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Post by dcdahlia on May 21, 2011 21:21:00 GMT
Hi I grew 12 plants of rosenndale lewis 2 years ago and only managed to show 1 flower in a single bloom class.I found the centres were blowing early and it was very clock faced it went straight on the compost heap.I also grew marston lilac a few years ago and had some great blooms but found I had to grow it 7/8 up to get it up to size and in my opinion this is not great for a mini.I have been thinkin of trying marston suzanne and barbarry pip myself but you can only grow so much and I had good sucess last year with the mini dec dikara superb winning a bronze medal at my society show.Never grown a mini cactus.I have already seen your website.would like to know how your suzanne and pip do.
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Post by sirplantalot on May 21, 2011 21:32:58 GMT
I managed to get my Dahlias into the ground today apart from 8 that I am growing in large tubs.  I made sure I put plenty of slug pellets down as we unfortunately have a lot of them and snails where we live.  I placed a cane at the back of each plant as I planted them in. I had prepared the soil before hand adding J. Arthur Bowers Fish blood & Bone and raking it in. This was on top of the compost and horse manure That I had dug in a couple of weeks ago. So fingers crossed that they will settle in OK and hopefully produce some nice blooms.  |
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Post by scrumpy on May 21, 2011 21:37:01 GMT
Very true scrumpy. Id be interested to know what varieties you are growing this year. Paul Alvas Supreme, Fairway Spur.....giant dec Kenora Challenger*....Large semi cactus White Charlie Two, Dikara Moon *, Ryecroft Rebel*...med dec Staleen Condessa, Susan Gilliott*, Pims Moonlight, Ruskin Bride*, Primrose Pastelle.....med semi catus Ryecroft Zoe*, Ruskin Andrea*, Oretti Bliss*, Kilmorie....small semi cactus Ryecroft Brenda*, Barbarry Cosmos, Senzoe Ursula, Winholme Dianne, Barbarry Melody*....small decs Kens Choice....small ball Mary's Jomanda*....min ball Heather Jean*, Ann Breckenfeltder*...collarettes Decided this year to go for a load of new varieties which i've asterisked, although i've grown Challenger and Mary's Jomanda before, so really looking forward to a new challenge and some more striking colours. |
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Post by scrumpy on May 21, 2011 21:41:11 GMT
Hi I grew 12 plants of rosenndale lewis 2 years ago and only managed to show 1 flower in a single bloom class.I found the centres were blowing early and it was very clock faced it went straight on the compost heap.I also grew marston lilac a few years ago and had some great blooms but found I had to grow it 7/8 up to get it up to size and in my opinion this is not great for a mini.I have been thinkin of trying marston suzanne and barbarry pip myself but you can only grow so much and I had good sucess last year with the mini dec dikara superb winning a bronze medal at my society show.Never grown a mini cactus.I have already seen your website.would like to know how your suzanne and pip do. last year i grew charlie two and for the first time in god knows how long i didn't get a single bloom as every single one had the dreaded open green centre....and half my white charlie two's went the same way. |
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Post by dcdahlia on May 21, 2011 21:53:30 GMT
hi just found this forum, I grow dahlias for show in my 70 foot by 20 foot allotment in the north east.I am a member of bishop auckland c&d society and show at our society show,wolsingham show and numerous other local shows.I also showed at harrogate last year for the first time winning a silver medal for best vase in novice section (ruskin michelle) and a bronze medal for a single bloom of jomanda. Welcome to the forum Mr Davis, you certainly had a good year at Harrogate, you forgot to mention your win with the poms Minley Carol. ;D Hope i see you there this Autumn. Thanx, I got as much satisfaction with a third place In the single vase class of mini decs with andrea lawson than the first tickets,finishing in front of the likes of dave spencer and Ian sutherland etc. |
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Post by dcdahlia on May 21, 2011 22:04:07 GMT
Thanx,hoping to show at harrogate but its a long time between now and then.Nearly wasn't showing at all lost every tuber this winter,spent £200 buying some stock back in and got some plants given off phill watson,taken a lot of cuttings off mother plants and have managed to scrape together about 300 plants to plant out .Have also made sure i have kept some pot tubers of each variety this year.Planning to plant the following: CRAIGOWEN (LARGE CACTUS) 10 RUSKIN MICHELLE (MED SEMI CACTUS) 24 GRENIDOR PASTELLE (MED SEMI CACTUS) 16 JOAN WALKER (SMALL DEC) 24 LEOPOLD CHLOE (SMALL DEC) 20 RYECROFT BRENDA T (SMALL DEC) 30 KIWI GLORIA (SMALL CACTUS) 24 OAKWOOD GOLDCREST (SMALL SEMI CACTUS) 24 DIKARA SUPERB (MINI DEC) 24 RYECROFT JAN (MINI DEC) 12 BLYTON SOFTER GLEAM (SMALL BALL) 20 MARYS JOMANDA (MINI BALL) 24 JOMANDA (MINI BALL) 10 ALL OF THE ABOVE WILL BE COVERED. MINLEY CAROL (POM) 12 MOORPLACE (POM)12 RHONDA SUZANNE (POM) 4 JEAN ELLEN (MED FIM) 8 ROSENNDALE PARKY (MINI DEC) 4 RUSKIN SENSATION (MED SEMI CACTUS) 2 KELSEA CARLA (SMALL SEMI CACTUS) 3 THESE OTHERS WILL BE GROWN OUTSIDE. I am aiming for the intermediate championship class at harrogate. Hello There and welcome. I am from the other end of the country in the deep South West. I'll be interested in your growing methods, and even more so on your findings with varieties (I know should be cultivar but I cant help it!) grown. Regards, Kelsae Carla, on its day its a cracker but too inconsistent with top quality. Can fimbriate too in hot weather. I found its one that races and I grew it for several years, planting out plants of it barely say 3 inches high. And still I would need to imply a 'knock back' procedure. My main dahlia is Trelyn Kiwi and grow 24, so thats 1/4 my total. Some others Im growing are Barbarry Pip x12, Oakwood Goldcrest x 6, Weston Buccaneer x 6, and others of 4's and 3's of mini decs, small decs, msc, min-sc, md, ssc etc. I have a dahlia website for information not business called Paul's Dahlia Guide. Look forward to your write ups here. Regards, Paul I got the kelsea carla of the raiser (who is a member of our society) after I gave him some ryecroft brenda t |
