How to Plant, Grow, and Store Dahlia Tubers: Your Guide to Stunning Dahlias
With such a huge variety of colours, shapes, and sizes, dahlias are one of the most exciting flowers you can grow in your garden. They are a real workhorse, providing spectacular blooms right through until the first heavy frosts. While there are a few varieties you can grow from seed, tubers give you access to the full range, which is why we are so excited to launch our new dahlia range! It’s never been easier to grow these gorgeous plants for yourself.
We’ve put together this handy guide to help you get the most out of your tubers.
Your Dahlia Tubers
Your dahlias will come as dry tubers, and they’ll look like small sausages grouped around a stem. They vary in size according to the variety, so don’t worry if some look smaller than others! This won’t affect how they grow. Dahlias hate the cold, so you need to keep them somewhere frost-free until it’s time to pot them up.
Potting Up Dahlias
Dahlias should always be potted up before they are planted out, and you should do this in March or April. Take a wide pot (a 2 or 3 litre plastic pot should be fine) and partly fill it with compost.
Place your tuber carefully on top with the small stem sticking upwards and then cover with more compost, keeping the tip of the stem just out of the soil. Lightly water and place your pot somewhere with plenty of light that’s frost free, making sure to keep the compost moist until it’s time to plant out.
If you want to plant your dahlias straight into the ground, wait until after the spring frosts, usually around the beginning of May.
Pinching Out Dahlias
Once your plants begin to grow, you’ll need to pinch them out to encourage it to use its energy to grow more efficiently. You can either use your fingers or something sharp like a knife or pair of snippers to pinch the shoot down to the first upper pair of leaves. If your tuber has lots of shoots, we recommend keeping only 5 or 6 of these and snipping off the rest to help your plant grow bushy and strong.
Planting Dahlias
The most important thing is to find a nice sunny spot in your garden. If planting directly into the ground, dig a hole around 20cm wide and 20cm deep, and add a strong cane or stake before you plant to support your dahlia as it grows.
Carefully loosen the plant from the pot and place in the ground. If you have heavy soil, you can add some grit as dahlias like good drainage. If planting in a pot, it’s often best to dig a slightly deeper hole. Water well and label your dahlia so you know which varieties you love!
Growing Dahlias On
Dahlias love a fortnightly feed, and we recommend our All Purpose Plant Feed. Also keep a look out for slugs as they love to eat dahlia’s tender new leaves – try our new Slug & Snail Copper Tape on pots to help keep them away.
Make sure you pick the flowers regularly and deadhead your plants to encourage them to grow more. If your dahlias are in a windy spot, you can also tie them to the stake to help support them.
Storing Dahlias Over Winter
At the end of the season, you can decide whether to lift your dahlias and store them for the winter, or leave them where they are and mulch them deeply to protect them from winter frosts and damp.
If you choose to leave them, there is a risk that you could lose your plants if we have an extra cold and wet winter. Lifting them might be a bit more work, but it can be safer in the long run.
Dig your tubers up after the frosts come, cut the stems, and then dry them upside down for a few days.
Once they’ve dried, pack them in boxes with vermiculite, dry sand or compost, or wrap them in dry newspaper, and put them somewhere cool, dark, and frost-free. Good airflow can prevent your dahlias from rotting, and make sure to check them periodically for rot and shrivelling.
With our new range of dahlia tubers, we’ve selected some of the most beautiful varieties for you to choose from – be bold and brighten up your garden this year!
