CRACKING THE PI ENSUM CODE

From the very start I have been fascinated by the way we pass on our genetic data. It's obvious there's a pattern to the procedure, take just one aspect that mostly occurs in men, but I do believe it can also affect women in the same manner, baldness. Seems so unfair that some men can start to loose their hair soon after their teen years, and there's nothing they can do about it. Because there's something within the family D.N.A. that's passes this particular trait on. There must be thousands of things that can be transferred to the next generation, depending on what sperm locks on to which egg, and what combination of characteristics each has. Therefore large noses, good looks or the lack of them, size both height and stature, are passed on. As well as weaknesses of all forms, and the ability and inability to ward off infection, and so it is with plants.

The finest thing we have on our side is the power to see, everything we do in breeding dahlias is there before our eyes, except the very thing we would love to know, the genetic code. So first we have to survey what varieties we are using, and as each repeated cross is made, study which characteristics each has passed on. This is where hand pollinating comes into it's own, don't let anyone tell you that the bee keepers can match us hand pollinators, when it comes to knowing what made a new variety, they can only surmise.  True they have the variety that they collected the pod from, but only God and Mr. Bumble knew were he'd been hanging out before rearranging the anthers and stigmas of the flower you collected the seed from.

So it was one sunny day in a summer a few years back, that the late Peter Clever was trying to twist the late Pi Ensum's arm to let him know which giant cultivars he was currently using, and had  probably using for a number of years. But Pi was not having any of it, and this was a secret he left this World with. Don Sutcliffe said no matter how Peter tried, he couldn't open him up. It had probably taken the maestro careful logging of countless crosses. First he'd try this with that, and  then that with this, hundreds of hours of working in the dark. First of all making sure the varieties he was using were compatible.  Of course we are told that near relations don't always make good bed fellows, because something in their make up shuts down the reproductive system, you know my theory regards the Charlie Two's  or Willows Violet's of the dahlia World. I'm certain that the synonymous varieties have been bred from the original, and have bred true in everyway except the time they were produced. I'm not talking about your Moonlight's and Pastelle's these are all sports that have been developed independently in different parts of the World, hence the mix up. But to me although the dahlia, and indeed all composite type flowers have a funny way of dispersing their pollen, it doesn't need a genius, but only a house painter to tell you that some of the last pollen to ripen could get on the upper side of the open stigma before it lost its potency, that to my mind is how these copycat cultivars come about, remember I bred Sir Bobby `M' what a shame he didn't make it.

Once you've found sufficient varieties, of the group you wish to use. Those that either produce plenty of pollen, or are good mothers, in other words can develop seed with ease, and you can start to experiment. The beauty of the system is you only have a year to wait. Breeders trying to produce new apples, or hard fruit can wait for anything like six or seven years for their results to become fruitful, d`you get, clever play on words, and I didn't even have to think about it, it sort of fell into place. Mind you even daffodil breeders have to wait quite a few years for the minute bulbs to grow large enough to produce their first flower, so we are lucky.

Okay so we've got the varieties nicely sorted for the first years breeding programme, let me warn you, don't have to many varieties or to many groups, believe me I should know, because I repeatedly try and do to much. Take this year, I added Collerette's to the breeding programme, and I've over done it. Of course I kept them to a separate programme, because using them with the doubles would have ruined next year seedling crop. Always remember less is more, say you decide to have four varieties in three groups, lets give you a start.

For Ball Dahlias try:

Jomanda - Hamari Rose - and say L'ancresse and Cornel if you want to get a bit of dark colour in your seedlings. All are able to do it both ways, in other words they are belting breeders. I hope you're listening Jack.

For Decorative Dahlias try:

L.A.T.E. - Karenglen - Hillcrest Devine, and say the fairly new one Hillcrest Hannah, absolute cracker.

For Cactus/Semi-Cactus try:

Ruskin Myra - Lemon Elegans - Taratahi Lilac, and the one I like for that dark element Summer Night, or if you're not happy with that Indian Summer.

That's sorted out the smalls and miniatures, now let us try to crack the Pi Ensum code. In other words how was it Pi was able to produce such good giants? I've got this theory he used very good large and mediums in his breeding programme. It stands to reason, I've been trying to raise giants for three years, the most I've produced is one, and if you look at the new ones produced in the classified directory you will find very few from this Country. Most are developed in a hotter climate than ours, South Africa, and Japan spring to mind. My one giant is called Gold Top and it will make it's way to the Big Apple next season, because if there's one thing the Americans love it's a big dahlia. Talking of America, it's surprising how cultivars act in a different environment. How a variety grows and flowers here, doesn't necessarily mean it will respond the same elsewhere. Of course this can be the same from season to season with new varieties. You remember I had a wonderful large decorative called Sweet Killarney, last year in the seedling bed it produced four flowers, the first was late, the other three even later. Each flower produced was magnificent. This year on the strength of what I'd seen I grew four plants, two from the split tuber, and two from cuttings. Every flower was clock faced, none were suitable for show, and a season was wasted, but hang on. I let Jack have a couple of cuttings, also a fellow Vagabond Society member called Barry Kenyon. Not only that, I only went and sent a couple to Graham Carey, along with three or four other seedling pairs for his assessment. That is why I wait rather nervously for any comments, especially the one in the NDS Winter Bulletin 2006 that Graham does. There was an encouraging word from my mate Jack however, his plants didn't produce one clock face bloom, and were about five foot tall. Getting back to the giants, the rest of the seedlings I've produced in my endeavour to produce the `Big One' have been miniature giants, in other words they've had the appearance of a giant, the petals are that of giants, but that extra piece is missing, take a photograph, and you would swear you were looking at a giant.

	G. I. Joe.		Hamari Gold.		Argyle Strawberry.

Look at the petal shape in all these photographs, notice anything unusual? That's right they're all the same shape, rounded with a point. They could all be brothers and sisters, in fact they are mother and children. But if you saw them in the flesh, they wouldn't resemble each other at all, because the siblings are between seven, and nine inches across. Both varieties flanking Hamari Gold had her as the seed parent, so what happened to make them this way, obviously the code they carried didn't have a giant element about it, it had been cancelled out some how. In other words two giants don't always make a giant, try a large with a giant, and may be the giant element will win through. It's only a theory, so why not try the theory out for yourself. Even if you only get a good breeder out of the cross, it could carry the giant element to the next cross, and ultimately to the next generation. I know both have something of a giant about them, it came out of Hamari Gold, you couldn't have a better example than that. So why shouldn't I use them to cross back to the seed parent, or even with each other? Okay we've heard more than once that some inherited factor could stop any marriage between the two, but what if it didn't, wanna be in on it, it beats television, well anything beats television these days.

So for my next trick I shall save the pollen of Argyle Strawberry, and G. I. Joe, and place it in the fridge, and as soon as the first flower on Hamari Gold opens, and it's stigmas are ready, I'll artificially inseminate it. Well one difficult word out of two wasn't bad, but which one was it, you'll be surprised to now it was the first one.

If only we could place all the information we have about ever variety we use out on the table before us, I'm sure  it would be easier to produce a winner, but because it is hidden, our task seems almost impossible. John Menzel of Australia tells me pompons are far the hardest to breed. That must be because everything is in miniature, but even though we're dealing with the largest of all the dahlias, the giants, they still pose a problem. So it has to be dealt with bit by bit. By the way the photograph of three Hamari Gold's has to be credited to a Mr. Bryce Rollins, either because he took the photograph, or because he grew them, we know for a fact he didn't breed the variety.

Away we'll see, any questions?                       

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