charge £5 each to get in  I can think of a million things I'd rather spend a fiver on. |
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Post by scrumpy on Mar 20, 2012 19:12:54 GMT
Now that you mentioned nipping the tops out, I do remember doing that. I have a feeling they were still in their pots when I did that. It must have happened before the "Dahlias for beginners" thread was started. There is another show in September, I don't have enough room to grow two lots of plants and by the time the show came around last year my plants had turned into triffids and it all got too complicated Last year we were going to pop in to see what the competition was like. The show is held in the local village hall and they charge £5 each to get in I can think of a million things I'd rather spend a fiver on. You can use the same plant to do both shows. You follow the 25 day rule....the time taken for a bud the size of a pea to form a flower. What it means is allowing a flower to form from a side bud, so for example if you grow 8 plants with 8 lateral stems growing, you would aim to have 4 on each plant flowering in August, and 4 in September, by choosing different buds to develop on each plant. Some people call it the "knockback method" when you remove side buds from the top of the lateral until you find one the size you want lower down in the leaf axils. Which means you have a choice of 32 possible flowers for each show. It's obviously not an exact science as 25 days may be 21 -30 days, but you won't be far off getting your blooms. It's a method i used many years ago when i used to do shows from mid August to mid September from the same plant. It sounds complicated but when you get used to it it's not as bad as it seems, honest |
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 20, 2012 22:57:19 GMT
My head just exploded ;D
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Post by scrumpy on Mar 21, 2012 19:18:01 GMT
To make it even simpler, heres what i mean.  So bud number 1 will flower first, and number 4 at least 3 weeks later. So half of the laterals on each plant you'd let flower with number 1 and remove buds 2, 3, and 4 And half with number 4, removing buds 1,2 and 3. Easy peasy ps, The majority of the blooms i show will be from buds 3 and 4. The best will be from number 1.
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 27, 2012 19:30:57 GMT
;D I love your idea of easy peasy Can I do my show in August and then think about the next one, or will I have to think about them both at the same time? Can I grow my dahlias in pots for the show? I could do with more space for my dahlias but I've actually stolen some of my dahlia bed for climbing french beans this year |
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Mar 27, 2012 19:53:45 GMT
Can you remember the date you stopped them last year, WF Ive been back through the old thread and found that I stopped them on May 17. |
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Post by scrumpy on Mar 27, 2012 20:34:54 GMT
;D I love your idea of easy peasy Can I do my show in August and then think about the next one, or will I have to think about them both at the same time? Can I grow my dahlias in pots for the show? I could do with more space for my dahlias but I've actually stolen some of my dahlia bed for climbing french beans this year After a bit of practice it's a bit of both . If you let your plants laterals grow naturally, some will flower before you want them, some when you want them, and some after you want them. So the idea of growing a large number of the same variety is that there will be more choice of the ones you want, so less need to mess around with the buds. What i tended to do was that the ones that I knew would flower too early, I took the top few buds off and they would go towards the later shows....say two laterals. The remaining laterals, you pick the ones with buds that will be in flower when you want them. In my case, it was about the 11th of August i needed them, so buds that looked about pea size 17th- 21st July would be allowed to develop.....say 4 laterals per plant. Then the ones that wouldn't be ready in time, you would work on them for later shows. Again, take off the top buds and look for a lower bud to develop in the leaf axils. So if your show was the 7th September, you would choose your pea sized bud from the laterals about the 15th August. Which means that as you are cutting or have cut for one show, you are more or less choosing your bud for the next show at the time of cutting. To learn how long it takes for blooms to develop from pea size, the only way is to tie a plant label around the bud, mark the date, and then when it flowers count the days. Nice and easy when you have just one variety. Gets a bit more complicated when you have about 20 of different varieties of different sizes, but after a few decades you can look at a bud and say to within a few days when it will flower As to pots, i've grown good dahlias in 30 Litre polythene polypots. |
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Post by jrae on Apr 3, 2012 16:33:37 GMT
Growing tree dahlias (dahlia imperialis and dahlia tenuicaulis) is the same as growing dahlia variabilis right? I just have to be more vigilant about staking or maybe I'll grow it near a fence so the fence can serve as a windbreak. I got some cuttings from a friend. I don't know how he managed to bring it over here but it's made a very good Easter present.
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Post by Lou78W on Apr 3, 2012 19:13:28 GMT
Lucky you....keep us posted ;D
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Post by wildlifefriendly on Apr 16, 2012 20:04:15 GMT
Am I to late to start another tuber off for cuttings? They are not for showing, I have one tuber and I want more of the same for the garden.
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Post by scrumpy on Apr 16, 2012 20:11:30 GMT
Am I to late to start another tuber off for cuttings? They are not for showing, I have one tuber and I want more of the same for the garden. Bit to late for cuttings i think. You may be able to divide the tuber though. |
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I can think of a million things I'd rather spend a fiver on.
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