14 
Ol)£ Slower (Brower 
February, 1918 
| THE DAHLIA. | 
Dahlias That Won’t Bloom. 
By J. K. Alexander. 
[Written expressly for The Flower Grower.] 
Dahlias that do not bloom give as 
little satisfaction as a house without 
paint or coffee without sugar, and 
most of us know what that last means. 
But the remedy is not so apparent. 
One sees a seemingly normal plant ; 
that is, of the proper height, of good 
growth and in a good healthy condi- 
tion. In fact everything appears all 
right, but the one lamentable fact that 
the thing does not bloom. At least if 
it does, the blossoms are poor sickly 
looking specimens, lop-sided and small. 
Such a state of affairs has a tendency, 
putting it mildly, to discourage the 
continued efforts of the amateur Dahlia 
grower. He just naturally gets dis- 
gusted and decides emphatically and 
perhaps audibly, if he’s alone, to try 
something easier. 
Now what is the answer ? Why does 
not an apparently healthy Dahlia plant 
bloom ? 
The reason will probably be found 
in one of three causes. Of course, I 
am taking several things for granted : 
that the root when planted was in good 
condition ; that the ground was prop- 
erly prepared ; that weeds were kept 
out and cultivation attended to. These 
things we all know and perhaps a few 
practice. But outside of these elemen- 
tals there are three principal causes 
why Dahlias still refuse to bloom satis- 
factorily. 
1st. Lack of fertilizer at the time of 
budding. 
2nd. Planting in heavy soil with a 
clay sub-soil. 
3rd. Insects. 
Now, I am not contending that this 
is an exclusive list of troubles, but I 
do say that if my Dahlias were bloom- 
ing poorly, I should look for the cause 
in one or more of these three factors, 
and I should probably find it. 
1st. It takes on the average about 
two months to bring a Dahlia into 
bloom. Now, what is the more or less 
common practice in fertilizing? At 
the time of planting, a handful or so of 
commercial fertilizer is thrown into the 
hill, and this amount is supposed to 
supply the plant with food for three 
months or more. If the ground has 
been enriched with stable manure this 
works out and results are satisfactory, 
because the plant starts on the com- 
mercial fertilizer and finishes up on the 
stable manure. But if the ground is 
infertile, by the time the plant gets 
ready to bloom it has nothing to feed 
on ; the available plant food has all 
gone into the making of the plant. To 
put it differently, if all the fertilizer is 
applied at the time of planting the re- 
sult will be some fine foliage and 
mighty few blooms. 
Always see that the plant has plenty 
to feed on at the time of budding. 
2nd. Planting Dahlias in a heavy 
soil with a clay sub-soil will almost al- 
ways result in an abundance of foliage 
and inferior flowers. This rich, black, 
heavy loam possesses a certain fasci- 
nation for the amateur horticulturalist, 
but if I want my Dahlias to bloom pro- 
fusely, and I have any choice in the 
matter, I pass it by. The plant itself 
will make a tall, rank, fine appearing 
piece of evergreen, but what we all 
want to see amidst the green is color. 
Always select for your Dahlias a 
well drained piece of ground with a 
light sandy loam. This does not mean 
that Dahlias will not do well in heavy 
soil, for they will ; but if they do you 
will find such a piece of ground is al- 
ways well drained with hard pan at 
least three feet below the surface. 
3rd. Suppose your plant has for 
weeks made a splendid growth ; good 
size, sturdy stalks, foliage glossy and 
green. The small buds appear, you 
pat yourself on the back and look for- 
ward with keen pleasure to that bou- 
quet for the front parlor ; but that time 
never arrives. On looking carefully at 
the buds you see some small black 
spots. Other buds have turned com- 
pletely black and dried up in their in- 
fancy. Still others have managed to 
struggle along to a sort of crippled 
maturity, the petals being spotted on 
one side of the bloom while on the 
other side there won’t be any petals at 
all, spotted or otherwise. It is ex- 
tremely irritating. Instead of patting 
yourself on the back you end by kick- 
ing yourself, or anything else handy. 
