Saving seeds

Juliarugula

I have a few A sized seed pods developing, but am a little worried about them not having enough time to ripen. I know I can bring them inside in a vase to ripen a bit more whenever I end up needing to cut them, but until then I was wondering…

Would removing new flower buds help the plant to push more energy towards developing the seed pods faster? I have one plant in particular that is just getting ready to explode with blooms, but I’d really prefer good seeds in its three developing pods over a bunch more blooms.

Thoughts?

Bessie

Juliarugula I would make sure the plant is watered sufficiently so the forming seeds continue to grow. I would spray the buds and stems with liquid fertilizer such as Miracle Grow to give a little nutritional boost. The fertilizer is probably not necessary, but makes me feel good 😊.
I don't think the new blooms are a big deal to the seed formation, but I'm interested in hearing what others have be to say.

Teddahlia

Getting A sized pods to ripen is no problem when they have no seeds in them. I want seeds in them. Some varieties make a few seeds. I don't know any A or AA that makes lots of seeds. If it were easy breeding large and giants, there would be 20 or 30 introduced each year. Where are they?

Juliarugula

Teddahlia I don't know any A or AA that makes lots of seeds.

I’m fine with a few seeds. I don’t really have a goal of breeding big blooms, I just really like this one, and it feels like there are at least a few seeds in these pods.

Unfortunately, I have no mad schemes for improving the number of seeds set on A and AA blooms! 🤣

Teddahlia

Breeding giant dahlias: Climate has lot to do with it. In California, Almand was able to breed many big dahlias including our favorite Show-N-Tell. He lived in the Bay area and I talked to a woman who knew him and coincidentally had nothing bad to say about him. Giant seed pods need a very long season to ripen. In Australia , the Winkie man could also get seeds. In South Africa , the Penhill breeder had the good climate.

MissyWeitzel

Maybe growers in cooler areas who are looking to get seeds from giants could grow some in grow bags and then chuck 'em in the garage if frost or rain was predicted. Or better yet, have the grow bags on a sturdy rolling wagon. Now that I think about it that would be good for a traveling "isolation bed" too. Roll that baby away from the other dahlias during pollination, then roll it back once the pods are closed.

Justafewdahlias

MissyWeitzel I grew most plants in pots/grow bags last year. Last year I did chuck the ones I wanted to get seeds from in a garage on nights that looked cold, or if there was a super windy storm coming…. And then brought them back outside in the day…..so pots with wheels or the wagon idea would make this way less of a hassle!

I eventually got worn out moving pots in and out so I kept them in the garage all day and night with grow lights in the day…also it started raining so much and I was worried of everything turning to mush. A couple of my plants I want to collect seeds from I planted in pots this year vs raised bed so I can baby them and bring them inside in case of unexpected frost…..last year here in Tacoma, WA I’m not sure exactly what our “frost day” was but I do remember I had a sunflower bloom in early December 😂

Teddahlia

Or better yet, put the potted giants into your greenhouse.

Teddahlia

We are ahead of schedule shucking seeds. Always try to get seeds from giants and large dahlias and have harvested an above average crop and the season is not over. However it has been wet for several days and the pods I marked to ripen on the plants are a bit wet and I need to check on them. Digging season starts soon.
2011 seedling

Juliarugula

Teddahlia how long do you leave your giant/large seed pods on the plant (ideally)? I’m feeling a little cranky about a possibility of frost in a week. Trying to decide if it would be best to cover the pods with corn tassel bags and hope that protects them enough, or cut the pods and bring them inside to ripen longer in jars. I marked them four weeks ago, so they’ll be at five weeks next week. The seeds are looking brown but not black. My intuition says they’ll need longer on the plant…. Gah.

(Really hoping that possibility of frost just goes away. It’s supposed to be nearly ninety this weekend! Too big of a jump - I would like some autumn…)

Teddahlia

I do not go by time on the plant but look at the pods. Some seeds are brown when ripe. If the seed pod is obviously not getting nutrition from the plant and is shriveling, the seeds are quite probably ripe. Remember too that giant seeds have a terrible germination rate even from nice looking seeds. I always say if breeding giant dahlias was easy there would 20 or 30 new ones out each year. I have saved whole bunch of "A" sized seeds and most of what I say about giants applies to them too.

calico20hill

Just completed the first round of seed gathering. I have enough to keep me busy for a while, processing them. So far I have not seen anything ominous in the weather predictions....