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Post by Raymond on Jan 25, 2016 13:12:11 GMT
A welcome from me jay65 I have used Jack's magic for my tubers. Seems to be ok. I used it last year and worked well. I mix mine with perlite rather than vermiculite. Won't be using it for the cuttings though. Noticed your growing Ruskin avenger one I hope to grow this year myself. All the best |
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jay65
Junior Member
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 16:51:47 GMT
A welcome from me jay65 I have used Jack's magic for my tubers. Seems to be ok. I used it last year and worked well. I mix mine with perlite rather than vermiculite. Won't be using it for the cuttings though. Noticed your growing Ruskin avenger one I hope to grow this year myself. All the best I think any media can vary slightly from batch to batch. But I'll just treat the tubers with kid gloves as they've already rooted in the main. And I'll either add more vermiculite to aid drainage or go back to last years Sinclairs Potting/vermiculite 50/50 for the rest of the cuttings this year. Ruskin Avenger was a decent performer but I wanted to try Ruskin Harmony as well this year. I have taken some pics today of my set up and progress so far this year. so I'll post them a bit later this evening. |
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Post by Cat on Jan 25, 2016 17:02:12 GMT
Hi Cat, Dave's choice is a miniature Dec white with a lavinder flush, Winkie Lambrusco is a red pompon it won the seedling class to years ago at Harrogate it is rather a big Pompon so could be grown as a large Pom. Thanks ian this helps. I am still trying to get my head around the sizing and catagories lol  |
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Post by Cat on Jan 25, 2016 17:07:50 GMT
Hi jay65 Raymond re the jack's magic I had exactly the same problem with watering last year and I do not like it sitting rather than soaking away. I think some of my watering issues were due to jacks magic, which is a shame as i can get it at a very very good price. I f anyone has any suggestions then tag me too - lol |
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Post by robh on Jan 25, 2016 17:46:40 GMT
hi jay 75 welcome and where are you based
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 17:55:41 GMT
Hi jay65 Raymond re the jack's magic I had exactly the same problem with watering last year and I do not like it sitting rather than soaking away. I think some of my watering issues were due to jacks magic, which is a shame as i can get it at a very very good price. I f anyone has any suggestions then tag me too - lol I think all you can do is mix it with Perlite or Vermiculite to help with drainage, but obviously that dilutes it's effect to some extent, and means the tubers may need a feed a little more often. As for cuttings, my preference would be to not use it at all. |
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jay65
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by jay65 on Jan 25, 2016 17:56:30 GMT
hi jay 75 welcome and where are you based Hi Robh. I'm down near Oxford by the way. |
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Post by ste b on Jan 25, 2016 20:18:54 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
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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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Post by ian on Jan 25, 2016 21:24:38 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.
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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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Post by ian on Jan 25, 2016 22:11:57 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.
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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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Post by Moonlight on Jan 26, 2016 0:40:20 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 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.
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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