Dahlia Season 2017

[Raymond]

Soil looking great @davidv was going to start digging this week but been so wet and miserable here I have left it for now.  

diggie when did you lift your goldcrests . The earliest I lifted mine was mid December and the cherwell on first of January. Keep misting the crown with very hot water every few days . They normally I am told by the great Dave Spencer take about 6 upto 8 weeks to get moving. I also cover mine in fleece.

I think by lifting them later I avoided the dormant stage.

Marys jomanda and some cream diane showing some growth now. Also clayts candy. Once they are all on the move I will turn the heat down to 14 or 15.

[diggie]

Feb 11, 2017 10:31:41 GMT Raymond said:

Soil looking great @davidv was going to start digging this week but been so wet and miserable here I have left it for now.  

diggie when did you lift your goldcrests . The earliest I lifted mine was mid December and the cherwell on first of January. Keep misting the crown with very hot water every few days . They normally I am told by the great Dave Spencer take about 6 upto 8 weeks to get moving. I also cover mine in fleece.

I think by lifting them later I avoided the dormant stage.

Marys jomanda and some cream diane showing some growth now. Also clayts candy. Once they are all on the move I will turn the heat down to 14 or 15.

Hi Raymond, I dug the tubers up at the end of November as I wanted to compost the soil. My previous experience of Oakwood Goldcrest is they take 45-50 days to wake up. Nice to have that confirmed.

[johndoe]

Feb 9, 2017 18:13:44 GMT @davidv said:

Three more weeks before my tubers come out of storage! Impractical for me to start sooner but should still be takings cuttings mid April onwards. Gives me plenty of time for activities like our old fave, digging! Our plots have very light free draining soil (unlike your heavy London clay Raymond) so it's not that difficult. I dug it over roughly late Autumn and spread manure, now in the process of turning it in. see pics. I trick myself by using lines and doing one strip at a time. I have a newish stainless digging spade and an ancient forged steel spade. I've found the old spade lighter, cuts into the soil easily. They don't make spades this quality now so I'll be looking out at the carboots this summer. 

Extremely boring pic


Stainless versus Forged steel, no contest

Plot looking really good David. I think I'll be copying your line trick, always seems to be a lot more work when you see the whole area!!!!  Can't beat playing mind tricks with your own mind .

And like they say, you can't beat the old ones. If you need to replace an old spade, you can't go cheap, two or three digs and the handle falls off .  But the price of a decent one is blooming madness!!

Cut off 43 fat and hollow shoots today, always feel bad dumping them, but there's not much you can do. Plus took some more cuttings, bringing the number up to 80 now .  Hopefully be potting up early cuttings for mother plants soon.

[ian]

Johndoe, 80 Cuttings already I may start to take cuttings by the end o the week, I usually start 1st week in March but there quite a few on now so probably will start. I have taken many of a new mini dec and they are doing very well under the LED lights some are ready to mother plant. we are mod February already the time is just zipping by. Not long befor the National AGM at this rate, soon be planted out hehe

[Cat]

A sad day today - the secretary of the village show said she would be in touch soon to receive the trophies Che won last year back for this years show The boss says if he enters again then he is only entering dahlias listed in the NDS book so he doesn't have the stress of last year when the judge misjudged in our opinion. Anyway onwards and upwards

[johnjess]

Hi guys,
a beginners question, so I am having my first attempt at taking cuttings this year. I filled a cell tray with a 50/50 mix of compost and sharp sand and took a couple of cuttings last weekend. The cuttings are failing I think (starting to lean forward). The fact they are failing isn't the issue as I wasn't expecting a high success rate at my first attempt. My question is if I bin the failing cuttings does the compost mix in each cell have to go as well or can I reuse? Not hugely important , its just I don't want to contaminate future cuttings

Thanks

[ian]

JJ when make sure the compost isn't too wet it should just hold together when pressed together in the hand. The cutting mixture should be not to firmly put into the cell trays or pots you are using, when you have taken the cuttings cut a fraction below the node dip in your chosen gel or powder rooting compound and insert into the rooting mix. If you are using a plastic bag method then place the bag over making sure it doesn't touch the cuttings (Johndoe has put a picture on here somewhere if you cannot find it then I am sure he will oblige) If rooting uncovered then spray the cuttings periodically with an atomizer water spray. Is there heat under the cuttings? as you could do with some this time of the year, Then either using a plastic propagator cloche or a couple of pieces of news paper, spray the news paper so it is moist. Place the cover or paper over the cuttings and this should prevent the cuttings wilting the cuttings will remain turgid. If you do get the rooting mix too damp then you may get black foot and the cuttings will rot or damp off. This is also why air circulation is important. So again if you are going to use a plastic propagator cover leave the vent open if it has one if it hasn't prop open a little. Hope this is helpful and you can understand it .

[johnjess]

Hi ian,
I have the cuttings in cell trays in a heated propagator which is sitting on a window sill. The propagator is heated but has no thermostat but I have a thermometer in with the cuttings and it has been pretty steady at around 18-19C, the lid is on and vents have been open all the time. There is a fair bit of moisture inside the lid which I have assumed is normal.

After reading your post I decided to bin the least healthy of the cuttings to see how it looked at the bottom and when I tried to remove it from the cell the compost started to come too, could it have roots? I just expected to pull the cutting straight out.

Thanks for taking the time to reply ian

[Cat]

sounds like it may have roots, i would leave it a little longer

[johnjess]

Hi Cat, I thought I'd possibly baked the cutting into the compost 😁!!!!

The first cuttings have only been in 10 days is that enough time for roots to develop?

I'll give them a while yet Cat. Fingers crossed!!

[ian]

Hi JJ its possible it could be rooted if the cutting looks healthy then leave it,

[johnjess]

Hi ian,
I'll leave them alone now I think.
Is there an average amount of time it takes for cuttings to produce roots? Or any other signs that would suggest roots had formed?

Thanks guys

johnjess

[ian]

Hi JJ all depends on conditions, Average time 2-3 weeks just now, come next month when the light levels are getting better 12-14 days. I can root cuttings 8-10 days late March-April under my mist system. You can tell if the are rooting or rooted by the looks of them and you will notice they are more turgid and ridged or perky and more colour. time to move them on I pot into number 7 pots then into 9cm pots. I like to plant ou,t out of 7cm if possible but mainly 9cm no bigger its much harder planting out of bigger pots but that's for another day.
Ian

[johnjess]

Thanks Ian, I'll leave them in peace for another week or so! The cuttings are still looking green so hopefully things are going ok under the surface.

The surface of the cell trays look quite dry and as if they have a crust is it advisable to give a little spray of water or should I leave well alone?

[ian]

Yes you need to keep using the atomiser on the cuttings and the compost needs to be moist