PLANTING 

When: Plant your dahlias after the last frost. In Montana, usually the last week in May or first week of June. Plant as early as possible for the most blooms throughout the season. 

Where: Dahlias need one square foot of space per plant and lots of sun in well draining soil. Make sure to clear the area you are planting of weeds and other tall plants so your dahlias can get the full sun they need.

How: Locate the “eye” on your tuber; think of the eyes that appear on a potato left too long in the pantry. They will appear as a small white or purplish nub, or with a small white or green shoot if further along. After you’ve watered your soil so it’s moist but not wet, dig a hole the size of your tuber, 3 - 6” deep, and add fertilizer. We recommend a general fertilizer – at the farm we mix roughly 2 tbsp of bone meal into the soil at the bottom of the hole. Time to plant! Lay your tuber horizontally in the hole with the eye facing up, cover with soil, and water in. 

CARE

Once your tubers are planted, wait until shoots have emerged from soil to water again. Overwatering early on can cause tubers to rot. If the soil feels extremely dry before shoots emerge, water again to keep the soil moist. After shoots have emerged, water deeply a few times a week to keep your plants happy. Dahlias can use some fertilization during the growing period – a general fertilizer scratched into the surface will do. Regular weeding by hand is important as well. 

When your first flower blooms, cut it as deeply as you can to encourage more lateral shoots and thus, more blooms! The more you cut them, the more they will flower!  Once they start flowering they are bloom machines. Cut flowers early in the morning or in the evening when it’s cool for the longest lasting flowers. Dahlias are susceptible to earwigs, spider mites, thrips, grasshoppers, and slugs so be on the lookout and manage as necessary. Dahlias will continue to bloom until first frost and may require the support of stakes or a tomato cage once plants are large. 

PROPAGATION

After the first frost in the fall, your dahlia plant will die but the tubers will be alive underground and ready to be dug up for storage if you choose. In our climate, and any location where the ground freezes, tubers must be dug and stored in order to survive (much like potatoes). Your single tuber should have propagated and created more tubers. One of the joys of dahlias is that one tuber can lead to 10s of tubers, and before you know it, you might have 100s of tubers!!  Or… don’t worry about the tubers and you can purchase again the following spring!

Tubers are guaranteed. If you have any problems please return for replacement or refund! 

❤, the Team at Rathvinden