Dahlia growing Guide

When we ship dahlias:

Our sale will launch in early 2025 and dahlia tubers will begin shipping out in late March. We ship dahlia tubers via FedEx 2-day. Email notifications are sent when your order has been picked up by FedEx.

What you will receive:

Each product selection consists of one dahlia tuber. All tubers will have at least one viable eye that may or may not have begun to sprout upon arrival. Though a product selection is technically for one tuber, we may occasionally send 2 or more interconnected tubers. Tubers will be stamped with the variety name. There will be a little dirt on your tuber. We find that our tubers store better with dirt on them in that it buffers humidity and protects from both desiccation and mold in our climate. We do not advise washing it off if you intend to store longer.

Our tubers are packed with pine shavings and tissue paper. The pine shavings help regulate the moisture in the bags.

Please note that sometimes in transit, a sprout may be broken or knocked off, but that will not effect viability, production, or overall health. It will re-sprout. Please refer to our video below to see exactly what you will be receiving.

What to do when you receive your tubers:

Please open up your package upon arrival to get airflow to your tubers. Keep out of direct sunlight and store in a beneficial environment (don't desiccate it and don't grow mold on it) before you plant. 40-58 degree range with decent relative humidity is ideal. Basements are perfect. Check tubers occasionally to see if they need more or less moisture. If they are staying too moist, be sure to allow some airflow to the tubers. You can either open the top of the bag or holes can be poked in the bag. If they seem to be drying out, you can spritz the pine shavings with water. Make sure not to overdo it with moisture though. Successful dahlia storage is a big part of growing dahlias every year, so use this time to develop your yearly strategy.

When to Plant:

Plant according to your region. Cooler climate growers can plant after Spring's last frost. Southern growers should not plant that early. We plant our dahlias in early June in the south. Heat and insects cause a lot of stress on southern dahlias and they fare MUCH better when planted later. We cannot stress the importance of this enough to southern growers if growing for profit. Gardeners with a few plants...don't worry about it too much. It's ideal to plant late, but if you don't want to deal with storage and don't mind some holes in your flowers, plant earlier if that's easier.

While planting before cloudy weather and light rain is ideal, do not plant during or right before extended periods of very heavy rain. Too much ground water will increase odds of rot in your tubers if they haven't fully sprouted into plants yet.

How to Plant:

We suggest allowing tubers to sprout before planting in the ground. This dramatically reduces the chance of tubers rotting. You can stimulate sprouting by bringing them into dappled sunlight for a week or two. If your area is still cold, wait to do this. You do not want your tubers to freeze.

Plant in full sun in well drained, fertilized soil (amend your soil according to your soil tests- check with your local extension office), 12"-18" apart. Dig a hole that's about 5-6 inches deep. Set the tubers with the growing points, or “eyes,” facing up, and cover with soil. Do not plant too deep. Eyes should be just below ground level. Do not water deeply or too frequently until dahlias begin to grow because that will risk rotting. Once the plants have begun growing above the soil line, increase water to the beds.

***We are not responsible for dahlias once they have been planted in the ground. We ship out only the highest quality tubers and are not responsible for user error or acts of nature once dahlias have been planted. Please follow all planting instructions to best set yourself up for success. We are not responsible for issues arising due to poor storage practice after orders have been received.

Any issues with tubers must be brought to our attention within 48 hours of delivery and accompanied by photos, so we can assess if replacements or refunds are needed.

Caring for your Dahlias:

When plants are 8-10 inches tall, cut/pinch out the plant's center growing tip. This will encourage a bushier, stronger growing habit as well as help to produce multiple flowering stems instead of one central bloom.

Tall, large-flowered cultivars will require support. This includes every variety that we sell. We use a white, agriculutural netting called Hortonova, pulled tightly between rebar poles spaced 6ft apart (purchased from Tractor Supply).

For weed suppression, we do flame weed beds a few days prior to planting. This gives us a great head start on weeds. Once plants are about 9" tall, we add landscape fabric to the aisles to prevent weeds. Southern growers: Do not do lay landscape fabric until after plants have emerged and are growing well. Tubers will bake like potatoes in the ground if fabric is added too soon.

We do fertilize our growing plants through our irrigation system with fish emulsion that is low in Nitrogen throughout the flowering season. Make sure not to add too much Nitrogen based fertilizer during the blooming phase because it will decrease flower production as well as prevent robust tuber production.

Pest Control:

Late planting prevents thrip damage in the south, but we protect each bloom from larger pests with organza bags for most of autumn. For home gardeners who do not mind imperfect petals, you can skip the organza bag step. With these 2 cultural practices, we haven't sprayed our dahlias with organic pesticides in the last 6 years and they turn out beautiful. If thrips are really bad for you, you can also add Stratiolaelaps scimitus (formerly Hypoaspis miles) to your soil after planting. These are predatory mites. We do this once a year. You can order the predatory mites best suited for your climate from an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) company nearest you.

Harvesting:

Cut according to your market needs. Harvest when flowers are 3/4 open for florists, stores, and farmers markets. Harvest flowers when they are fully open for events. As with all flowers, harvesting in the cooler part of the morning and evening is essential for quality vase life. Harvesting in the heat of the day should be avoided.

If you are allowing your dahlias to freely bloom in your garden, be sure to deadhead any spent flowers to encourage more blooms. We recommend cutting off the spent stems as well as the spent flower in order to encourage additional branching and blooming. If you would like to save seeds from your dahlias, allow some flowers to go to seed about 4-5 weeks before your first frost.

Digging your Dahlias:

In early Winter, after a frost, but before a deep freeze, you will want to dig your dahlia tubers and store them in frost free conditions. After the frost kills back the leaves, cut the remaining tops off and loosen soil underneath the tubers with a pitchfork to dig them up. Shake or brush the clumps of dirt off the tubers. We do not wash our tubers ever.

