I'm Your Man.

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having a great day and looking forward to the weekend. You know there was a time back when I used to work pretty much seven days a week, or if not actually working I had the responsibility of work 24/7 which is often harder than the actual physical stuff so now when Friday comes its like breaking up for a holiday and even after having had five years of weekends off I still don’t take them for granted.

Anyway Dame Judi mentioned about the fact that I was talking earlier of bringing on Dahlia’s so as to take cuttings. Apparently this is not known to be possible by some of you which is a shame because it’s an easy way to increase your stock of favourite Dahlia’s so for those who missed it last year here is a link to a post I did back then.

[Click Here] to see how to take Dahlia cuttings.

Also with regard to the Rhubarb post last night, you are right about the special forcing pots Layanee These are intended more for outdoors where they are on show as they would look better than a plastic bag but if you aren’t bothered about looks – I’m your man LOL!

Sorry, as I was saying if you aren’t bothered about looks then what I’ve done with the bag will be okay or you can use some sort of tub placed upside down over the crown of the Rhubarb, the thing you are aiming for is to cut out all the light and this is what gives you the nice tender stalks. I don’t eat Rhubarb myself but apparently it tastes much better when forced. Also whilst I’m on the subject you must never eat the leaves of Rhubarb as they are poisonous. Don’t force a new plant as Rhubarb needs time to develop, in fact as with Strawberry plants you shouldn’t even harvest for the first year. The Rhubarb I’m forcing is part of an old root and will be thrown away once finished with.

Rhubarb Covered,

First Frost.

TODAYS WEATHER READINGS
So that I can post the readings on the same day as the blog post they are of the previous 24 hours up to 6 pm today.
Temp Low: -1C
Temp High: 6C
Rainfall: 0mm
Cont. Days Without Rain: 2
Dry Days This Month: 1
Wind Level For The Day 6
Pressure: 989.3
Weather: Bright and cold after a frosty start.

2009 Highs & Lows
Min for the year: -5 C (4th February)
Max for the year: 35 C (1st July)
Most rain in 24 hours: 39mm (5th June)
Longest dry period: 41 days (13th Sept – 24th Oct)

This morning we woke to the first frost of this autumn/winter.

I’m thankful for it in a way because now I can dig up any Dahlia’s that I want to put in to store. It probably wouldn’t have mattered had I dug them up with the tops still green but the traditional way is to let them get blackened by the frost first. I probably won’t be digging up all the tubers as most of them seem to survive when left in the ground but I will definitely be digging up and storing at least one tuber of each variety and any that I want to increase by cuttings next spring.

First Dahlia Flower.

For those of you who think that dahlia's are only a plant for Autumn colour please take a look below. I will admit that this plant was one of those that were lifted and stored but there are some that were left to chance in the border over winter that aren't too far behind, I will show you how far behind by doing a post on the first one as it comes to flower.

As I was planting the dahlia's on friday I did come across the odd one left out to over winter in the border that hasn't put up any shoots, some won't and some will come later, on the whole though they don't seem to have taken much harm and that was with temperatures down to minus five at times. I think the biggest threat to dahlia's being left out is not so much the frost, although that will kill them, but the wet which can cause the tubers to rot. If you have a sheltered border that doesn't get water logged then I wouldn't bother to dig up and store. One thing you do have to watch out for if leaving out is slugs that eat off the new shoots as they emerge so leaving you thinking that dahlia's didn't come up. This time I'm going to over plant the dahlia beds with wallflowers which should offer an additional layer of protection through the winter.

Rooted Dahlia Cuttings.

Good evening all. Tonight I’m going to show you my first Dahlia cuttings to root this year. There were seven in the pot and all but two have rooted. Below is how I root the cuttings in sealed plastic bags.



Below is how this particular pot came out of their bag. Still looking green and pretty fresh. I've heard it said not to let the leaves tounch the sides of the bag as they will rot but I can't say I ever have much trouble in that respect.

The best way to tell if your cuttings have rooted is to look under the pot and if you can see roots through the holes in the bottom then it’s safe to tip them out. You can of course tip them out anyway but you run the risk of the whole lot dropping on the floor and I find if you can’t see any roots through the holes in the bottom of the pot then even if they have started making roots they won’t be taking any harm. Below you will see one root coming out of the pot but even so it wouldn't have hurt to leave them another week.
Here below are the five cuttings with roots. When potting these on in to three inch pots you have to be very careful not to break off the roots as they are very delicate at this stage.
As the two cuttings that hadn't rooted weren't showing any signs of rotting I repotted them in the hope that they too will make some roots.
Bob.

Dahlia's From Tubers & Seed.

Dirt Princess said...
I am a bit confused...are these the same dahlias with bulbs, or no bulbs? I have seen dahlias you plant from seed and bulbs.

The dahlia cuttings I showed you yesterday were taken from bulbs (tubers). These tubers were dug up last year and stored in peat in a frost free place and then brought in to growth in February. The tubers are several years old. The reason for the cuttings are mainly to increase the stock of a particular variety. When I buy new dahlias I just buy the one and grow it on for a year and then take cuttings from it the following year. See below for the dahlias with tubers, boxed and starting to send up new shoots.

Also you can grow dahlias from seed very easily but they are just the same sort of dahlia as the ones with tubers, if you keep the seedlings long enough they too will form tubers, this will happen over the course of the summer. Below is a picture of the bedding dahlias I have growing from seed.

If you want to know anything else just ask.
Bob.

Taking Dahlia Cuttings.

A while ago I said that I would show you how I take dahlia cuttings, this also applies to certain other plants that will root from softwood cuttings. First of all you need to make sure you take the cutting from new growth and preferably with no flower, if you do end up with a flower attached pinch it off. You really want to be taking the cutting from just above a joint in the stem so that you have new growth of 3 to 4 inches long as below. The number 5 on the label you see is just to tell me the name of the dahlia. Rather than having to write Border Princess on every label I find it easier to give each variety a number as its easier to write down. I have a paper with the list of names plus a picture of the flower and the number I've given it so all I have to do to see what number 5 looks like is look it up on the paper. In this case Number 5 is actually 'My Love' and is medium sized white dahlia.

Once you have your material take it to a hard surface and trim off the stem to just below a joint as in the picture below. Use a very sharp knife as the cut needs to be a clean as possible. I use a modeling scalpel.

When you've cut off the stem below a joint remove the lower leaves leaving just 1 or 2 big leaves plus the growing tip as in the picture below. You can also see from this picture that the cuttings are about 3 inches in length.

Now fill a small pot with compost, I use a mix of half potting compost and half sharp sand but if you don't have the sand just compost will do, try not to over water it though. I add the sand to help drainage. Now push the cuttings in around the edge of the pot as you see in the picture below and then gently firm them in before adding a little water. They then need to be put somewhere bright and warm but out of direct sunlight. I pu mine in the warm greenhouse behind taller plants. A window sill in the house should be okay provided it doesn't et full sun on it.

A good idea with some plants is to put them inside a plastic bag as below. You do have to be careful of rotting if you do this though and its not something I would do with such as geraniums which are prone to rotting off at the best of times. It does seem to help with dahlia's though as they tend to droop all over the sides of the pots if not done like this.