Pure joie de vivre - dahlias enchant young and old with their beauty. With these tips you can make dahlias feel good in your garden.
Dahlias (Dahlia) - these lush summer plants will brighten up any garden. From July until well into autumn, they delight us with their magical blossoms and make the hearts of hobby gardeners beat faster with their bright colours. But many people ask themselves how to support the dahlias so that they bloom even more beautifully and eagerly. We'll show you how to help your dahlias grow to their full potential with these ten tips.
Tip 1: Location
As beautiful as the dahlia is, it also makes high demands on its environment. The tropical plant likes full sun with nutrient-rich and well-drained soil. It is very sensitive to waterlogging, so good water drainage is essential. For the right nutrient content, a large portion of compost is welcome to be buried in the soil so that the dahlia can grow and thrive. Alternatively, you can also use a high-quality potting soil such as our Plantura organic potting soil. It optimally cares for your dahlias for a lush and long-lasting bloom.
Tip 2: From tuber to plant
When buying dahlias you usually have two options: buying fully grown plants or buying tubers. Tubers are usually cheaper. The future dahlias can be planted from the beginning of May, but they should be placed in water overnight beforehand, where they can compensate for the lack of water from overwintering. Dig holes about 10 to 15 cm deep and insert the tuber. The tip should point upwards and be covered with a few centimeters of soil. Dahlias grown from tubers tend to bloom a little later than potted dahlias. A simple remedy can be to bring it forward in your own house: you can plant the plant indoors from March and later move it to the bed like a normal potted plant.
Tip 3: Get out of the pot
Dahlias can also be purchased in pots. The advantage of these plants is that they flower several weeks before their tuber counterparts. In addition, you can already sort out sickly or poorly developed dahlias in the shop and only select the most beautiful plants for your garden. Depending on the weather (dahlias do not tolerate frost), the new flowers can be planted in the garden in May or June. After planting, the dahlias should be watered regularly, preferably twice a week. This allows them to grow and develop optimally.
Tip 4: Into the living room
Dahlias are not only suitable for the garden. They can also beautify any house as a potted plant. Dwarf dahlias are best suited for this because they take up less space. But larger variants can also be grown in the house, but it must be remembered that the pot is chosen in a suitable size. Otherwise, dahlias in pots are very grateful plants that are considered to be particularly easy to care for. Only a regular water supply should be guaranteed, as the soil in the pot dries out quickly.
Tip 5: Let the water flow
Once the dahlias are in the bed, they show rapid growth. Therefore, proper care is of particular importance for them. The dahlia should be watered at least twice a week, as it uses a lot of water for its extremely fast growth. In hot temperatures, the watering frequency should be adjusted, after all, a lot of water evaporates over the sprawling plants. Nevertheless, the dahlia should not get wet feet, as it does not like waterlogging.
Tip 6: The right fertilizer
The fertilization of dahlias is quite manageable. Before planting, it is a good idea to mix the soil with compost to provide the dahlia with an optimal supply of nutrients. Fertilizer can then be regularly worked into the surface of the soil until August. Compost or manure is best for this. These fertilizers are not only particularly environmentally friendly, but also have little nitrogen. This is particularly important with dahlia, as they respond to an oversupply ofNitrogen reacts with increased growth of leaves but a reduced willingness to flower. So if you want a sea of flowers in your garden, you should use low-nitrogen alternatives when choosing fertilizer.
Tip 7: The perfect cut
Another point in dahlia care is the right cut. Withered flowers not only look ugly, they also deprive the plant of important resources. If you remove these regularly from the plant, the dahlia can form new, fresh shoots. Even with the young plant, it can make sense to cut off individual shoot tips so that the formation of flowers and branching increases. Basically, the fewer shoots left on a plant, the larger the individual flowers will be.
Tip 8: Attack is the best defense
Even dahlias have enemies: snails and aphids feed on the beautiful plants and can severely damage them. Snails can be prevented from nibbling on the beautiful flowers with snail traps and fences. You can fight aphids with soapy water or ladybugs. At the same time, diseases such as gray mold or powdery mildew can rob dahlias of their beauty. To prevent this, one should above all make sure that the plants are not too close together, the humidity is not too high and the plants are not wetted with too much water. If you take action early, you can protect your dahlias from all sorts of damage.
Tip 9: Thank you for the flowers
Who doesn't want to impress their loved ones with a bouquet of beautiful dahlias? Especially if you grow the flowers in your own garden, it makes sense to use a few of the flowers to decorate the apartment from time to time. To get the perfect bouquet of dahlias, wait until the flowers are fully open. Now you can cut off the flowers at the stems with a sharp and clean knife. It is important to make a clean, slightly sloping cut through which the flowers can later draw water. Immediately after cutting, you should place the flowers in warm water. If you also change this regularly (about every two days) and use cut flower fertilizer, your bouquet will last a particularly long timebeautiful.
Tip 10: Winter is coming
Dahlias don't like the cold. They are therefore unsuitable for overwintering in the garden and should be brought indoors before the first frost. To do this, cut the flower to about 10 cm above the ground and dig out the bulbs. These can now be stored in a dry, cool but frost-free place until next spring. Before storage, the bulbs should be freed from the soil and then spread out in the air. Overwintering in the garden can only succeed in particularly mild regions. To protect the tubers from the weather, they can be covered with brushwood, leaves or straw, but losses and total failures can still occur if the temperatures get too low. You can find out more about overwintering dahlias here.
If this information is not enough for you, you can read more interesting care tips for dahlias in our special article.