DSC eNewsletter

July, 2006
NEXT MEETING: July 11th @7:30 PM @ 9^th & Lincoln. Program: Deborah will discuss how to transport dahlias, to match vases to specimens, to combine with unique greenery and to share with friends. Please bring your favorite way of transporting dahlias to friends’ houses or to shows. Diana will sell Dahlias of Today and Growing Guide to Dahlias and the last chance for replacement dahlias for sale. At 6:30 Deborah will conduct a hands-on seminar in the Dahlia Dell: de-leafing, disbranching, pinching out, and disbudding.
GOOD GROOMING HABITS: Lou Paradise discussed how good grooming yields higher quality blooms. Why “pinch out” or “stop” a dahlia? When your dahlia forms its first bud, usually accompanied by a bud on each side, it is generally a small plant. By eliminating all three of these terminal buds and the two accompanying leaves you “stop” the energy of the plant from producing this first bloom and force the energy to go into the nascent laterals, thus pushing for a bushier plant. Some growers perforce pinch all their dahlias; some people do not pinch. Lou tends to pinch those whose initial blooms would be oh-so crotch-bound on a stumpy short stem—otherwise, he is so anxious to see those first flowers, he lets them bloom away. Which laterals to keep and which to disbranch? Laterals are the stems which grow laterally from the main stalk at each leaf node and will eventually produce flowers. If you let the lower laterals near the base of the stalk develop, they will wax very heavy and often-- just before flowering-- break. Avoid this calamity early. Take off these bottom laterals when the plant is @18” tall. As the plant continues to grow, strip the bottom trunk clean. On a 5’ plant, Lou sometimes has the first 12-14” of stalk bare. Again, this forces the energy into the laterals producing flowers.
When and what to deleaf? Eliminate leaves which touch the dirt. This gives less opportunity for bugs to climb up, or earwigs to find shelter, or fungus to settle. To get more light and air down into the center of your clump, remove the leaves after a lateral is well established. Can you “time” blooms for shows? Given our crazy weather in the Bay Area ranging from cool low 50’s to the upper 90’s, foggy to blazing sun, timing is neigh impossible. However, in general, for a large flower, consider development from ¼” laterals to bloom in 55-65 days! A pea-sized bud unfurls in 20-35 days. Lastly, Why disbud? Leaving one bud per stem yields a bigger flower on a stronger stem. Eliminating the 2-3 attendant buds at first seems criminal—after all isn’t the whole aim to have a lot of flowers? However, despite disbudding, a plant still yields almost as many blooms and they are of a better quality. (Trust me on this.) When growing A’s and AA’s, many growers double or triple disbud: they take not only the attendant 2-3 buds off where the main bloom will be, but they also eliminate any chance for flowers one or two levels below that main bloom. This forces a lot more energy into that single glorious HUGE flower. Ideally , Lou likes one plant per stake. He begins tying them up early and often. Likewise, he begins spraying for mildew long before he sees damage.
SOWING HIS WILD OATS: Thanks to Dick for bringing in a bucket of 10’ wild oats. Delicious thanks to Mary for bringing her yummy cake and a bag of milk cartons to share. Thanks to John for bringing succulents and stakes looking for good homes. Thanks to Deborah for bringing in growing dahlias for last minute replacements. Kudos to Jamie and Rosa for the glossy magazine article about their Aztec Dahlias operation up in Sonoma. Filoli Estates in Woodside near Crystal Reservoir has two large dahlia beds. Tour in September for a fascinating look at the history of the peninsula via architecture and check out the excellent dahlias. Special thanks to Webmaestro Ted. Monterey Bay uses Ted’s “5 Simple Steps to Growing Dahlias” on their website with a quick link to DSC’s website. The LA newsletter featured an entire page from Kevin’s outstanding talk. John McLeod reports that the DSC newsletter flits about New Zealand as they prepare to put their tubers to rest for their winter.
NATIONAL SHOW INVITATION: Here is a great website for the national show, Sept. 14-18 This site has the registration form ($120 before July 31; $140 afterwards) as well as hotel information, tour schedules, and show venue. What a great opportunity to see fabulous blooms and meet famous bloomerati!
