through the bottom of the cell and leave the base of the cutting dangling in the air. Dibble too shallow and the cutting won’t go in far enough to be secure, and the risk of breaking or damaging the cutting is greater. And lastly, the size or diameter of the dibble is also important. A lobelia or calibrachoa cutting doesn’t need the same size dibble as a zonal geranium. You may need two different sized dibble pins for your sticking crew based on what they’re sticking.
result in unnecessary stress on the plant. On the other hand, soil that starts too wet will make it harder to achieve the ideal soil moisture level during callus formation and root initiation. A lot of this depends on what trays you use for propagation and when they’re prepared. If you’re preparing trays in advance or purchasing pre- made trays, you’ll need to be sure that the soil moisture is correct before sticking your cuttings. If the soil has become too dry, it will be difficult to rewet and may take several irrigations and considerable time to get to the correct soil moisture. If this is the case, it’s important to start this process a day or more in advance of the cuttings arriving at your facility. One of the first things you should do is determine what the proper moisture looks and feels like in your trays. At Ball, we work with a 1-to-5 moisture scale where 1 = bone dry and 5 = completely saturated. You may have developed your own scale already or you can use this one, but it’s important to have everyone involved in irrigating your crops speak the same language with regards to moisture management. Once your cuttings are stuck, it’s ideal to have the soil moisture at approximately a level 4 . This would mean that water could be readily squeezed from the soil, but there’s not any freestanding water on the surface. A great way to put a value on the correct moisture is to weigh a few trays that you feel are at the ideal Level 4 moisture. The average of those measurements will give you and your team a target to hit and an
expectation for what the right soil moisture looks and feels like.
Achieving the Perfect Dibble
Proper dibbling is about more than just making a hole in the soil for the cutting to be stuck into. The dibble offers a target for your sticking crew, as well as a safe place for the cutting to go without risk of breaking the stem or damaging the base of the cutting. The location, depth and size of the dibble are all important details to discuss when training your sticking crew on proper dibbling. Location is pretty easy – the center of the cell. Depth of the dibble depends not only on the size of cuttings being stuck, but it can also depend on what crop you’re sticking. Obviously, larger, longer cuttings will need a deeper dibble than smaller cuttings. In our experience, certain crops like calibrachoa and lobelia will root more quickly and uniformly when they have good contact between the base of the cutting and the soil. Dibble too deep and this contact won’t occur. We've seen many employees dibble
1/4" Dibble Correctly Managing dibble size and depth
f f f
3/16"
1/8"
One size does not fit all crops, so use a properly sized dibble pin.
Improper dibbling can lead to a lack of uniformity.
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