Starting dahlia seeds

calico20hill · 2023-03-05T22:07:16+00:00

I am excited to see plants growing form Rock Run Ashley seeds I collected last year. I don't think I have tried seedlings from it before. I started quite...

Teddahlia

Seedlings each have their own plant tag with the parentage written on it. Note that hand crosses take up twice as much writing and Margaret likes to add even more writing so she does those tags. Numbering only applies to those that are selected to be grown again. We use the two digit year, and our best seedling last year was 22-02, the second seedling we marked to keep. HH Lilibet was seedling 20-134 and for some reason we liked 133 other seedlings before we decided to save our Lilibet. Most years have many fewer than 100 kept. to grow again. We record the classification of the seedling onto a paper log and usually add some stupid comments like Margaret likes and Ted Hates. Supposedly, we take a picture of all the kept seedlings but for some reason many go without pictures. We use flagging tape with writing on it to mark the good seedlings. When we are in hurry, often there is no writing on the flagging tape and we find it wrapped around the seedling when we dig it. It is amazing how such a simple system can get screwed up every year. Seedling 22-88 classification unknown, picture not taken or worse picture taken but no info on what one it was. Why are always in hurry when we mark a nice seedling? Sometimes we have found three pieces of flagging tape on a seedling, all with nothing written on them. Three times liked but not well enough to record the necessary information. The paper log kept in the garden is always getting wet and I take a picture of it with the cell phone just in case it gets destroyed(it was partially eaten by something one year and the pictures saved the information)

Seedling 20-40, fate to be determined.

SteveM

My father used the same numbering system Ted describes. My father and I often trialed each other's seedlings so I labeled mine with the opposite so we would not confuse the seedlings (e.g. "1 -23" will be the first seedling i save this year.) The trick is to not mark any seedlings to save unless I am also carrying my "seedling notebook" to describe the seedling. Once I have an entry in my notebook I will flag the seedling with surveyor's tape. I tie the tape around the stalk at the base of the seedling, I also place a label on each side of the seedling with the seedling number facing the seedling. If a seedling looks especially promising I will cut it back to about 18" and dig and repot it into a 1 gal. nursery pot ao start taking cuttings immediately.
This system works🙂 pretty well until I forget where my assistant "hid" my seedling notebook.

MissyWeitzel

I haven't grown enough seedlings previously to keep a seedling notebook, however I do keep a lot of detailed info on each named variety I grow in a big spreadsheet on Google Drive. Because it's "in the cloud" I can access it from any device and record things like date of first bloom right out in the dahlia patch super easily and the updated data is there the next time I look at it on my computer. When I start a new year on my spreadsheet I log date of first bloom for each year I've grown that cultivar so just at a glance I can see a lot of information about everything I grow.

This year I'll have to add a seedling spreadsheet!

I log ADS class numbers when applicable for each variety too, which comes in handy for filling out my tags at dahlia shows. I don't have to keep looking everything up in my classification handbook. All this logging is a decent amount of work upfront but it sure is nice to just be able to pull my phone out and update something in 1 minute.

Bessie

I already know I am horrible at keeping plant tags readable and in place. So for my dahlias I went all out. This is my first year growing saved seeds from named varieties. As I planted the sprouted seeds into 3 ounce size Dixie cups, they got a tag with the variety of the seed parent ( A .. Z) . Alloway Candy was Z, so those seedlings got labeled 23-Z. When they were ready to be potted up, the label went into the pot. A few weeks later, I set up a number system 23001 to 23084 for all the seedling varieties. In my record book(composition book), which is dedicated to Dahlia Seedlings, I gave every seedling a number. Next to the number I recorded the seed parent, characteristics of the seedling such as husky, strong, weak root system, pinnate leaves, branching, light green , dark green, red petioles, large leaves, small leaves, etc. The seedling number was written on the container with a grease pencil, and a photo of each seedling was taken, with the seedling number written on the photo. I plan to take a photo of every seedling's mature leaf.
I have already recorded the percentage of characteristics for each seedling parent. For example, the percentage of stocky seedlings from Alloway Candy was recorded. I made sturdy 2" x 8" white plastic tags for each seedling planted into the ground, which has the seedling number clearly written in grease pencil.
My goal as a breeder is to associate seedling characteristics with the mature plant characteristics.
I'm not so sure how this will all translate if my number of seedlings grow, but for this year it works, so far.

Teddahlia

Plant vigor is a trait we record in our notes when we evaluate the seedling. Most all of our seedlings have good vigor as we have been breeding for that for many years. Dark foliage or stems are usually recorded in the emarks.

