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PureHarvest · June 28, 2018

Here are the Dahlias as of 2 days ago after putting the netting on.

IMG_1308.JPG

I got 30" plastic electric fence posts at Lowes for $1.90 each. Perfect size and cheap and they have little built in clips down to side to hold things like wire, string, or in my case, the line of the netting.
Unlike most electric fence step in posts that have a metal barb or pin on the bottom, these are solid plastic at the bottom that comes to a chisel point. So, there is more material below ground than would be with most step in posts.
They worked extremely well for this netting application.
When I checked on the crop today, about 25% of the stems are now through the netting, so good timing on getting it installed. I think I will have some flowers to cut next week, as many have fat round buds at the tips.
I now see about the disbudding. The main buds are fat little balls with a smaller bud off to the side. I popped them off. It occurred to me that maybe you could pop them off after you cut your stems and are removing leaves and bunching stems together.

The plants look like they need a boost, so I am going to fertigate tonight with Masterblend 4-18-38 that I have left over from a couple of years ago before I switched to the Hydro-Gardens 4-18-38 for tomatoes.
I will use 2 lbs of it in 3 gallons of water and put that through the drip with my mazzei siphon. This will deliver the equivalent of about 5 lbs of actual N per acre rate, plus give a shot of P, K, and all the microelements that are in this blend.

June 28, 2018	#37
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Here are the Dahlias as of 2 days ago after putting the netting on. IMG_1308.JPG I got 30" plastic electric fence posts at Lowes for $1.90 each. Perfect size and cheap and they have little built in clips down to side to hold things like wire, string, or in my case, the line of the netting. Unlike most electric fence step in posts that have a metal barb or pin on the bottom, these are solid plastic at the bottom that comes to a chisel point. So, there is more material below ground than would be with most step in posts. They worked extremely well for this netting application. When I checked on the crop today, about 25% of the stems are now through the netting, so good timing on getting it installed. I think I will have some flowers to cut next week, as many have fat round buds at the tips. I now see about the disbudding. The main buds are fat little balls with a smaller bud off to the side. I popped them off. It occurred to me that maybe you could pop them off after you cut your stems and are removing leaves and bunching stems together. The plants look like they need a boost, so I am going to fertigate tonight with Masterblend 4-18-38 that I have left over from a couple of years ago before I switched to the Hydro-Gardens 4-18-38 for tomatoes. I will use 2 lbs of it in 3 gallons of water and put that through the drip with my mazzei siphon. This will deliver the equivalent of about 5 lbs of actual N per acre rate, plus give a shot of P, K, and all the microelements that are in this blend. Last edited by PureHarvest; June 28, 2018 at 03:41 PM.