By now the plants should be growing quite steadily, and may well have produced some
early flowers, depending on the time you first planted.
To help you in getting the best flowers from your plants read the notes below.
This will help to get the maximum number of flowers if you merely want to pick for
the vase, or if you are considering having a go at exhibiting will help you produce
flowers of the correct size.
Miniature types: Having shaped these bushes earlier by pinching out the centre
growing tip, there should now be quite a few lateral shoots which are producing buds.
Once the bud is beginning to show colour, it is time to thin out a few of the surplus.
It is not usually necessary to prune the side shoots on these miniature types, but
just to limit the number of buds. On all other types, with the exception of Ball,
Pompon, and dwarf, it is necessary to disbud to some extent to gain the full sized
blooms required.
For Giant and Large flowered varieties which have been grown on only one
stem, a secondary pruning is made when the buds appear at the top of the plant.
For exhibition, the "crown bud" is usually retained. At this stage, a side bud
can also be left in case the crown bud is not satisfactory, or doesn't provide a
long enough stem. (The "crown bud" is the central bud of the top set of three)
You then continue on down the stem and remove all unwanted side shoots from the
leaf joints, with the exception of three or four which will provide flowers
later on. If you select the ones to save at different levels and sides of the
plant, this will not only spread the flowering out over a period of time but
help to shape the plant nicely.
Plants which have been growing on multiple stems are treated a bit different,
when it comes to disbudding. After removing all surplus buds as above, the laterals
(side shoots) are then removed all the way down the branch apart from the last leaf
joint, where one lateral is retained for future flowers. This will then in turn
produce three buds, which can then be disbudded to retain the best one.
Keep removing weeds from around stems. Mulch can be applied to the Dahlia
beds but do keep it a few inches away from the stems. Make sure the ground is
damp at the time of applying, and pull it away from the plants when you are
going to apply any granular or powdered fertilizer.
Pompons: Most varieties don't require disbudding at all apart from the odd
bud removal which will give a better stem for picking. Some cultivars are known
to be on the small side, and need a little bit of disbudding to bring them up to
show size, but once you have grown them for a year or two you will get to know
the requirements for the different varieties.
Dwarfs: these grow well in large pots or in the front border. No disbudding
is required, but dead heading is very necessary. They do produce a lot of
flowers all season long if the dead flowers are constantly removed once they are
past their best.
Continue watering, spraying and fertilizing over the next two or three months
and you will have flowers until late April and well into May.