The cause of this is an insect, that 
we call around here the chintzbug. 
The damage is caused, not by eating, 
as is generally the case with bugs, but 
by sucking the plant juices. This pest 
gets in its work early, late bloomers 
generally escaping its ravages. 
I have found no completely satisfac- 
tory weapon for this pest, but spraying 
will hold it in check. Use any good 
insecticide that can be procured in 
powdered form, tobacco dust and pow- 
dered arsenate of lead, being perhaps, 
the best. Do not fail to apply early in 
the season. 
One thing more : Plant your Dahlias 
in the open, and if you are planting 
any quantity, run the rows north and 
south. If decoration around a build- 
ing is desired, choose the south side. 
Dahlias bloom best with plenty of 
evenly distributed sunlight. 
Rooting Dahlia Cuttings. 
Early in March I take the roots out 
of storage and bed them in sand or 
sandy loam on a greenhouse bench. 
After two or three weeks when the 
sprouts attain a length of 3 or 4 inches, 
I cut them off and root them in sand just 
as other soft wooded plants are propa- 
gated. The cutting should be cut just 
below a joint, the lower leaves trimmed 
off and the upper leaves cut back. As 
soon as the roots are formed the plants 
are transferred to pots of soil and 
grown on until it is time to set them 
outdoors, say in June. 
W. A. Orton. 
Note by the Editor - 
Not all of us have a greenhouse, but 
some have facilities which would an- 
swer the purpose of a greenhouse for 
the rooting of Dahlia cuttings. The 
pot grown cuttings are by Dahlia ex- 
perts considered the very best way of 
producing fine bloom. Those who have 
suitable conveniences would do well to 
try this instead of growing from the 
tubers as is ordinarily practiced. 
Gladioli for Forcing. 
The first planting of the large-bulbed 
varieties can now be done and do not 
omit a good number of that inex- 
pensive, but excellent scarlet variety, 
Brenchleyensis, in addition to America, 
Augusta and Mrs. F. King. For a good 
Memorial Day crop Gladioli should be 
planted now in benches. The market 
for these is usually good in April and 
May, and fairly good in June, and there 
is not much likelihood of spikes being 
wasted even though a good many of 
them flower before and after Memorial 
Day. Of course, so much depends on 
climatic conditions that it is not easy 
to hit the date just right with this crop. 
Do not use any fresh manure which will 
come in contact with the bulbs. If you 
have no old manure, try fine bone and 
pulverized sheep manure, incorporating 
this well with soil. Again, the bulbs 
do not flower at one rime, which is 
generally an advantage. They do well 
in from fifty to fifty-five at night. — 
Horticulture. 
GLADIOLUS — MONGOLIAN. 
[ Subject of illustration on front cover Page. ] 
Originated by A. E. Hundred, Goshen, 
Indiana, and sent out to a few growers 
on trial in 1912. Entire stock purchased 
in 1913 by C. W. Brown, Ashland, Mass. 
Shown at Massachusetts Horticul- 
tural Society’s show and awarded a 
Certificate of Merit, August, 1913. In- 
troduced in 1914. 
Described by Cornell Trial Grounds 
as follows: Lemon yellow with dull 
Tyrian Rose pencilings and a small 
blotch, slight feathering of rose in seg- 
ments. A compact bloom of medium 
good substance. Five to seven blooms 
open at one time out of doors, and eight 
to twelve in water. Early to mid-sea- 
son, medium tall, erect, vigorous. 
Wood Ashes. 
We have many questions about the value 
of wood ashes. There is no doubt about the 
benefit from using a pure unleached ash. 
We doubt if any combination of lime, potash 
and phosphoric acid can be put together 
which will give as good results as equal parts 
of these elements in a pure ash . — Rural New 
Yorker. 
It is hoped that after our long period 
of low temperature that we will have 
an early and mild spring. A favorable 
spring is surely due us as compensa- 
tion for the spring of 1917. 
