Growing Dahlias

Growing Dahlias

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These stunning blooms come in an incredible range of shapes, sizes, and colors—and yes, they have personalities! Best of all, while they’re growing above ground, they’re busy multiplying below. Each plant creates new tubers you can dig up and save for next season.

 

New to dahlias?

Start with Getting Started with Dahlias. If you’ve already read that, great! Let’s move on to the growing phase.

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🌿 Sunlight & Water

Once your plant is 6–12" tall with 3–4 sets of leaves, it’s ready for regular watering. Dahlias like deep water at the base of the plant, 2–3 times a week—more often during very hot weather. If you must overhead water, do it early in the morning. Wet leaves at night can lead to disease.

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🌱 Mulching

Mulching helps retain moisture and keep weeds down. Use clean, weed-free, dye-free mulch, and keep it from touching the main stalk of the plant.

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✂️ Pinching for More Blooms

Want a bushier plant with more flowers?
Once your dahlia has 4+ sets of leaves (around 12–16" tall), “pinch” the center stalk by removing the top few leaves. This will encourage branching and give you more bloom stems. If you skip pinching, you’ll get one strong central stalk—your choice!

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🪴 Staking & Support

As your dahlias grow, stake them early to avoid broken stems. Tie the plant loosely to the stake as it gets taller, especially once blooms begin. For larger gardens, consider using netting or the corral method for support. Do not forget to label each plant. 

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🌼 Feeding Your Plants

Dahlias are heavy feeders. A good gardening habit is to amend your soil in spring and apply fertilizer regularly. Once they start blooming, they don’t need extra nitrogen—look for something higher in phosphorus and potassium, like 5-10-10 or 10-20-20.

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Tip: Always test your soil before adding amendments, and follow package directions—more is not better!

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🐞 Pests to Watch For

Most critters leave dahlias alone, but a few pests can cause trouble:

• Slugs & snails – love young shoots

• Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, earwigs, aphids, spider mites, leafhoppers, thrips, sawflies – all common, but manageable

• Deer – usually ignore dahlias

 

Healthy soil = stronger plants with fewer pest problems. For help, check with your local Extension office, or visit Arbico Organics for organic pest control options.

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✂️ Harvesting Blooms

This is the best part!
Cut dahlias early in the morning, before they’re fully open, and place them in cool water right away. Keep stems long, and store them in a cool, dark place until use.

💡 Vase life is usually 3–8 days.

Smaller ball-type blooms last longer; giant dinnerplates are showy but fade faster.

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🌸 Keep Cutting = Keep Blooming

The more you cut, the more flowers you’ll get. Deadhead any spent blooms to keep the plant producing.

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💬 Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it this far—congratulations!
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t be. Just dig a fluffy hole, hammer in a stake, plant your tuber, and go for it. My success rate? About 98%—and that’s pretty great odds for a new hobby!

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Dahlias are beautiful, generous, and a little addictive—in the best possible way.

 

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Go back to read about Getting Started or continue on to Dividing/Storage.