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Post by Moonlight on Apr 19, 2013 21:20:58 GMT
Well I am proud to say that I have not killed all my cuttings so far but I have had a casualty which went black. I've got one that doesn't look fab but I am not worrying about it, happy that the majority are doing ok. 
Looking forward to being able to ask questions about what to do next. Don't think any are ready for potting up.
Of my dinosaur dodo tubers, I've been able to take cuttings from one from USA but the other 3 from USA are a lot further behind only seeing two tiny dots of green growth. Of the other 2, one has got loads of strong roots - just not obvious signs of growth. I've not touched the other one. My little Weston Spanish Dancer has grown enough for me to take a cutting.
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Post by Moonlight on Apr 25, 2013 14:11:28 GMT
I've taken another 5 cuttings today.![]() www.epilepsysupport.org.uk/patter/emoticons/whoo.gif [/img] 3 Downham Royal and 2 Spanish Dancer with more of those coming over the next few days. My Clearview Orca has tiny green dots but Arlene and Jenny haven't so they are still dodo dinosaur bones till I see some green. So fingers still crossed. My little Franz Kafka has grown quicker than all of the other tubers, so he was more than ready to grow. I imagine that he will be ready to take a cutting from in the next couple of weeks, maybe even sooner  I'm not going to take any more Happy Halloween cuttings, if the ones that I have already done have taken off then I'll have loads. If not I'll have my 6 tubers. My Colorado Classic tuber will be planted direct as well rather than take cuttings. I need to wait to see how many cuttings grow before I can work out where to put them. My Dad has got a 2nd hand Rotavator and I am hoping that he can get someone to fix it . I love Rotavators if I could I would rotavate our entire garden but I don't think it would go down to well if I did with my husband  so maybe not...  [/color]
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Post by Moonlight on May 6, 2013 21:13:03 GMT
erm, I'm asking here because I don't really want my ignorance to get in the way of the flow of discussion in the main thread
but
One that has impressed me so far is Ruskin Michelle, plenty of cuttings, roots easily and makes big plants in no time at all. Had to put the 1st stop into them 10 days ago as they were getting too big. All my other 1st double stop's done today.
What does that actually mean?
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Post by lesley on May 7, 2013 17:17:41 GMT
Took this picture this after noon of my dahlias all growing well, putting them out during the day to harden them up.  |
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Post by markb on May 7, 2013 19:19:48 GMT
erm, I'm asking here because I don't really want my ignorance to get in the way of the flow of discussion in the main thread
but
One that has impressed me so far is Ruskin Michelle, plenty of cuttings, roots easily and makes big plants in no time at all. Had to put the 1st stop into them 10 days ago as they were getting too big. All my other 1st double stop's done today.
What does that actually mean? A 1st stop is when the growing tip of the plant is removed. This encourages shoots from the leaf joints (where the leaf joins the stem). These can be left to flower or can be stopped again (a double stop). For garden blooms both methods encourage more potential flower stems. But for show work it is also a way of controlling the size of the blooms so they don't go oversize. Hope this helps. |
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Post by Moonlight on May 7, 2013 20:27:31 GMT
erm, I'm asking here because I don't really want my ignorance to get in the way of the flow of discussion in the main thread
but
What does that actually mean? A 1st stop is when the growing tip of the plant is removed. This encourages shoots from the leaf joints (where the leaf joins the stem). These can be left to flower or can be stopped again (a double stop). For garden blooms both methods encourage more potential flower stems. But for show work it is also a way of controlling the size of the blooms so they don't go oversize. Hope this helps.
Great minds think a like 'eh? |
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Post by Moonlight on May 11, 2013 22:23:47 GMT
Went dahlia shopping today came home with Weston Flamingo and Miss. Willow's Violet and Gurtla Twilight.
Jomanda and Mary's Jomanda.
So I'm now growing:
Downham Royal,
Weston Pirate, Spanish Dancer, Flamingo and Miss.
Franz Kafka
Willow's Violet
Gurtla Twilight
Jomanda and Mary's Jomanda
Tubers from the US
Clearview Orcha (The other 2  )
Colardo Classic (freebie)
and last but certainly not least because it has been the most prolific
Happy Halloween
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Post by Moonlight on May 16, 2013 9:07:25 GMT
Even though I have been having kittens ever since I did it, I've had 2 of my Downham Royals in big containers since Monday. I won't ever put more than 1 tuber in a tray again because I hated trying to separate tubers which had entwined roots.
I've not been happy with the way that I tied them but they have stayed in position but their poor leaves have been blowing all over the place and I've been worried that they would snap. Dad said they were ok when he saw them and I am sure that he would only say it if he meant it.
My Happy Halloween tubers that had been separated a couple of weeks earlier (I think) have thrived and I wish that I had taken the Downham Royal to the greenhouse as well. If we can carry them our plan is to evict the potato sacks and use the space for the dahlias. My little ones will need potting up as well.
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Post by Moonlight on May 18, 2013 15:15:36 GMT
A couple of my dahlias that I bought at the dahlia sale have buds on. Now whilst I am excited about seeing them for the first time, is there any reason why it is bad for them to come into flower early. I'm not growing them with an eye to the Nationals, I only need 2 blooms in total for our local horticultural show. They are currently happily growing in the greenhouse and whilst they won't be living there long term, I'm not in a hurry to plant them outside. So is the any reason why it is a bad thing to let a dahlia bloom when it wants to, rather than focus on timings and 'stops'?
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Post by sweetpea on May 18, 2013 16:39:58 GMT
I never exhibited dahlias at national level, only local but I used to stop mine a few days apart which tended to give me a spread of bloom time. occasionally I would attempt to time for a particular show but as the shows I exhibited at were usually only a week or two apart I seemed to manage ok. I only ever grew 3 or 4 of each variety.
No doubt Tel will be able to answer more fully.
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Post by scrumpy on May 18, 2013 17:36:02 GMT
Quite simply, if you don't stop a dahlia all of it's energy will go into producing the first bloom, meaning that the bulk of the plant won't develop as fast, and when it does it will flower later than if you hadn't got rid of that first flower bud in the beginning.
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Post by Tel on May 18, 2013 18:54:22 GMT
I go along with Scrumpy, if you let the bud develop it slows down the plant from forming and growing the laterals, this is where you want your blooms to develop from for the Autumn shows. The problem with a plant showing bud now, when you really want flowers for a autumn show is, you may have to stop it twice.
What dates are your Autumn Shows.
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Post by Moonlight on May 19, 2013 8:12:30 GMT
Thanks guys I'll take photos so that you get a fuller picture. Be good to hear what you think of them.
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Post by Moonlight on May 20, 2013 0:31:02 GMT
I've got better angles of the whole plant but this one shows that it had already been stopped once.
What do you think?
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Post by Moonlight on May 20, 2013 10:04:02 GMT
My Weston Flamingo bought at the Dahlia Sale a couple of weekends ago.
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