Practical propagating workshop

Following a number of requests we are running a workshop on propagating dahlias from tubers.

Withypitts Dahlias Ltd

A practical Dahlia Propagation workshop

Friday February 14^th 2014

Turners Hill, West Sussex. RH10 4PB
Change of Venue !!
St Peter's Church Centre, Street Lane, Ardingly. 
West Sussex RH17 6UN

10:00 am	Registration, Coffee & biscuits
10:30 am	Introduction & overview
10:45 am	Course begins! Starting tubers into growth Taking cutting from the tuber Prepare cutting to plant Insert cutting
11:15 am – 12:45 pm	Take your own cuttings with tuition and guidance
01:00 pm	Course ends – PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH

What's included

This fully interactive and practical workshop is designed to equip participants with the skills to raise dahlia plants from tubers and a chance to have a go at their own propagation. You'll take home the results of your work to grow on in your garden including the tubers you have used. Sufficient background information will be given enabling the plants raised to be grown on to produce high quality blooms for use either commercially or in the home.

Each participant will be provided with all the materials needed:

• tubers from which to take cuttings
• seed tray
• compost
• rooting compound
• plant labels

Who should attend

This workshop is for all who wish to raise their own cuttings including commercial cut flower growers and for gardeners who want to fill their borders with colour and flowers for their own cutting garden.

PRICE: £30.00 inclusive. Limited places available.

Email: courses@withypitts-dahlias.co.uk to book your place. Invoices will be issued in due course.

Field grown tubers for sale

The tuber sale has now started!

Buy now and grab a bargain! These are field grown and the same stock from which we raise our own plants. These tubers are sold in packs of 3 each and are priced at £6.50 a pack to clear as they are taking up valuable space. 

Full details on the web site Online Shop 

January jobs for the Dahlia grower

Happy New Year!

There is never a dull moment for a dahlia grower, now is the time to get the 2014 season under way.

The tubers that are in their winter store need to be inspected and any diseased or rotting parts removed.  Wipe away any mildew on the stems.  Dust with flowers of sulphur and carefully the tubers carefully in the   store.

January is a good time to plan your borders or cutting garden.

For people with heated greenhouses that are propagating and wish to get an early start remove the tubers from the winter store that you will be using.  Trim off any surplus fibrous roots and place in shallow trays on a layer of sifted compost.  Lightly cover being careful not to cover the stems or the crown and lightly water.  We maintain a minimum temperature of 15C and expect to begin to see growth in 2-3 weeks.

This year we will have tubers that are surplus to our own needs for sale.  These will be field grown and the same stock from which we raise our own plants.  Details to follow as soon as we have finalised numbers and will be available from the online shop.

National Dahlia Show

I received this copy email from Sion Jones today and pass it on to my dahlia friends.

Hello all.

Happy New Year.

If you aren't aware already, the National Show at Shepton Mallet has been cancelled due to the closure of the Show with which it was held in conjunction.
At the moment there are two potential alternatives on the table. Both will involve the NDS with a similar amount of additional expense, namely the space in which to hold the show and the set up of tabling etc.
The alternatives are Wisley RHS gardens in Surrey just off the M25 on the A3 or a Garden Centre near Atherstone in Warwickshire.just off the M42 and A5..
I think that most of you will understand where I'm coming from with this e-mail, namely that the EC need to get this right, otherwise our already flagging 'National' willl die a death altogether. I know of several exhibitors who have said that last year's Shepton was to be their last, and have subsequently stated that their feelings are just as strong about not attending if the Show goes to Wisley.
As I am not fully informed as to the ins and outs of the two venues, I cannot offer any sway other than to the Geographical advantages that Atherstone holds over Wisley.
I write this e-mail to you, to try to circulate it amongst your Dahlia contacts, as many will have no idea of the events of the past few weeks, and will have no opportunity to comment on them until the AGM in March.
The problem with this is that the decision meeting has been set for the 13th February, so basically if you don't know someone in the know, you don't have a say. (what ever happened to the sporadic newsletters ?)
The more of you who can respond to this, and air your views one way or another, the better as far as I'm concerned, given the lack of information afforded to you all by the Society.
I hope you can find time please to pass this round as much as possible, and dare I ask you send me your opinions so I can forward a file to the meeting in February.
I'm sorry to lump all the e-mail addresses together, but if you know someone not on the list, that's our target.
Once again please help with this, otherwise moaning afterwards is no use.
I look forward with trepidation to the 'flood' in my inbox.

