Dahlia 2021 Season

[johndoe]

Thanks JJ, you know me, I like a tidy plot. My reasoning behind the two plot show is not to confuse myself with feeding and timings. Usually I grow just varieties in numbers between the two, so will have 12 of each on each plot covering the two shows, say 8 for Wisley and 4 for Harrogate in the same row. It's easy to confuse feeding Harrogate plants instead of Wisley, and of course stopping Harrogate early mistaking it for a Wisley plant.   Are you with me!!!

So now, even I shouldn't be able to cock up.....fingers crossed.  Just really want to give it my best shot at winning the National 12 giant dec title, especially with a large entry expected for this class.

Hope your show goes ahead, but even if it doesn't it'll give you some great practise and experience. Make a record for all your timings it'll serve you well in the future, believe me.  Between your miniatures and smalls you want to stopping 55 to 60 days, and the 3 plants you have of each I would stop one each day spread over the 3 days.  That should cover you for your show.  Of course the weather plays a critical part but you should be good with those timings.

Good luck my friend and hope you have a great season. 

[johnjess]

Hi johndoe, it all makes perfect sense when you explain it like that!!
I hope you have a great season, I'll be following with interest as usual.

I have a spreadsheet underway for taking notes about how my few plants do this season. It'll come in handy if I pluck up the courage to have a go at showing sometime.

all the best,

Johnjess

[johndoe]

That's the spirit JJ. You'll love showing once you get the first staging out of the way. It's very addictive waiting for the judges to finish and rushing in to see how you've done. Lots of red cards I hope

Keep keeping those records!!

All the best

Mark

[gingins]

Johndoe I asked you about how to feed my dahlias being a new ‘hooked’ dahlia lover on this forum. You kindly gave me your feeding routine and advice and I promptly set about purchasing the feeds during lock down ready for this year. I remember you advised re putting the first feed down and raking in before planting out which I did. I now have the two liquid chempak feeds but cannot find my question and your advice on which one and when to use …. Help? Sorry to lose your answer, I should have written it down

[gingins]

Johndoe I have read all your posts and of course the others on this dahlia forums back over 3 years and looked at your amazing and very interesting photos…I also watched your video. You are always so kind and encouraging to everyone and generous with your advice. You are truly a worthy winner of the awards your dahlias have achieved. Just felt, having read two years of posts, that I wanted to acknowledge how much your posts mean to people like myself.

[SueA]

gingins, did you used to be a member on here under a different name because you're only shown as joining last December (2020) & have only ever posted 3 times & asked johndoe a question about chicken pellets? I found this answer from johndoe to Keith in Australia about Chempak feeds from 2019, hope this helps until he sees your question.
Quote:- ' Hello Keith. I usually give my dahlias 2 high nitrogen feeds. Once planted out I allow them a couple of weeks to find their feet, then feed for the first time. Give it another couple of weeks and feed again. I use Chempak 2 nitrogen feed, diluted, 200g to 200 litres of water, with each plant getting about 5 litres.'

[gingins]

Thanks Sue, no only ever used the same name. I cannot find it either, weird I know !. I am not very technically inclined so thought I was missing something as not sure what all the quote edit etc buttons are for 🙈🤪👍

[johndoe]

Jul 4, 2021 7:43:59 GMT gingins said:

Thanks Sue, no only ever used the same name. I cannot find it either, weird I know !. I am not very technically inclined so thought I was missing something as not sure what all the quote edit etc buttons are for 🙈🤪👍

Hi gingins. Thank you very much for you kinds words, they're very much appreciated.  As Sue as said, you want to give your dahlias a Chempak 2 feed now, then in a couple of weeks into July you can move them onto a Chempak 3 feed.  Once the buds start to show colour you can then feed them on a high potash feed, which can be Chempak 4 or tomato feed if you have some.

Hope that your blooms will be great, and don't forget some photos.

[johnjess]

Hi all, I hope the dahlia season is going well for you all.

I have a question for anyone who has grown Sheval Megan. My blooms are now opening up nicely
but the stems for some reason aren't stretching as I expected and the first few blooms are going
to be hidden in the foliage.
Is this a trait of Sheval Megan or have I possibly not disbudded enough? I removed the wing buds and
the first pair down and they have been fed and watered regularly and the plants are all very healthy looking with great strong stems.

