DAHLIA PROPAGATION

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 93, 13 January 1939, Page 16

DAHLIA PROPAGATION

“Take” Summer Cuttings When thinking of dahlia propagation, specially the choice kinds, two points strike you. One is the oncoming winter. You never know whether in spite of the best treatment, you won’t lose your choicest varieties, and there will be nothing to propagate from. The other point is that if you strip, at the usual cuttings time, a good sort in order to get cuttings, which may not strike, you exhaust or even kill the parent. That is why it is always a good idea to take a few cuttings now. They will root well and, if kept growing as long as possible, they will form nice little tubers, and grow into excellent specimens another year. Your work in removing side-shoots tells you that there is an abundance of suitable cuttings. Any of these side-shoots, when 2in. long, are ideal. Cut then) out at the base in the ordinary way. Plant straight away. Set the cuttings separately in thumb pots, burying them as far as the second joint. Use a riddled compost of loam 3 parts, leaf-mould and sand 1 part each'. Sand the top of the compost so that plenty falls into the cutting hole. After watering through a rosed can, stand the pots in a closed cold frame, which must be shaded from bright sun for a fortnight to three weeks. Then gradually take off the lights, and give the cuttings full exposure till the end of March, when room must be made for them on a greenhouse shelf.