Teddahlia

Sprouted seeds are being placed into their pots and my paper towels are working fine and Margaret did some in paper towels too but she curses too much taking them out of the fibrous paper.and says she will do the next batch in pots. Running out of room in the daylight basement as the cuttings of dahlias , cuttings of hanging pot plants and seedlings growing in their pots is taking all the space under the lights. I am taking some out into our small heated greenhouse to make room. [

calico20hill

I sure would like to grow HH Tiger Rose in my garden!

Yes, I know that story of cuttings and seedlings everywhere. It is only because of the two kittens we adopted in December that I don't have tables set up in my sunny family room with the 6 big windows. But it is enough warmer outside now that I am setting a lot of non-dahlia seedlings on shelves outside in the rain, thus clearing room for more dahlia tubers and seedlings. We've had more then an inch of rain today so I don't have to worry about watering the ones that are outside...

MissyWeitzel

I started my dahlia seeds in pots because I have so much going on I was afraid I'd miss the appropriate stage if starting them in paper towel. So far only 8 of 32 have sprouted and now I'm kicking myself for doing them in trays because I wanna know what's happening or not happening with the other 24! Today marks 17 days since I started them. How long do you all normally wait before giving up on your dahlia seeds? 4 weeks?

Bessie

MissyWeitzel the last of the Alloway Candy seeds that germinated on paper towel took 25 days. The first ones "₅%" showed a radicle in 7 days, while "₅₀%"germinated around days 11-17. I collected lots of seed from about 15 varieties, but only 2 varieties had good germination. Next year I will be much more careful with how I treat my seeds after harvest. I suspect some issues. 1) I picked seeds a bit too early, 2) I "cooked" the seeds when I was drying the seed pods. 3) powdery mildew infected the seed of some of the varieties. On a side note, I purchased "Garden Crossing" seeds from Triple Wren, just for fun. The "20 seed" package was marked as 90% germination. There was closer to 60 seeds in the packet, and I have 14 healthy plants growing from the entire packet. Before sewing the seed I gave each seed a "feel test", checking for more than just a seed covering, and estimated 25-30 would germinate.

calico20hill

I might do a little careful digging around and if I don't see any little roots growing, assume those seeds were not fertile. However, if I find some activity happening I would possibly wait a little longer.

Teddahlia

(1)Buried in sprouting seeds. Too much of a good thing.
(2) Many packets had no germination at all, but the ones that sprouted have made up for it.
(3) As we breed over several generations, I have noticed that you can identify good seed parents both from the "really good seedlings" department and the "it really makes lots of seeds that germinate well" department. Knowing that the plant will make nice seeds and that the seedlings will be good is a "Very Good Thing " to quote Martha Stewart.

Teddahlia

Margaret planting germinated seeds.

Teddahlia

Margaret still transplanting germinated seeds. Big smile on her face.

calico20hill

Now I am anticipating seeing what Margaret is smiling about....long wait for the answer!

Bessie

Bessie @MissyWeitzel discussing tiny cuttings reminded me that I never gave an update on the tiny tip cuttings I took when pinching my seedlings. I started the cuttings before I had my lights and bottom heat setup, so they didn't get ideal conditions initially.
Here they are early on.

Only 5 survived: 06, 09, 34, 39 and 45. The back left cutting was taken recently from plant 51, and was not a tip cutting. I have little clues on what made these not die. I'll be watching the mature plants to see if they are "special" in any way. Today's photo below. They are ready for the outdoors.

Teddahlia

In November last year, I harvested 20-30 or so seedpods from some second year seedlings and did not label them. I put them into a plastic flat in our unheated large greenhouse. A couple of weeks ago I pulled out two of the pods and placed them into damp napkins, complete with the chaff and debris. Yes,they sprouted. I potted up about 10 of them. We do not like seedlings that are not labeled and a few is all we will plant.

Teddahlia

Margaret was aghast when I told her I had sprouted some of the seeds stored in the green house. Random second year seedlings are not her thing. I have 10 of them in pots and have stored the rest of the seeds in a glass jar. This experiment supports the theory that the more important the seeds, the fewer will sprout and some B.S. seeds will sprout easily. If something good appears from the 10 seedlings she says he will still be pissed as she wants to know the seed parents. No winning this one.

Bessie

Teddahlia if a seedling turns out spectacular, then you win! If it's trash, dump it and don't mention it to her. The "teasing" photo is lovely, does it have a name or number?

Teddahlia

Photo "does it have a name or number?' It''s current name is 21-50 and it's nickname is "Ted Likes" and Margaret "does not remember it; show me a picture." And when I show her this picture she still does not remember it. Of course , it is not a waterlily.

Teddahlia

We are still potting up seedlings that were sprouted in germination mix. Love the fact there is no rush as compared to the paper towels that need daily attention when they are sprouting. Both methods have their advantages.

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