Dahlia Cutting Care Guide

Thank you for supporting Our little Dahlia Business. Your cutting may look small when it arrives, but with a little time and basic care, it will grow into a full-sized plant and can produce a nice clump of tubers by the end of the season.

When you receive your cutting

Plant it as soon as you can. Keep it in a bright location and don't let the soil dry out while it gets settled.

If it was grown under cover, give it some time to adjust to full outdoor sun. A few days of morning sun and afternoon shade before moving it into full sun will help prevent the leaves from burning.

Sun

Dahlias like plenty of sun. Once established, give them around 6–8 hours of sunlight a day.

Watering

Keep the soil consistently moist while the plant is getting established, but don't keep it wet.

Water deeply when the soil starts to dry rather than giving it a little water every day. Good drainage is important.

As the plant gets bigger, especially during hot weather, it will need more water.

Let it grow

Don't worry if your cutting takes a little time to get going. Once it settles in, it should start putting on new growth fairly quickly.

Let the plant develop several nodes and branches before doing much pruning. If you want a bushier plant with more stems, you can pinch the growing tip once it is well established.

Planting deep for a good tuber clump

One of the benefits of starting with a cutting is that you can encourage the plant to develop a nice tuber clump over the season.

Once your cutting is established and has developed several healthy nodes, you can gradually bury the lower portion of the plant and cover additional nodes with soil.

About a month after planting, if the plant has put on several nodes, gently mound additional soil around the lower portion of the plant, covering multiple nodes while leaving the growing tips and upper foliage exposed.

Those buried nodes can develop additional roots and contribute to a larger, stronger tubers.

Plant deeply with only top foliage sticking out of the ground. Sometimes we snake it through the soil if long and leggy. Let it grow, then gradually add soil as it develops. Always make sure the soil drains well—dahlias don't like sitting in cold, saturated soil.

This is also a good reason to leave the plant in the ground and growing for as long as your season allows. The longer the plant has healthy foliage, the more time it has to put energy into its tubers.

Leaves and airflow

After the plant has been growing for about a month, you can start cleaning up some of the lower foliage.

Remove leaves that are:

• Touching the soil
• Yellowing or damaged
• Crowding the center of the plant
• Showing signs of pests or disease

This helps with airflow and makes it much easier to keep an eye out for pests.

Don't strip the plant of healthy leaves. The leaves are what provide the energy for the plant to grow and build tubers.

Feeding

Once the plant is actively growing, start feeding regularly with a good flower fertilizer.

Follow the directions on your fertilizer. Avoid going heavy on nitrogen, as this can give you lots of foliage without as many flowers.

Keep an eye out for pests

Check the new growth and the undersides of the leaves regularly.

Aphids, thrips, spider mites, slugs, and snails can all be problems with dahlias. Catching them early is much easier than dealing with a large infestation later.

Flowers

Once your dahlia starts blooming, cut flowers often and remove spent blooms.

The more you harvest, the more flowering stems the plant can produce.

Keep it growing

At the end of the season, don't rush to cut a healthy dahlia down.

Keep watering and caring for it while the foliage is still green and healthy. The plant continues putting energy into its tubers while the foliage is growing.

The goal is a healthy plant with plenty of foliage that stays in the ground and growing for as long as possible.

After frost kills the foliage, you can cut it back and follow the appropriate steps for overwintering your dahlias.

The short version

Sun: Full sun, ideally 6–8 hours
Water: Keep consistently moist, but well drained
Soil: Rich and well draining
Planting: Let the plant establish, then gradually mound soil over several lower nodes
Airflow: Remove lower and crowded foliage as needed
Feeding: Regular fertilizer during active growth
Pests: Check leaves and new growth regularly
Support: Stake tall varieties early
Flowers: Cut often and deadhead
Fall: Leave healthy foliage growing as long as possible to build the tubers

Give your cutting time, keep it growing, and don't be afraid to gradually build soil around the base once it has developed several nodes. With good care and a long growing season, that little cutting can turn into a strong plant with a beautiful clump of tubers at the end of the season.