bAHLIAbEL NURSERIES 
/v' Grow y 
tPof&5t> Fed 
&DAHLIAS ■ 
STUNT. In all our years of experience with dahl- 
las, we have dug and destroyed all unhealthy stock, 
and the results are most gratifying. This is properly 
called rogueing. As there are a number of reasons 
why a plant should stunt, it is hard to tell the exact 
cause. However, we do know that rogueing is the 
only practical way of eradication, and believe some 
of the causes of stunt may be attributed to one or 
more of the following conditions: 
First from the lowered vitality as a result of poor 
culture, lack of cultivation, etc., or forcing the stock 
with manure and water the previous season. 
Second: The ravages of attacking insects, thrips, 
leaf-hoppers, red spiders, stem borers, etc. 
Third: The rotting of the feed roots caused by 
chemical burn, too much water, where drainage is 
poor, or water in the hollow part of the stem. 
Regardless of cause, all stunt should be dug out 
and destroyed. Our many years of this practice 
leaves us less than 1 per cent to dig annually on 
most varieties. 
MILDEW. Gray spots on the leaves sometimes 
covering the entire leaf are the result of the growth 
of fungus spores known as Mildew. This is a result 
of a condition—lowered vitality—caused by lack of 
or an oversupply of water, planting too close without 
proper air circulation, or extremes. These adverse 
growing conditions are conducive to Mildew. 
Spray with plain Bordeaux Mixture as prescribed 
on package once a week, preferably before the spots 
appear. 
CUT FLOWERS 
Dahlias should be cut in the evening or early 
morning, removing the lower leaves and all of the 
buds of the large varities, if not disbudded. Imme¬ 
diately put in water in a cool dark place to freshen 
for a few hours. 
Hot Water Treatment—Cut and freshen as above, 
then put stems in 1 inch of water, almost boiling, for 
1 to 2 minutes. Then place in deep cold water to 
cool. Flowers are then ready to ship by packing in 
a strong corrugated box lined with tissue paper. 
Fasten stems down by nailing a wooden strip in the 
center of the box or by tying down through the bot- 
tom. Flowers packed snugly will carry better than 
when packed loose and allowed to batter. 
Flowers when wilted can be freshened by cutting 
end of stem and placing in hot water as above. If 
necessary to completely freshen flower, repeat this 
operation but cut off discolored end of stem before 
again placing in hot water. 
The hot water treatment will do wonders in mak- 
ing your exhibition blooms keep fresh after staging, 
but do not cut off the discolored end of stem unless 
you are again going to treat it. 
The physical action of a cut flower is to take water 
up into the stem which evaporates through the flow¬ 
er and foliage. The slower this action of evapora- 
tion or transpiration takes place, the longer the life 
of the flower. From this you will see that buds and 
foliage will shorten the life of your flower. Also 
avoid placing cut flowers in a draft. 
DIGGING and STORING 
After the first killing frost, cut off the tops at the 
ground and allow a few days for the stalks to bleed 
out before digging. Care should be exercised so that 
the necks of the tuberous roots will not be broken. 
Loosen the roots by prying with a garden fork thrust 
in the ground about a foot from the crown, prefer¬ 
ably all the way around, before attempting to re¬ 
move clump. Two forks, if available are even bet¬ 
ter. Cut the stalk hack again to about 2 inches 
above the crown. Then by tapping on the cut stalk 
endwise with a light instrument, most of the dirt will 
free without injury to the necks of the roots. Dry 
in the sun a few hours, and your clumps are ready 
to store. 
A root or white potato cellar is preferable with a 
temperature of 40 to 45 degrees. In this they need 
no protection or covering. The average house cellar 
is too dry and hot, and in such conditions the 
clumps should be placed in the coolest part and 
packed upside down in a tight box in practically 
dry sand, ashes, or peat moss. 
When packing in dry material, such as peat moss, 
care should be exercised, first, not to allow clumps to 
sit around and shrivel before packing away, but 
pack away the same day as dug if you are using dry 
peat moss as it comes from the bale. Second, do not 
use more peat moss than necessary to just barely 
cover each layer of clumps before putting in the 
next layer. The reason for this precaution is that 
all root crops sweat when taken into storage. The 
purpose of the peat moss is to absorb this sweat and 
conserve it for later on when the roots need it. 
Therefore, too much peat moss will cause your roots 
to dry out. 
After the roots are stored a month, it is well to 
look them over, trim out any portion showing rot 
and dip all the fresh cuts in equal parts of sulphur 
and ground gypsum, and pack them back again as 
before. Should the roots show signs of shriveling, 
place dampened peat moss over the top of the box 
to prevent further drying. 
Dahlia roots air dried and so packed should keep 
well until spring with no further handling, providing 
they were grown properly, well ripened, and not 
frosted. 
DIVIDING CLUMPS 
Dahlia clumps can best be divided with the aid of 
double cutting pruning shears and a pruning knife. 
Broken necks and fibrous roots should first be re¬ 
moved as the eyes are on the crown and never on 
the root proper. Then proceed to divide with shears 
or knife. Care should be exercised to have a piece 
of crown with an eye on each one or two roots. 
Clumps should never be planted without dividing. 
WHEN TO DIVIDE. For the amateur in this lat¬ 
itude, clumps are better not divided until early April 
when the eyes should appear if crowns have kept 
well up to this time. Clumps can be divided in Jan¬ 
uary and February but on early dividing it is not ad¬ 
visable to cut apart to single root divisions, but rath¬ 
er divide a clump into two to four pieces, dipping 
cut portions as recommended above and repacking as 
before, changing moisture content to correct either 
drying out or too much moisture which may have 
started eyes developing too rapidly. 
27 