Best Regards

Carl Hamnett NDS Harrogate Show Secretary

Summary of 2012 so far

What a year it has been for dahlia growers!

We complicated the weather issues by moving to a new piece of ground as we needed more space.  On top of that we moved house as well to be nearer the new nursery which meant moving the dahlias mid-propagation, not the easiest task.

We took the land over in mid-March when it was very wet so had to wait for a dryer spell before getting it ploughed; this happened on the 14th April.  It then rained for the next 4 weeks, every day.  We could then able to get it rough cultivated in mid-May, fine cultivated a couple of weeks later and planted out during the first two weeks in June.  Running late already!

June and July did not provide good growing weather either, our plants are running about three weeks behind any normal season.  However, our contacts in New Covent Garden Flower Market still demand our blooms so we expect to have a good season overall.

A selection of images of this year's first delivery to the Market and a collarette seedling that the bees like!

January 2012

It seems no time at all since I began this occasional offering about growing dahlias generally targeting those of you that are new to these magnificent plants.  But is is a year now so to find out what to do with your dahlias in January please look back to the very first post!

December is a quiet month for the commercial grower, although these terms are relative!    During December I was interviewed as a contributor for an article for Flower Arranger magazine edited by Judith Blacklock.  This magazine is the standard journal of all flower clubs nationwide and promotes the use of British Blooms.  

2011 was a fantastic year for us as it was the first year of serious, commercial operations.  We established a link with a top wholesaler in New Covent Garden Flower Market, Alagar Limited, and through them reached top designers such as Simon Lycett of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" fame who took our blooms on to the "Alan Titchmarsh Show" and Shane Connolly who designed the arrangements in Westminster Abbey for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  They both became firm and valued customers in 2011 and we look forward to supplying them once again this year.  Twice a week from August to the middle of October we transported our few hundred blooms in buckets to the market in the 4x4 and then parked between huge pantechnicons, with trailers, from the Netherlands!

We were visited by a number of photographers Helen Jermyn being the notable guest, Helen was kind enough to write a nice blog article about us back in August.   

As for trial and tribulations; we learnt never to use Royal Mail for sending our plants.  In 2011 we used Royal Mail for delivering rooted cuttings but 30% of the packages we sent were either lost or damaged.  The fact that we were fully compensated by them is of no real value as we not only needed to find replacements but the time and effort required was time we could have spent more productively!   We sent all our plants - 'garden ready' so to speak, that is, matured plants ex-9cm pots - using City Link courier with a 100% success rate.  As a consequence, for 2012 we are only offering plants and not rooted cuttings.  These will be available from mid-April onwards for people with greenhouse facilities and later until the first week in June for those without greenhouses.

Looking forward; July 27th is the start of the 2012 London Olympics, I do hope that the florists selected to provide the arrangements and bouquets buy British!

December jobs with dahlias

Obviously a bit of a quiet month but well worth inspecting the tubers and removing any that are diseased or broken.  When storing the tubers it is so important to keep them away from any moisture, especially the stem.  Pack in a dry, fibrous compost - dare I say peat :(  -  and keep in a dry, frost free place.

December is a good time to consider next year's planting plan and getting your order in to your nurseryman as most will dispatch in the order that they are received and it is so helpful to the nurseryman to know what the likely requirements are going to be.

Our own tubers are now well on the way to being dried, we shall be cleaning and trimming in a week or so ad preparing the benches to begin propagating in early January.  Starting early enable us to have very well established plants for early planting giving us an early start to the cut flower season.  We then have late batches of plants prolonging our cut flower season as those later planted later obviously are well behind the early ones.  These, by the end of September will have produced up to 20 blooms each so are getting weaker producing blooms that are not to the quality we are happy sending to New Covent Garden Flower Market.