Can anyone suggest a reason for my problem.


Thank you

Johnjess

[johndoe]

Aug 13, 2021 20:31:40 GMT johnjess said:

Hi all, I hope the dahlia season is going well for you all.

I have a question for anyone who has grown Sheval Megan. My blooms are now opening up nicely
but the stems for some reason aren't stretching as I expected and the first few blooms are going
to be hidden in the foliage.
Is this a trait of Sheval Megan or have I possibly not disbudded enough? I removed the wing buds and
the first pair down and they have been fed and watered regularly and the plants are all very healthy looking with great strong stems.

Can anyone suggest a reason for my problem.


Thank you

Johnjess

Hi JJ, really sorry for the late reply and it's probably to late to help.   It sounds like you haven't dis-budded enough, Sheval Megan is normally a good stem producer, I dis-budd 3 pairs down leaving the rest on as it goes oversize easy, I also do this in the garden as it produces good breaks further down which replace any spent blooms in quick time.

[johnjess]

Thanks for taking the time to reply johndoe , much appreciated. I kind of figured it out by trial and error.
I disbudded to three pairs on the second flush and the stems stretched fine after that. They are rather tall however , around six feet. A lesson learned for next year.
Really impressed with Sheval Megan though really good strong stems and quality blooms( to my eye anyway). I'll certainly give it another go next year.
I saw on the NDS Facebook page that you had a challenging year. Are you making changes for next year?

Johnjess

[johndoe]

Yes, it really has been challenging. Had a lot of plant lost a couple of weeks after planting out, fox cubs on the allotment were playing on the plots and knocked the plants over. Used up my reserve stock but didn't have enough to re-fill all the holes. This really put paid to my 2 plot, 2 show experiment I was trying this year. One plot for Wisley, and the other for Harrogate. So basically the same number of varieties on each plot, but less numbers on each plot.  This fell apart as the foxes knocked off plants in groups which left my zero or ones and twos, which in turn left me nothing to choose from come show time.  On top of this, my stock of Sir Alf completely broke down and I'd mis-labelled tubers of Bryn Terfel so ended up with only one plant. The rest being Rhanna Tammy!!

Just managed to make the 12 giant decs for the National but some of the blooms chose themselves as I didn't have any others.  Managed to finish 3rd, and got a second in the 9 giant and large championship, but the blooms were not up to standard really.  To cap a bad day, I was stuck on the M25 for 5 and a half hours and couldn't get back to the show after judging!!

By the time Harrogate came around damping off was a big problem, which I'd never suffered from this early being down south. Was unable to defend my 12 giant dec championship as I didn't have enough varieties to exhibit, so entered the 6's, 3's and 3 single classes. Managed a couple of 1st's and 2nd's and a 3rd.  Was very impressed with the new venue of Newby Hall, the only draw back was no floor, just grass. Quite uneven and the damp coming off it didn't help under the lights.

Glad you sorted out Megan, it's a good variety, sometimes not enough petal but a lovely flower nonetheless.

My 12 and 9 just after staging. Not great flowers, but good to stage after all the Covid stuff.

Harrogate 6 and 3.  Fairly decent blooms and lovely to stage at Newby Hall venue.

[johndoe]

This time of year comes around all to fast for my liking. The start of cutting back and getting the plants to push on with tuber making, I leave a couple of growing stems so the plants don't start forcing new growth out of the ground and losing next years cuttings. I'll remove the wires tomorrow and give everything a good sweep up then move onto the next plot.

I've also managed to get another plot opposite mine, well two thirds of it anyway. The lady is struggling to keep it up so asked if I'd like to share, I just couldn't resist.  I know what I'll be doing over the winter months

[johnjess]

Looks like you have your work cut out getting it prepped up to your standards johndoe!! Good luck

[johndoe]

Nov 2, 2021 20:25:46 GMT johnjess said:

Looks like you have your work cut out getting it prepped up to your standards johndoe!! Good luck

Made a start JJ.  Got half of it hand dug and rotovated, 4m X 8m.  Lots of crap dug up and binned, plenty of worms and shouldn't need much else for the time being as it's not been worked for a good few years.  Will do the rest over the winter as I've now started lifting the tubers on the plots, Oh joy