Over on the cut flower forum, there's bit a bit of talk about numbers of bloom per dahlia plant. Some people seem to get 8-10 blooms per plant in field grown conditions, others get more.

I imagine there are several factors at play, such as length of growing season/climate conditions, dahlia bloom size, and perhaps pinching? Can some of you describe your experience with blooms based on your length of season and your plant management? Do you pinch to get MORE blooms, or to get longer stems on FEWER blooms?

Many thanks, I'm a garden market newbie, am trying to prepare an availability list for the summer season for florist/etc. sales. I'll have 50 dahlia plants, all from Swan Island, mostly BB and B plus a few A, which should begin blooming in early August. My season, if I make a bit of effort at extension, should go to mid November, so--roughly 7-8 weeks of bloom time.

Valerie