March 24, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



9U 



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Roots of Dahlia Kriemhilde Grown from Cuttings. 



cuttings must have more space than the 

 smaller ones, and ample room must be 

 given always to insure plenty of light 

 and air. The best distance is about two 

 and one-half inches apart in the rows 

 and one-half to one inch between the 

 cuttings in the row. These cuttings re- 

 quire both air and light, but judgment 

 must be used, as a direct draught would 

 cause the cuttings to wilt, while too 

 little air and too much water would 

 cause them to damp off. Heating is an- 

 other factor. We have seen dahlia cut- 

 ting benches run vrith 80 to 90 degrees 

 bottom heat. This is very apt, however, 

 especially in damp weather, to cause 

 cutting bench fungus. We prefer a 

 bottom temperature of 55 to 60 degrees 

 and would like the top air to be about 

 the same as the sand. We do not be- 

 lieve in having the sand 5 to 10 degrees 

 above the overhead air. We find that a 

 uniform heat of the sand and air gives 

 stronger roots and stronger plants. 



When the cuttings are placed in the 

 sand, they should be watered thoroughly, 

 and as little water used afterward as 

 possible. There is no set rule to go by; 

 simply vratch the cuttings and the sand. 

 The time of year and amount of heat 

 required will determine the amount of 

 water. In cold weather, when a strong 

 bottom heat is given, it is often neces- 

 sary to water the cutting bench every 

 day. As we use steam exclusively, we 

 do tliis watering at night instead of in 

 the morning. Care should be exercised 

 that the cuttings do not wilt in the 

 bench. This sometimes requires one to 

 three sprayings a day over the tops. This 

 spraying should be done by a fine spray 

 and not with a watering-pot, as keeping 

 the top of the sand continually wet is 

 apt to cause the cuttings to rot at the 

 surface and is, besides, a prolific cause 

 of fungus. 



The time required for rooting dahlia 

 cuttings is from one to four weeks, ac- 

 cordihg to the condition of the cutting 

 and the variety. A skilled propagator 

 will, therefore, arrange the watering of 

 his stock bench, giving some varieties 

 more water than others, and will allow 



some varieties to grow larger than oth- 

 ers before cutting down. The main ob- 

 ject is to have the cuttings of each vari- 

 ety handled in such a way that they 

 will aU be rooted about the same time. 



Another great cause for disappoint- 

 ment in propagating from cuttings is 

 allowing the cutting to stand in the 

 sand too long after rooting. We pot 

 our cuttings when about half of them 

 show roots, the rest being callused and 

 ready to break into roots. If the cut- 

 tings are allowed to remain in the sand 

 until heavy roots and sometimes little 

 tubers are formed, they never make as 

 good plants. The object sought is to 

 take the cuttings out when they are in 

 the best possible condition to make the 

 best plants. Then, as the young roots 

 start out, they begin feeding at once 

 in the soil in the pot, and as they get 

 nicely root-bound, they form heavy, com- 

 pact clumps, as shown in the accompany- 

 ing illustration. 



After the plants have been potted up 

 in 2, 2% or 2%-inch pots, they should 

 be placed in a house of about the same 

 temperature as the cutting house and 

 shaded from the direct rays of the sun 

 for a few days, or a week, the first, 

 second or third days not allowing the sun 

 to reach them at all, but gradually les- 

 sening the amount of shade until they 

 become established in the pots, when 

 they can stand the full sunlight. 



Air and water should now be given 

 judiciously, no rule being followed, but 

 whenever the plants require water, give 

 it generously. Many believe that be- 

 cause a dahlia can use lots of water, they 

 should be wet all the time, but this is 

 not the case and the soil should be dry 

 after each watering before another ap- 

 plication. Where too much water is given 

 the plants become very soft and drawn, 

 while good, stocky plants that are hard 

 enough to bear shipment can only be 

 grown by giving plenty of air and light, 

 and only watering when required, and 

 that thoroughly. 



In planting in the open ground, as 

 much space should be given to the dahlia 

 plant as to a divided tuber, and if this 



is done, the roots at harvesting time 

 will be found to not only be fuUy as 

 large as those of the divided roots, but 

 for commercial purposes will be much 

 better. By looking at the accompanying 

 illustration, this will be seen at a glance, 

 for in the root grown from a cutting the 

 tubers are wound around and matted to- 

 gether in such a way that they can be 

 shipped long distances and handled even 

 roughly without injuring or breaking the 

 necks of the tubers, whereas, as every 

 one knows who has ever handled dahlias, 

 roots grown from divided tubers are 

 very diflicult to handle without break- 

 ing the necks of the tubers; in which 

 case they are worthless and might as 

 well be cut off. From this it will be 

 seen that even should divided tubers 

 give a strong clump at harvesting time, 

 there will be less weight of actual tub- 

 ers capable of giving nourishment than 

 in the clump grown from cuttings, where 

 the full amount is still in condition, hav- 

 ing suffered no loss from handling. 



The main objection to propagation 

 from cuttings is the additional cost. It 

 requires skilled help in every branch, 

 modern houses, pots and a large amount 

 of labor. The benefits gained, however, 

 are that we are now enabled to offer 

 new varieties the third year from seed 

 in good quantities; besides, it gives us a 

 more compact clump, worth much more 

 for commercial purposes, on account of 

 standing all kinds of handling. 



In conclusion I would state that as 

 propagation by division of roots is much 

 cheaper than by cuttings, we plant hun- 

 dreds of thousands of divided roots 

 every year, in fact use this method on 

 all varieties where stock permits. On 

 new and rare varieties, and where we 

 have not sulfieient stock to divide, we 

 are forced to propagate by cuttings, as 

 no dahlia grower can be strictly up-to- 

 date and offer best varieties and still 

 confine himself to the one method. 



Over-Propagation. 



Much has been said about the weak- 

 ening of stock by over-propagation. We 

 would state that any weakening of stock 

 is done by injudicious treatment or 

 method, for" as long as the stock benches 

 are properly handled, and strong cuttings 

 grown, and proper treatment given in 

 the cutting bench, and with the young 

 potted plants, no damage is going to be 

 done. 



The roots in the accompanying illus- 

 tration were taken from a bin of the 

 new cactus dahlia. Kriemhilde. Our ob- 

 ject in showing Kriemhilde is that it is 

 a new German variety of which in 1902 

 we had one root for trial. We propa- 

 gated all we could the entire season and, 

 were so well pleased with it that we se- 

 cured additional roots, which we placed 

 in the stock bench for 1903. We pushed 

 tliis stock, using every known method to 

 multiply and produce cuttings and in 

 a block of 2,000 plants we failed to see 

 a single imperfect or open-centered 

 flower during the entire blooming sea- 

 son. It will thus be seen that instead 

 of making a weaker root, propagation by 

 cuttings makes fvilly as strong, without 

 loss of vitality if properly done. In 

 proof of which Kriemhilde has been 

 propagated hard every year since it was 

 grown from the little black seed, and 

 the photograph shows the result. 



W. P. Peacock. 



The Review is a ray of light, a morn- 

 ing sun to the progressive florist. — J. B. 

 Eldek, Sioux City, Iowa. 



