4 Don’t Be Afraid to Pinch Your Main Stem Make a loose loop around the stem and a tight loop around the support pole to keep things in place without damaging the plant. With a good support post (rebar, pipe, wood) placed next to the eye of the tuber ( see the planting tips below), the main stem of the dahlia will grow right where you need it. This avoids accidental puncturing of the tuber later. Save yourself future trouble by installing the support post right at planting time. The wonderful thing about dahlias is the massive flowers, of course, but they tend to be top-heavy and pretty much always require support to avoid stem damage. Tags to the rescue! By keeping track of each dahlia both through the growing season and in storage, come planting time, you’ll know what it needs and where to plant it.ģ Stake Your Dahlias at Planting Time (Not After) While dahlias are not frost hardy they are perennial and this means we can grow the same tubers year after year-if they are protected from freezing temperatures with winter storage.īut, with so many different species (42) and cultivars (57k), there are many different flower shapes, colors, and plant sizes-and different needs-and there is no way to identify them by looking at the tubers. 2 Tag Your Dahlias So You Know What to Expect
This head start provides a longer flowering season. If you want flowers before late summer, consider starting your dahlia tubers indoors in pots 4 to 6 weeks before last frost. Generally, the larger the plant and flowers, the longer it takes. Top Dahlia Growing Tips 1 Start Your Dahlias Indoors For an Earlier Bloom Timeĭahlias take 90 to 120 days to flower after planting, depending on the variety you are growing.
How to Store Dahlia Tubers For The Winter.