50% is best. Make sure it is about 10 feet above the dahlias as dahlias grow much taller under shade cloth.

Thanks Ted, I appreciate the info. I'm growing them to use as cut flowers so it sounds like the shade will help give me better stem length too. I've had some issues with stems that are too fat with too much branching. I suspect that some aggressive early season pruning would help with this as well.

Topping(removing the central bud) dahlias when they are about a foot or so tall encourages more stems to take over and gives you more "laterals" for flowers. It is done quite scientifically by show people who want perfect flowers. Larger flowers get fewer side branches; smaller flowers get more. Cut flower people usually grow so many plants that they usually just top everything the same way when the plants are about 12 inches tall or do nothing. Smaller flowered varieties send up lots of laterals after you start picking flowers.

Thanks for the tips Ted. I think I'll probably need to top my potted dahlias at least once while they are still in my greenhouse this year. I'm hoping to transplant them out into the ground just as they are starting to set buds so that I can start harvesting flowers soon after my last frost (usually around May 10-15.)

It is really hard to get dahlias to bloom outside until July. It is difficult to get plants big enough in pots and if you do, they suffer tremendous transplanting shock for about a week or more. A well grown cutting that is no more than 12 inches tall will have little transplant shock and take off very quickly in the garden. You can gain about 3 weeks over tubers planted in the garden with cuttings. At our trial garden, I am banned(there are no judges available for early blooms) from planting my rooted cuttings until at least 2 weeks after the tubers are planted and even then they bloom over a week earlier. .

Dahlias bloom non stop during the summers in the Northwest . Our highs are typically in the low 80s with some days over 90. We can get a heat wave with temps above 100 but the evening temps are always in the 60s even during these hot days. It is the warm temps in the night that hold back the dahlias. Shade cloth would help. Moving to the NW is best.

We do sometimes have warm night temperatures in midsummer. Maybe it would help for me to spray them with water after sunset so that evaporative cooling would lower their temperature at night.

I've visited the northwest and it's very nice there but I have too many family and friends here and that's important too. I could move out to the Piedmont of VA to get to zone 8 but I would still have warm nights.

Hey Steve - beautiful Bouquet! The Dahlias and the Callas are a great textural contrast.

>> Hey Steve - beautiful Bouquet! The Dahlias
>> and the Callas are a great textural contrast.

Thanks! I love using callas and dahlias together but so far I've only had a few weeks when both are blooming at once. Normally I have calla lilies throughout most of June but I have to get my dahlias off to the earliest start possible in order to get any overlap. To have callas for this July 7th wedding I had to refrigerate lots of them in advance. Callas can be held for up to 2 weeks in wet refrigeration but they can be quite tall (36 inches+) so you really need dedicated space for them. I've been potting dahlias up since the beginning of March so I'm hopeful that some of the first one's will be blooming by the beginning of June. I've got two nice Le Baron's that are strong stocky leafy 6 inch plants, they will probably be the earliest. I expect I'll top them once or twice while they are still in the greenhouse.

I've got nothing to add to the shading discussion; but I agree that the bridal bouquet that you made is fantastic. I tried calla lilies a couple times with no luck. What variety do you grow?

The vast majority of my callas are straight species white Zantedeschia albomaculata. I have propagated them over the years by both division and from seeds. Growing them from seed will get you nice disease free rhizomes but you can't count on getting blooming sized bulbs until the third season. I've tried some of the miniature colored hybrids but they seem to be more susceptible to both rot and frost damage. Picasso and Blackstar have done pretty good for me. The rhizomes cannot be allowed to freeze and must be protected by heavy mulch in a borderline climate or by lifting them out of the ground for the winter and storing them in a cool basement or root cellar. Storing callas in sawdust in my unheated basement has worked well for me.

I need some advice- white or black shade cloth, and what percent? I am in North GA. thanks in advance.

That advice is better coming from a show grower closer to your location... I have heard anything from 30-50% shade cloth from different sources across America, but haven't heard a preference of color. My guess is that 50% white would work best for you in Georgia, BUT I have never used shade cloth as the sun isn't as hot here in PA. Seeking out someone in Georgia or Carolina American Dahlia Societies would be your best bet.

http://www.dahliasocietyofgeorgia.com/
http://www.carolinasdahliasociety.org/

Apparently, shade cloth was looked down upon in the southern shows for a long time, as it was considered an unfair advantage to growers that did not have it set up. It sounds like it might be allowed now, so my bet is there are show growers in those societies that can give you experienced insight.

Here's an excerpt from Alan Fisher's article in the ADS Bulletin a while back, written in memory of a well-known master dahlia grower:

"Gilly Simmons, originator of MY BEVERLY, ALLIE WHITE, and many other
fine dahlias, passed away on December 20... Gilly...coped with growing
dahlias in the most harsh climate of anyone in ADS.

For most of the time that he grew and exhibited, Southern States
Conference rules did not permit anyone to exhibit who used shade cloth
before a week prior to the first Southern States show. Like us, Gilly
lived in an area (Anderson, SC, on the border with Georgia) that summer
thunderstorms usually bypassed. Gilly would take cuttings and put in
plants all spring and summer until weather conditions improved to the
point where the plants could survive the vicious summer heat. Because
the plants that bloomed for him tended to be very late cuttings, he
normally brought blooms from the center or main stem to shows. Gilly
and Beverly would bring a car full of blooms and stage all night."

Melissa, I would love it if you checked back in on this thread and tell us what you found out. There is currently very little written out there about shade cloth and dahlias.