From Shriveled Tubers To Explosive Blooms: The Dahlia Flower Cheat-Sheet You Need

Summer Care: Watering, Feeding, and Pinching

Hands using sharp stainless steel garden pruners to snip off the central growing tip of a bushy green dahlia plant to maximize summer blooms.

One summer, I got a little over-excited and showered my young dahlias with standard lawn fertilizer and tons of water every single day. I ended up with a giant, six-foot-tall green bush that didn’t produce a single solitary flower all season long. It was a massive wake-up call about how these specific beauties actually want to be fed and treated.

Step-by-Step Hydration and Feeding

The absolute number one golden rule of dahlia care is to leave the hose alone right after planting. You should never water your tubers until you see those first green sprouts pushing through the soil, otherwise you run a massive risk of rotting the roots.

Once the plants are fully established, give them a deep, thorough soak about two to three times a week. When it comes to fueling those gorgeous summer blooms, you need to step away from high-nitrogen fertilizers that only grow leaves.

Instead, feed your plants a low-nitrogen, high-potassium organic blend or a bit of bone meal once a month starting in mid-summer. This specific nutrient balance encourages the root system to put all its energy into developing heavy, breathtaking dahlia flowers.

The Magic of Pinching Your Plants

If you want a massive harvest of cut flowers for beautiful home bouquets, you absolutely have to learn the art of “pinching.” It feels incredibly counterintuitive to cut off a perfectly healthy growing stem, but trust me on this one.

When your plant is about 12 to 16 inches tall and has a few sets of leaves, take your sharp shears and snip out the central growing tip. This simple trick forces the plant to send out multiple lateral branches, giving you a bushier plant with triple the amount of spectacular autumn blooms.

Now that your plants are bushy and bursting with buds, we need to talk about protecting them from the neighborhood creepy-crawlies who love dahlias just as much as we do, so go ahead and click that next button below because I am diving into the best ways to defeat annoying garden pests before they ruin your gorgeous backyard layout!