Disbudding

Was reading on another thread about how they took some of their buds off.

How do you know when and where on the plant to disbud. From what I am understanding, which could be totally wrong, you disbud to get bigger flowers. How do you know about how many a plant will make?

I have these visions of tryign to disbud and then not havign any flowers at all. if it weird or unusual it can and does happen to me, so this a real possibility for me to take one to many buds off and only have green foliage all year. LOL

Also if ya disbud, do Dahlias make another branch from off where you took the bud or not?

HI, here's a website which explains disbudding and topping. www.dahlias.net/dahwebpg/disbudding/disbud1.htm

Starlight, the idea behind disbudding is to let the plant nourish one great flower instead of 3 or more crowded ones on one stem. You get a better flower, longer stem. If you want more blooms to see in the garden, then it wouldn't be necessary to do this at all, but for cutting flowers it's a popular practice. It's easy.

Best done in early a.m. or evening when the plant is well hydrated. The little side buds just snap off like peas out of a pod with a scrape of a thumbnail. You just want to avoid breaking the center bud off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/poochella/Dahlia%20Lessons/disbudding606.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/poochella/Dahlia%20Lessons/disbuddingoneside606.jpg

Your next dahlias will come off the lateral growths found at leaf nodes below the stem you're working on/disbudding; (the bottom one seen in this photo.) Hope that helps.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/poochella/Dahlia%20Lessons/disbuddinganddisbranching906PAINTLA.jpg

Thanks Dahliadigger and Poochella! All that information is very helpful! Aprpeciate it! : )