jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 28, 2016 9:31:08 GMT
I will mother plant hopefully with staleen. Had a look this morning. Two Michelle with eyes , staleen now got 8 eyes ! One jersie field tuber with eyes and both pot tubers either eyes or shoots. I start the rest of mine next week. Some I will grow the pot tuber and not take cuttings I want to see the difference between a cutting and Tuber grown plant. dahliadave tubers look great . The ryecroft pixie and the trelyn kiwis I got from you last year made excellent tubers one of the pixie is one of the biggest . That's what I'm doing too. Some will be mother plants for more cuttings on the varieties that I'm short of numbers for, and some will be pot tubers. But I'm not far enough down the line to decide which will be which yet. The ones I'm likely to be short of numbers for are Oakwood Goldcrest, George Marston, Bracken Ballerina, Marys Jomanda, Kiwi Gloria, and Red Diamond which is still a complete 'no shows' after nearly 6 weeks on the heat. Fortunately most of those are from Dave at Halls, so I know he'll replace any 'no shows' with a plant. Which I can plant up and at least get a tuber out of it for next season anyhow. I need another reliable Med Dec if Red Diamond doesn't show, because I'm really short of Med Decs.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 28, 2016 0:58:34 GMT
Well done Dave the 'Halls' tubers look the business hope you get lots of orders. Oh by the way happy new year all the best to you and yours. You mentioned Clover compost this is probably as good as anything on the market , Clover Professional is excellent. Sinclairs is also excellent but quite expensive. Clover unless you are buying it in big quantities like David 'Dahliadave' is £4.50 - £6-00 per bag 70lt. Raymond I would be taking the early cuttings and mother planting them especially with the Staleen. You know my thoughts about Jersie (compost) hehe Thanks Ian. I'll try to hook up with a local supplier of Clover. I may even contact Clover direct to see if they can help with a list of suppliers in my area. Although I'm really happy with the Sinclairs', always good to try new things or have a 'back up'. Thanks.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 27, 2016 23:13:38 GMT
Hi Dave, nice to meet you. Great pictures by the way. Just what I aspire to in fact!! Dahlia Heaven. Haha. Though I'm not sure my other half would be too happy with that kind of commitment. It's bad enough with 120 tubers, let alone the 100's and 100's you have. But I still love it nonetheless. But your set up there has got me thinking about some new ideas for next year already.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 27, 2016 22:47:53 GMT
Good luck with everything jay65 and I hope your son is much better soon. Thanks so much. Our little one is slowly improving, but just when you think he is a little better he goes back a touch if you know what I mean. We had to call paramedics last night, but thankfully they weren't overly worried, but it gave us some reassurance. As for Sheval Megan, I'm going to pick up a few plants from Halls, it looks like a lovely variety. I'll just pop 5 of them in my garden to see how they go, then I should have some nice tubers to propagate from next year if the plants do well for me. So I'm with you on that, they look very tempting. I thought about ordering some Westerton JWH as well, to see how they go too actually. I think you're right about the double height vitopod. If anything I am finding my Geranium seedlings drying out slightly too much with 2 layers on. Maybe too much airflow if anything, so I can certainly see where you're coming from with that. It definitely helps with damping off for sure.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 27, 2016 21:41:40 GMT
Can I just add that I bought a 75l bag of Sinclairs' Potting/Bedding compost yesterday, and decided to mix it 50/50 with vermiculite, this is the same set up as I had last year, and it returns far lighter in texture than the Jacks Magic/Vermiculite I started using this year for my cuttings, which I found was getting quite wet/soggy but compacting quite quickly, which obviously could be a problem for the young delicate roots of new cuttings. Sure, the Sinclairs' is £9 a bag as opposed to £6 a bag for the Jacks Magic, but I feel the lighter texture of the Sinclairs' mix will really help with the establishing of young root systems far better than the Jacks Magic mix that I was using, so I am going to continue using the Sinclairs' mix for the rest of the cuttings season. I had another couple of cuttings just starting to root by the way, which I decided to pot up in the lighter Sinclairs'/Vermiculite mix, which I think will serve them well.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 27, 2016 19:29:41 GMT
Sorry to hear your son is poorly jay65 hope he feels better soon Thank you Cat. He's only 5yo, so has a tendency still, to pick up all sorts of bugs and viruses I'm afraid, but this one has hit him pretty hard, but I'm sure he will be fine. Just needs a few days R & R.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 23:39:53 GMT
Hi jay welcome to the forum I did notice that the writing on some of your labels looked quite familiar looks as though the tubers are doing well all the best to you and your wife. Hi Ian. Small world eh? Yes, most of the tubers are doing fine. One or two are either slow or no shows, but that's nothing unusual. Nicola has been really busy today with our little boy who has been a little poorly, but we both thank you for all your kindness that you've shown us over the last few weeks!
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 20:41:50 GMT
Thanks for the kind words guys. I took another 8 cuttings today, but have another maybe 12 to take tomorrow, but I'll keep the pics coming as things develop guys, now I know how to upload them. Can't believe that an old fool like me managed to do it. Haha.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 18:41:01 GMT
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 18:19:05 GMT
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 14:04:39 GMT
I've tried to upload some pics of my part set up, that I took today. I used my wifes' iphone, and the pictures that came out were a fantastic quality, boy these new phones are great these days! Unfortunately they are so good that their resolution is just too high to attach on here. So it looks like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way and use our Handycam tomorrow, whose resolution may be more in keeping with what can be uploaded on here. Hello Jay, nice to see a new face on here. If you're uploading pics you may have to use a pic hosting site (I use the annoying, full of ads 'Tiny pic') and copy/paste the code for forums in your post. Sounds like you have a great set up down there in Oxford with the tunnels and heated benches, great stuff! I'll be at about 100 plants this time, mostly 10 varieties but a couple or so of some varieties I don't want to part with.