Farmers, we use a tractor implement called an Undercutter to help loosen the soil and gently lift the tubers. We then remove any remaining stems still attached to the tubers. We then collect them into labeled bulb crates. Once the beds have been cleared of tubers, we sow our Winter cover crop to replenish the soil. For southerners, we sow Crimson Clover and Winter Rye thru late December.

Overwintering:

In zones 8 and warmer, dahlias can technically be overwintered in the ground, but we strongly advise against it! Pest pressure is off the charts in southern dahlias that have been overwintered. You should dig up dahlias after a frost (but before a deep freeze), when the foliage has died back and store in a cool, dark, and dry place like a basement, then divide and plant the following year. We do not recommend washing your tubers after digging. We have found that the soil helps to keep the tubers from drying out during storage...however this will be determined by your climate and storage space.

FAQ's

Can you explain more on how to store dahlia tubers before planting/after digging up?

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It really isn't a one size fits all thing, since everyone's environmental conditions are different, it's more just a situation where you make sure it doesn't fall into extremes and you'll be fine.We've always stored ours in our basement in plastic bulb crates, so they are completely open to the air. The temp is roughly 55 degrees in there. We don't do anything more elaborate than that, though there are probably 20 different techniques you could find people doing on the internet. We tried many in the past and didn't like the ones we did as they resulted in more rot. We found our tubers fared better in our basement like i just described. We don't pre-wash them either and feel the little layer of dust/dirt acts as a bit of a humidity buffer as well.

We don't use perlite, wood shavings, vermiculite, plastic baggies or anything extra. We'll go down once a week and check it out to make sure conditions are good. We'll also go down after a big rain and if the room is wet, we'll set a dehumidifier to 75% relative humidity and/or add some fans. If it's a really really dry winter and we notice them start to shrivel at all, we might just put some water on the floor, or you could put in a humidifier. Some folks put them in baggies with wood shavings and mist the inside of the bag, but poke holes in it so they don't rot.

As I said, It really isn't a one size fits all thing, since everyone's environmental conditions are different, it's more just a situation where you make sure it doesn't fall into extremes and you'll be fine.

I planted my dahlias in a pot on the patio in GA and they didn't flower much. If I plant in June like you suggest, will they bloom this year?

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Pots tend to heat up more than the earth, because the ratio of surface area to volume is much higher, putting added stress on an already heat stressed plant. Being on the patio only compounds that heat effect even worse. They are kinda in a little oven, on a bigger oven. Our varieties can handle GA heat in a garden, but I'm not surprised they didn't produce when exposed to 2 more layers of heat. If you have any option to get them in the ground and away from radiant concrete heat or radiant heat from walls, you'll have greater success.

I don't recommend it, but If pots are your only option, you'd want to make sure it's a very big pot/planter and that the tubers are not placed anywhere near the edge. If the pots are dark in color, the heat effect only gets worse.

Spring planted dahlias in GA get huge fast and then soak up heat stress and pest pressure for months. Come Fall when they are supposed to produce, they are too sick and tired to do much.

Planting late sidesteps a lot of that stress. They will be smaller, but they will be healthy and productive. Every garden/farm has its own unique attributes, so I can't tell you exactly what'll work best for you, but take all that info I just gave you and use it to create your strategy and see what works. Maybe try two different approaches this year and see what works best. That way you have even more information for your location to grow more successfully next year.

My tubers arrived damaged/rotted. What do I do?

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Please email 3porchfarm@gmail.com no more than 48 hours after your tubers arrive. Please give a detailed
description of the condition and provide photos of your order. Once we have that information, we can assess the situation from there and replace or refund tubers that are nonviable.

I planted my tubers and nothing came up. Can I get a refund?

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No, we are not responsible for dahlias that were received in good condition, but subsequently failed due to improper storage, improper planting/watering/growing practices, or inclement weather. We guarantee our tubers from our farm to your door and have no control of what happens after that. We ship out only the highest quality tubers that are fully viable, so all claims of damaged or poor quality tubers must be filed within 48 hours of receipt and accompanied by photos. Please follow our instructions included to best set yourself up for success!

Can I compost the packaging my tubers came in?

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Yes! We proudly use all compostable packaging for our shipped goods.

I've grown dahlias before and some of the tubers rotted. How do I prevent this?

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It is critical to have well drained soil and to plant during periods where no extensive rain is expected. Do not use black plastic mulch of any kind on your dahlia beds in the south as it heats up the soil and when combined with moisture creates prime conditions for rot. Do not plant your tubers too deep. Do not plant your tubers with the eyes facing downwards. Your odds of success increase if you let your tubers sprout before planting.

What do you use for pest control?

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Dahlias were our most pest ridden crop for half a decade. We now have close to zero pest issues with them through 2 main cultural practices.

1) We plant late subjecting plants to less heat stress. This allows our plants natural defenses to be stronger. This timing also avoids giving a food source and breeding ground to japanese beetles, tarnished plant bugs, and thrips. By the time our flowers are blooming, these pests are either gone, or don't have ideal conditions to build up their populations. We never spray dahlias for pests anymore...at all.

2) We use organza bags on our blooms for grasshoppers and whatever else might want a snack. We use 6"x9" for our regular blooms and 8"x12" for the larger ones. These won't work on thrips, which reinforces our late planting.

3) Likely not as necessary, but as insurance, we sprinkle stratiolaelaps mites in the soil after planting. These mites eat thrip
larvae. You can find these mites through a beneficial insect provider. Express shipping is costly, so find one closest to you. We use IPM Labs in NY.