KQED DAHLIA PLEDGE NIGHTS: Lou Cornish (415 388 1671) and Baker Bill (650 871 7200) encourage volunteers to man the phones during televised pledge nights. Besides lots of fun and a lovely dinner, you display lovely dahlias on your tables which are ultimately raffled off at the end of the evening. Lou and Bill are also soliciting volunteers to help man shifts at the DSC booth of the South San Francisco Day in the Park, Sept. 23, 9-4:00.
GREAT DATES: 8/5-6 San Leandro Show San Leandro Library 8/19-20 San Francisco Show Hall of Flowers GG Park 8/26 Picnic Dahlia Dell GG Park 9/2-3 Monterey Show Capitola Mall 9/7-8 San Jose Show Valco Mall 9/16-17 National Show Long Island, New York 9/23 South San Francisco Fair South San Francisco
GET POTTED: INSURANCE FOR NEXT YEAR: Pot roots started this time of year could be invaluable next spring. With the unrelenting rains this year, many people lost stock to rot. Having a stash of pot roots would have saved them. To make pot roots, simply start some cuttings from plants you grow now. I use the 3-6” branchlets that I clean off from lower stalks. Ideally, you would dip these in rooting hormone, pop into sterilized soil and tuck into a humidified greenhouse. My dahlia godfather uses 100% perlite; Lou Lombardo uses a perlite sterilized soil mixture treated with Bayer Advanced™ Tree & Shrub Insect Control Concentrate. However, I simply rip the mini laterals off the stalk, scoop dirt from the garden into a 4x4” container, water immediately, and label. I cram these 4x4’s tightly together outside and water and fertilize. I win some; I lose some. But since I was going to throw them away if I didn’t plant them, I’m sanguine. When these flower—which they will!—double check with the label again. In the course of the summer, tubers begin to fill the 4x4.
By the end of the season, you can simply stack them all on top of each other and stash them away in a big box or dusty corner of the garage. In the spring, these mini-clumps will have multiple eyes. You have the option of planting the whole gnarly clump or cutting it in pieces, each with its own growing green sprout. If you are like Lou Lombardo, you will cosset these growing plants through Thanksgiving, pinching liberally to encourage a busy appearance with many growing tips. From these you can make more cuttings for our tuber sale and for your own garden. Essentially, pot roots allow you to produce many mini-plants making mini root balls in a small space from material you would have thrown away. For the size of one giant tuber with perhaps one eye, a pot root give you the probability of multiple eyes in the same volume. Nifty? Try it!
MASTER GARDENERS AT THE DELL: Paula and Kat, graduates of the Master Gardener program, practiced hands-on pinching out, de-leafing, and deadheading. They both tried a hand at potroot production. Paula generously researched waterproof paper and produced beautiful labels for Deborah’s section. Thanks to VZ for planting, berming and raking. Sarah kept Rose company while operating Ted’s water system. Paula deadheaded with Tinnee whilst munching on burritos. Mmmm. We all delighted in the first flowers of the year: Sean C, Juul’s Amethyst, Nenekazi, Franz Kafka, and Inland Dynasty.
JULY JUBILATION! Blooms at last! Proper grooming and judicious spraying should yield a bumper crop of glorious dahlias from now until Thanksgiving. Let the season begin! Disbud, de-leaf, disbranch, deadhead. When I de-leaf, I check the backside for critters or eggs to give me an idea of what is portending. Water when your plants look as though they need it. In foggy gloomy San Francisco you may only need to water once a week. During the sweltering crush of heat in Novato you may need to water every day. During the triple digit siege in Idaho my brother mists for 10 minutes every hour in addition to regular watering Read your plants' needs.
At home, I spray every two weeks with a combination superbloom fertilizer, fungicide, and bugicide, all mixed with a little dishwashing soap (not detergent.) Practice quality control. Eliminate any plant abnormally stunted—it could be virused. Just throw it out into the garbage and not the compost heap. Check your labels against the actual flower produced. My CG Eclipse turned out to be Sean C. Surprise! Cruise the thrift stores and garage sales for containers. Arrange to tour gardens of your fellow DSC members to learn their secrets.
Looking ahead on what you might need to do in the coming months? Check out the Monthly Calendar.

Dahlia Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA -- Copyrighted Chief Editor: Deborah Dietz eNewsletter Editor: Ted Marr Acknowledgement: Photos in this issue by Deborah, Rose and Ted.