Nice one! With regards to the pictures, I'm afraid you may as well be talking in Swaheli I'm afraid. I'm not very computer literate I'm afraid. I went out and took some more pics with our handycam, and my wife tried to upload them, but once again, they were far too high resolution for this site. You'd think the Forum head honchos would keep up with modern technology a bit more, because many of these cameras and phones are such high definition nowadays that it makes it a real hassle to upload. Anyway, I can't have too much of a moan, because as I said, I'm not very conversant with modern technology myself. Haha. As for the Dahlias, I hope you have a great season. I've just been out to the garden and up to one of the Polytunnels but it's filthy weather going in and out, so I've given up for the day to be honest. I think I got about another 8 cuttings today. Some nice Vals Candy, Hillcrest Candy and Ryecroft Brenda T. I've also had a couple more cuttings starting to root, so they've been potted on into 3in pots. A Ryecroft Brenda T, a Trooper Dan and a Hillcrest Royal. So that makes 12 now I've potted up that will make some decent Mother plants going forward. Still have about 80 cuttings that are waiting to root. Should have some nice Avoca Amanda and Kenora Wow cuttings to take tomorrow.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 26, 2016 7:44:19 GMT
No, I don't grow for exhibition. Neither do I intend to. I used to be a decent Sportsman many years ago at County level in a few sports, so I always had a competitive edge. However, as I've got older, I realize that the only competition I need is with myself. I fully understand that in order to exhibit, and in the assumption there is always an element of space restrictions, then to specialize in fewer varieties but more plants is both the norm and needed. It's far more likely to get success from having 10-12 varieties, but 50 plants of each to get the quality and spread of blooms for the show season. For me, it's not like that. I love all forms of Dahlias and without the desire to show, I prefer to have 30 varieties, but 20 plants of each. It's still 600 plants whichever way you swing it. And also I prefer to have less plants but more varieties for 2 other reasons. Firstly by having less plants, there is less risk of diluting the stock. Secondly, I have a broad church of friends and family that all like different varieties. So by having more choices, I can give more away to friends and family. In addition to that, I also donate plants to my church fete every year, and the more varieties I have, the better it seems to go down. So for all those good practical reasons, I prefer to grow more varieties, but less plants from those varieties. Though I must admit that I would like to get the amount down to perhaps 30. The trouble is, that I keep seeing varieties I like for myself, so I'm always keen to grow them. Not for exhibiting as I have mentioned, just because I can. Do you collect seed...?
No, I don't yet. I'm still learning about the tuber/cuttings side of things and perfecting it, and really enjoying that side of things right now.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 22:28:50 GMT
Well said Jay, that's fantastic our chosen flower is great in its many many forms and so so easy to have just have one more variety. So yes each to their own. I to grow far far too many some 30 varieties just short of 600 plants. I've tried to upload some pics of my part set up, that I took today. I used my wifes' iphone, and the pictures that came out were a fantastic quality, boy these new phones are great these days! Unfortunately they are so good that their resolution is just too high to attach on here. So it looks like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way and use our Handycam tomorrow, whose resolution may be more in keeping with what can be uploaded on here.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 21:49:33 GMT
Hi Jay, if you are growing for your own pleasure then grow as many as you like as you say you have the time and enjoy what you are doing, so more power to your elbow. An observation of mine would be if you intend to show your Dahlias at local level, then most Dahlias grown to there full potential will do well for you, clean, good straight stems, freshness, no infestaion or insect damage, good size for the group, good centres in proportion to the size of the bloom some of the points to look for. If you are looking to show then I would be looking at some of the varieties you have and may be you don't need those. You will find you are probably growing better. No, I don't grow for exhibition. Neither do I intend to. I used to be a decent Sportsman many years ago at County level in a few sports, so I always had a competitive edge. However, as I've got older, I realize that the only competition I need is with myself. I fully understand that in order to exhibit, and in the assumption there is always an element of space restrictions, then to specialize in fewer varieties but more plants is both the norm and needed. It's far more likely to get success from having 10-12 varieties, but 50 plants of each to get the quality and spread of blooms for the show season. For me, it's not like that. I love all forms of Dahlias and without the desire to show, I prefer to have 30 varieties, but 20 plants of each. It's still 600 plants whichever way you swing it. And also I prefer to have less plants but more varieties for 2 other reasons. Firstly by having less plants, there is less risk of diluting the stock. Secondly, I have a broad church of friends and family that all like different varieties. So by having more choices, I can give more away to friends and family. In addition to that, I also donate plants to my church fete every year, and the more varieties I have, the better it seems to go down. So for all those good practical reasons, I prefer to grow more varieties, but less plants from those varieties. Though I must admit that I would like to get the amount down to perhaps 30. The trouble is, that I keep seeing varieties I like for myself, so I'm always keen to grow them. Not for exhibiting as I have mentioned, just because I can.
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 20:44:27 GMT
Hi Jay welcome , just been reading some of your posts, and although you say your a novice dahlia grower, you have a allotment and two tunnels , which is a great set up and you seem to no what your taking about , could you be wasting a season by growing to many varieties and trialling everything, some dahlias will be good for you and next season not be as good so trialling dahlias is a risky thing to do. Ste Oh I fully understand that in some ways what works well this year may not work quite as well in another year. However, in the absence of anything being an exact science, I'm at least reducing the risks by doing it this way. Sure it may only reduce the risks by 10%, but any help is always useful. I do take your comments on board, but I have the space, I have the facilities and I have the time, I love what I'm doing, and have a real appreciation of Dahlias, so what is it about growing 36 varieties that you feel could be a waste of time for me?
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