Dahlias can be the showstopper of any garden with their prolific blooms in every shade of the rainbow!
At Blu Haus, we grow about 200-300 dahlia plants each year for our cut-flower service. Once the growing season is done, we dig up dahlia clumps and separate tubers, each of which can produce an entire plant of its own.
Dahlias in our growing region, 5A, are considered an annual because the clumbs/tubers won’t stand up to our very cold winters. Every spring we plant tubers and every fall we dig up clumps to separate.
Wake ’em up!
In the spring, we “wake up” our tubers so that we can get a jump on the growing season. This process is super easy: We fill a tinfoil roasting pan with lightly moist (but not soaking) quality potting soil and put it in our garage, when we know the temperature will not dip below freezing. You can do this in a cool basement, too. In a few weeks, you’ll see shoots sprouting from viable “eyes” in the crown of the tuber.
Why do we start dahlias early? We want to get blooms from our plants early, but it takes three to four months for dahlias to reach maturity. So, if we start them in April, we’ll start seeing blooms in June, rather than July or August. Dahlias can’t tolerate frost, so they can’t be planted out until the threat of frost is over. For us this year, that is likely to be around May 6th or 7th.
Starting dahlias early, also ensures that the plants reach their full maturity, which is about 135 days. After that length of time in the ground, healthy plants will have grown significantly and can be harvested for storage. We dig up clumps before the weather gets too cold, and of course before the ground freezes. Then, we store them in our chilly basement and spend the winter months carefully inspecting each plant and dividing tubers.
Easy to grow
Each tuber should have the main body of the tuber (which looks a bit like a potato), a neck, crown and eye. Eyes are super important to dahlia plants, because that’s where the stem will shoot out from.
Dahlias aren’t super fussy plants. They like an average amount of water and a light fertilizing ever couple of weeks or at least once a month during the growing season. To get the maximum number of blooms from your dahlia plants, consider pinching the center growth stem when plants are 8 to 10 inches tall. Pinching will force the plant to produce more leaders that will create many more blooms.
Deadheading is key to keep dahlias blooming. We, of course, pick for cut flowers every week, which prompts our plants to keep producing. We encourage growth by cutting deeply on stems. Yes, sometimes this means you’ll sacrifice a few side blooms, but it’s worth it to get the dahlias producing.
We also stake or support our dahlias because we’ve found that a harsh rainstorm or extreme wind can knock particularly big plants over.
Like all plants, dahlias are susceptible to many pests and diseases. Gall is a particularly difficult disease that all dahlia growers should be on the look out for, but would take another post to explain. We think the experts at the National Dahlia Association explains it best here.
If you have any questions about dahlias, don’t hesitate to ask!
