Posted by mistake to Tubers trades and here it is in the right thread:
Dahlia Talk Notes 02-28-2023
There were 42 participants this month and they were lined up on the computer screen like the old Hollywood Squares from the 1980s. However the center spot was not for the comedian as in the show. Peter Marshall the corny host, was played by Dan Baulig our new club president.
I seemed to live in the upper left of the screen on my monitor and I would constantly turn on my microphone and then off again as an interesting topic was broached. Two hours is a long time or not long enough
Steve Lamb of the Kitsap Dahlia Society did a presentation on taking cuttings and it was fascinating. He had excellent pictures and lots of good ideas. This was not your usual ācut the sprout of the tuber here and put it into the oasisā talk. He is from California and was good friends with Kevin Larkin and Kathy Zydner(always give credit to the one that really does the work) of Corralitos Gardens. They are now out of business but used to sell many thousands rooted cuttings. In order to get that many cuttings you need a method of getting lots of sprouts to root. They started pot tubers in December and the āsecret sauceā of this method is that you are taking lots of leaf node cuttings from plants as tall as two feet. Yes, leaf cuttings are more finicky but with good care they are very productive. The big advantage of such a method is that when you āslice and diceā the plant you get about 20 cuttings AND they are all of the same age. A commercial seller needs batches like this to fill the orders. Cuttings taken from pot tubers are generally produced one at a time and although they work well too, they do not put out enough for a commercial operation. This stuff is fascinating to me and when I go back into the time machine and am 35 years old again , I will start my dahlia cutting business. You missed a good presentation.
By the way, the rooting medium was discussed and it seems that the whole world is switching to oasis cubes sold in flats of 104 cubes. I am a vociferous hold out and will still use germination mix as my production methods suit my purposes very well and oasis would cause an extra time consuming step. I will not try to explain further as no one will switch to our method and by explaining it , more people will probably go with oasis cubes.
One liners from the meeting that impressed me;
Dick Parshall said his 15 year old seeds sprouted just fine; he keeps them in the freezer.
Steve Lamb said some of his first-year seedlings had blind tubers and Dick Parshall and Steve went on a āwho is right discussionā and it is interesting to see two adults be so sure they are right and the subject of blind first year tubers is just a bit beyond the audienceās attention span.
People ask questions like : what I should do with this shriveled tuber holding it up to the camera and the old timers are saying things like it is hell of a lot better than a rotten tuber. And tell the person to throw the tuber into plastic bag of damp potting soil and it will be just fine.
One person held up a transpiration product used to inhibit plants from drying out and most of the old timers said āno thanksā and said their plants do not dry out.
I could write another couple of pages of what went on in the meeting but I did not take notes and many of the items are fading from my memory.
