Does anybody else snip dahlias now as per Monty’s advice on GW?

[HMart1n]

Not sure I’m brave enough .

What was the advice exactly?

The slugs are doing it for me.

I didn't see his advice but I do limit them to three or four stems per tuber, and then I pinch them out when they get taller.

Most of my dahlias grow to the size of small forest trees so it doesn't seem to do them any harm.

If you snip the stem down to a pair of leaves now you will get 2 shoots, one from each side of the original stem and therefore double the flowers. It's like pinching out, it gives you a bushier plant and can be done with lots but not all plants.

I think the classice advice is to pinch out at 4 - 5 pairs of leaves. Pinching out at 2 has barely allowed it to get going. I do the pinching out at 4 and end up with much bushier plants (not counting last year when the bastard slugs ate them faster than they could grow...)

Be brave, OP. When they're about 6 inches tall / have 4 pairs of leaves up the stem, you just gently take hold of the top of the stem where the new shoot leaves are forming, and twist or pinch them off.