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Post by scrumpy on May 21, 2011 22:29:19 GMT
 these were left over kelsae carla used in a display i did at shrewsbury show a few years ago. The plants grew very tall in my garden, always a good shape and colour. I stopped growing them because it wouldn't form a decent tuber so cuttings were impossible. ps, they came from 6 plants |
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Post by sirplantalot on May 22, 2011 0:08:52 GMT
Someone on eBay is selling cuttings / plants from their exhibition stock. Their feedback is very good for their plants so I thought I would have a go at 3 of them. I have ordered 1 each of Mary's Jomanda, Winholme Diane and Trelyn Kiwi. They were £1.50 each plus £2.48 for P&P so £6.98 total. With a bit of luck I will get a decent tuber for next season. |
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Post by sirplantalot on May 22, 2011 10:49:04 GMT
The local forecast for today was sunshine and showers and a little windy. As I look out the window it is torrential rain and gail force winds. Just my luck when I have just planted out my Dahlias.  They are taking a right old battering. I will just have to cross my fingers and hope for minimal damage. |
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Post by Fractal on May 22, 2011 10:50:51 GMT
Looks like we all have these strong winds :/
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Post by Lou78W on May 22, 2011 14:44:18 GMT
I need to plant mine out soooonnnn....they are getting quite big  ...Went down thismorning and put them all in the polytunnel...didn't want them blowing all over the site   |
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Post by Tel on May 22, 2011 16:00:08 GMT
Geranium i copied your post over here.
I watched Monty Don cutting out the growing points of his Dahlias on GW - I haven't done that, because I want flowers for my open days...but I wondered whether our experts cut them as far back as he did. I have some kept back for my plant stall - should I do those?
For gardens i would just let them grow naturally once the first bloom has flowered the plant will naturally send shoots from the leaf joints. Unless you want earlier blooms then you would take out the growing tip.
Some growers do stop them that far back, for giants they can stop them above 2 pairs of leaves because they usually grow 3 blooms on giants that would then give them 4 stems, then the 4 stems may be reduced to 3 stems depending on the variety by taking off the weakest stem of the 4
The majority of growers who show them, will take the growing tip out of the plant, i take out the growing tip off my plants, i do half my plants in the last week in June and the other half a week later so i can cover all my shows in September.
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Post by scrumpy on May 22, 2011 17:15:22 GMT
How far back i cut depends upon the state of the plant and variety.
90% of my plants are now stopped.
Before stopping i'll check down the leaf joints for signs of laterals. I'll stop, or cut off the growing point, to the last pair of leaves above number of laterals i need, so if i see 6 pairs of leaves growing laterals plus the growing point i'll cut back to the fourth pair leaving me 8 choices, if you see what i mean.
If i can't see any laterals then i'll just take out the growing point and see what develops.
I aim for 8 laterals on smalls and mediums, eventually cutting back to 5-8, depending on the variety.
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Post by dcdahlia on May 22, 2011 18:29:23 GMT
Just back from rotorvating 20 kg of chicken pellets into my dahlia beds,going to plant out my poms next weekend and have a week off work 4th of june and plant out everything else then.My poms 12 minley carol and 12 moor place have alraedy had a stop in there pots and will get another stop a little later.Got 4 plants given off phil watson today, 4 of his own cultivar
leopold sophie a white small dec to try,sophie was best seedling at harrogate year before last.
still waiting for some plants to arrive from lochend dahlias ,16 grenador pastelle was hoping to get them much earlier than this has I wanted to be planting big plants out that have already had a stop so I can get another stop in them not to sure if they will be worth planting out now whenever they arrive.
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Post by Tel on May 22, 2011 18:35:11 GMT
They may be ok if you have any late shows backend of Sept beginning of Oct, have you grown this one before ? because they do not like hot summers.
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I made sure I put plenty of slug pellets down as we unfortunately have a lot of them and snails where we live. 
I placed a cane at the back of each plant as I planted them in. I had prepared the soil before hand adding J. Arthur Bowers Fish blood & Bone and raking it in. This was on top of the compost and horse manure That I had dug in a couple of weeks ago. So fingers crossed that they will settle in OK and hopefully produce some nice blooms. 
They are taking a right old battering. I will just have to cross my fingers and hope for minimal damage. 
...Went down thismorning and put them all in the polytunnel...didn't want them blowing all over the site 
