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See how the dahlia cutting is progressing. The dahlia cutting I took on the 3rd of February, two months on and it is looking good. A small bud is now visible, this would normally be removed but I am going to let it flower. Here is another view of the root
system which has developed in four weeks. This photo
clearly shows that with a square pot when the roots reach a corner
they proceed downwards whereas in a round pot the roots would
continue travelling around in circles. Here are one or two reminders of things to come. Firstly a bloom of Evelyn Foster (Medium Decorative dahlia) followed by a vase containing three blooms of Eastwood Moonlight (Medium Cactus dahlia) and finally a bed of dahlias growing as nature intended. As the month progresses the Dahlia cuttings taken during March
are potted up into three inch pots and after a short while are
transferred to the glasshouse. The propagating room becomes
empty whilst the glasshouse fills up. Here is a photo taken
on the 18th to illustrate just how full the glasshouse has become.
The glasshouse is divided up into five sections each ten
feet long, the top half of the photo shows the second and third
sections, the bottom part is the first section (1). This one shows the propagating
room the few cuttings that are remaining will be potted up within
two weeks and the whole room cleaned out ready for the start
of the next propagating cycle (2). And now for something completely different a Fuchsia decides to flower in mid April. The reason you don't move from the rooting bench to a five inch pot is because the ratio of root to compost would mean the plant would be sitting waterlogged in the large pot and the roots would simply rot away. When potting on the compost should be at the same temperature as the compost surrounding the plant. To achieve this goal I mix up my compost well in advance and it sits in the glasshouse in five gallon buckets. At the moment I have six five gallon buckets sitting full of compost ready for the move from 3 to 5 |
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