Trial age:
The Classification book says: "The new variety becomes eligible for evaluation in it's third year." That is the same sentence for both trial garden and bench evaluation.
I have been told that when there is a conflict of information, that the Classification and Handbook of Dahlias is the official information. It says "...in it's third year'. It does not say at the "end" of the third year . Based on that, a third year seedling is eligible for both trial and bench evaluation.
There is no way to "police" the age and they have been lenient on it for several years now. Old breeders may not have time to wait another year. In a way, that is not a smart thing to do as seldom does anybody have much stock of a younger seedling and for most people, they would like some monetary return for all the work put into the breeding. So, certainly not a first year seedling as there is only one plant. I cannot imagine a second year seedling having enough stock to even enter a few trial gardens. After the third year, most growers have enough stock to enter a few trial gardens but still do not have a lot of tubers to sell. So, the 4th year(grown for three years and entered for the 4th year) is a more logical answer from the breeders perspective. Are there entries after the second year of growing, that we can call the "third' year? I bet there are some. Are there 5th and 6th year seedlings entered? Yes, one grower says he waits five or six years.
