Hybridizing Dahlias

Bessie · 2023-09-14T03:43:02+00:00

Krista to discover if seeds are growing in the seed pod, after there are no remaining anthers on the pod, gently squeeze the pods between your thumb and fing...

SteveM

Justafewdahlias I've had a this happen a few times, the last time was with a Peaches N Cream plant last year. It only happened to one plant out of about 200 so I assumed it was a genetic mutation. The plant was very healthy and the blooms were also slightly larger than normal. Unfortunately, the stems also became floppy (in my particular case) so it was an undesirable mutation and the plant was culled.

bloomhjelm

SteveM You need to be talking to Martha Stewart, who picked up the "daffodahlia" story on its social media. 🙂

SteveM

bloomhjelm Maybe "Daffodahlia" will replace "Cafe Au Lait" as the most popular wedding dahlia. That would be nice.

Teddahlia

Hollyhill Daydream won a Bronze medal for the best new foreign introduction. That is second place and I do not know what won first place.

calico20hill

Congratulations!

calico20hill

Teddahlia Genetic testing for humans can find your missing great greats. It has been a great source of entertainment through the winter months for me, tracing down people on our family trees far into the old times. I have made contact with other distant members of the expanded family and heard a lot of interesting stories. Its not that I want to find someone great and well known, but it does give insight into family relationships and customs. The interesting things that pop up, like finding out I was about 1/3 Scandinavian and not having a clue why....turns out that my mom's family were descended from some of the first settlers along the Delaware River who were a very early settlement from Denmark. I thought we were all English, Scots and Germans so that opened up a whole new interest for me.

bloomhjelm

I guess I am a little confused what mapping a genome of a complex octoploid organism will tell us. Talking about human DNA, my Ancestry DNA results were mapped to physical traits and only half of them were really present in me (like dark eyes, more likely to have peanut allergy.) Then you've got epigenetics and transposons and I don't even know what else that controls for gene expression.

My fun Ancestry DNA story though is that my father found out he had a secret half-brother. My grandfather had a dalliance with a girl before he shipped out to WWII. The half-brother didn't meet my grandfather's "real" family until 20 years after my grandpa passed, when the man was in his 70s. In typical Minnesotan fashion, everyone minded their own damn business until then. 🙂

Teddahlia

The genome of the dahlia is interesting but not overly useful for breeding dahlias at this time. It is one thing to know all the DNA sequences for an organism and another to know how they produce specific traits.

BackyardBouquets_17

This may be a very simple question.

If I have serveral dahlias ( same seed parent) exactly the colors I’m aiming for but open centered. If I breed those open centers to each other does the petal count improve or it’s a big gamble and anyone’s guess? They r close to being fully double so it’s not like it’s a single row of petals or something.
There is 2 out of that seed parent that are absolutely gorgeous and I do plan on using those.l but I’m curious about what happens with open centered siblings. Do the bad traits ( open centers) get more pronounced than the good?

Teddahlia

Since open center seedlings are the most common defect here, you would think after growing many thousands of them, I would be able to answer your question. We traditionally never used an open center for breeding until a year or so ago, An open center flower was near perfect in every other way and since it was a rare color and rare good form, we decided to grow some seedlings of it. Yes, it gave us a good closed center seedling when hand crossed with a fully double flower. Perhaps your seedlings could have fully double seedlings. The key here is that Margaret hand crossed it with a fully double really good seed parent. The fully double genes counteracted the open center genes. Would we do this again? Not likely, as there are enough full double flowers with good traits to cross with each other and there is great disappointment when you get those open centers.

Teddahlia

Margaret says this one is too green.

Krista

Teddahlia Thank you, this is of great help for us newbie seed collectors!

Teddahlia

I posted this picture of second year seedlings on Facebook twice in error. Meant to go on Hollyhill Dahlias where we post a picture every few weeks. I mistakenly posted it to Dahlia breeding and then left it there and then posted on Hollyhill Dahlias page. I like both of these second year seedling s. The red one folds up so much at night that it looks like the Boley's tulip flower. The orange one grows on a 6 foot(probably 7 feet) plant.

Teddahlia

Oops ! I planted two of the same color next to each other again! Margaret is not happy. The orange WL seedling has a sister seedling of the same color and same height planted next door. This one is better and in my notes I wrote one of them makes lots of tubers. I believe it is this one and we will see.

Juliarugula

Teddahlia I’ve been curious but never asked. Is Margaret’s rule about not planting two of the same color next to each other a practical rule or an aesthetic rule? I like to imagine that she likes a rainbow of colors as she walks through the garden. But maybe it’s just that it makes it easier to not mix up seedlings?

Teddahlia

"....practical rule or an aesthetic rule?"
Yes, there is a practical aspect to it as you risk confusing varieties when you evaluate or dig them. But I would say 75% is she does not want a big patch of the same color and a few years ago she would supervise me as I planted in more detail about what colors were allowed next to each other.
I find it hilarious that I fail at such a simple task. I will do better next year. Picture is same flowers with less cropping. Flower on right can look pretty good to cut flower growers but is not a classically formed waterlily. I like that way of saying it: "not a classically formed...." is better than saying the form is not real good.

magucci

Teddahlia I think you’re hilarious. I get such a kick out of your writing and humor and genuinely come here just to find your latest Margaret story 😂.

Teddahlia

Margaret had me mark one branch of a multi stalked plant as the flower on that branch was a different color. I dutifully followed her instructions. I took a picture of the special flower and here is a peek of it.
I expect that I will not be able to l save the sport but when we dig, I will know more.

SteveM

Teddahlia That one looks nice enough to try some cuttings from the laterals on that branch or a few leaf-node cuttings. As you know, it depends where (how high up) the mutation occurred on the stem.

Teddahlia

No place to overwinter a cutting here. I bet we can save it from the tubers.

Bessie

Teddahlia depending how "special" this flower is to you, and your interest in saving it... feel free to mail a few green cuttings to me ( mad scientist), as I've got some grow lights. Although I've had my share of failures rooting cuttings, I'm diligent to try to keep things alive. Also, I grew a huge (6" diameter ) plant of Lynn Slight on my kitchen window sill two years ago, just from a cutting. I'd happily mail any life back to you in late spring.

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