Question 1

I'm not sure if my tuber is viable to grow. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes eyes take a little time to wake up and can be hard to find; sprouts can get snapped off before or during shipping (they'll regrow); or tubers can lose some moisture during shipment, leading a shrivel or softness.

None of these conditions affect a tuber's ability to grow.

However, if you received a tuber that you are unsure is viable, please do the following:

- Take a few clear photos or a video of the entire tuber right away! We can't help you as well as we'd like to unless we have photos of the tuber in question.

- Pot the tuber up in a warm sunny place in soil, (like a sunny windowsill inside) with the crown (the part with the growth point) sticking just out of the soil, and keep the soil moist but not soaked with water. Any potting soil will do. Let it dry out between waterings.

We try to make sure we give our growers the best chance of having beautiful blooms, and with an expert eye-spotting team and pre-sprouted tubers, chances are your tuber will wake up and grow!

We have many examples of folks having good success waiting just a few more weeks for a sprout, so we appreciate your patience with this process!

If you still don't see anything starting to grow 2 weeks after potting the tuber up:

Take another updated photo or video of the tuber
Fill out THIS FORM including the original photo and the updated photo along with any other details.

Question 2

I can't find an eye on a tuber I received

Accepted Answer

We pre-sprout most of our dahlia tubers 4-6 weeks in advance of our earliest shipping window, so most of your tubers should come with a very swollen eye or even a sprout!

If you don't see one, it's possible the sprout broke off in transit. If that happened, don't worry, it will grow two to four new sprouts back, from the same growth point.

If you really can't see an eye, please reach out to us immediately with excellent quality video or photos of the crown of the tuber from several angles.

We try to get back to folks within 24-48 hours. Thank you for your patience.

While you're waiting, pot the tuber up in damp (but not saturated) potting soil, with the crown just barely poking out of the dirt, and put it in a warm sunny place so you can watch for more activity.

If there's no activity in two weeks, please reach out to us again and we will help you out!

Question 3

How do I store the tubers I received until planting time?

Accepted Answer

If you're not ready to plant your dahlias outside, you can repackage them and put them into your home storage environment.

Very important: Our packaging method is not designed for long term storage.  It is designed to save you money on postage and shipping materials, and reduce environmental waste.

If you want to store your tubers before planting, you'll need to repackage them in your preferred medium (we recommend potting soil for late spring storage) and put them in a cool place, away from direct sunlight.

Make sure the medium is just barely damp to the touch, and check your container every week to make sure it hasn't dried out too much or retained too much moisture.

We do not recommend the fridge for new growers (some fridges freeze, which will kill your tubers, and many are designed with a dehumidifier, which dries out your tubers).

If you have nowhere that stays between 40-50 degrees, use an ice chest with a small amount of ice that is not in direct contact with your tubers, and check it regularly.

Question 4

How do I start dahlias early indoors?

Accepted Answer

If you're not ready to plant your tubers outside, you can give your dahlias a head start indoors in pots, ziplock bags, or any other container.

Put them in damp (but not saturated) potting soil with the crown of the tuber sticking just out of the ground. Keep them in a warm sunny place, or under grow lights.

Remember, a tuber has lots of its own moisture stored inside of it, so don't overwater. Let the soil dry out between waterings. If you let them sit in water, they may grow algae and/or rot.

Dahlias grown inside may grow a little taller and thinner than those grown outside.

You can either cut the stem back to no more than 6" tall when you go to plant it in your garden, or strip the bottom leaves and plant deeper than normal, with part of the leggy stem buried under the soil. Your dahlia will start to bulk up once planted outdoors.

Question 5

Does it matter if some tubers are smaller than others?

Accepted Answer

The question is totally understandable! But the answer is no, the size of the tuber does not matter at all.

Tubers come in all different shapes and sizes. Some varieties produce very large tubers. Some varieties produce very small tubers. Some varieties produce a range of sizes within the same cultivar, like Cafe au Lait, for instance.

A tuber is simply a swollen root. It contains moisture, nutrients, and the genetic information needed to grow into a mature dahlia. Even the smallest tuber is much larger than just about any seed!

Because there are misconceptions about the impact of tuber size on the health of a plant, we tend to ship out our biggest, plumpest, most beautiful tubers, and keep all the tiny, shrivelled, ugly ones for us to plant on the farm.

All else being equal, they grow exactly the same.

If you are concerned about the size of a given tuber, we recommend you start the plant in a pot, at least quart size, and put it somewhere you can pay special attention to it until it is well established.

Make sure it gets full sun, and that you don't overwater it! Let the soil dry out almost completely between waterings. Don't wait too long to transplant it, or it may become rootbound.

Question 6

Why does Sunset View Farm ship the way we do?

Accepted Answer

You may have noticed we ship a little differently than many other dahlia sellers. Each of our tubers is individually stamped with permanent ink, and we ship with paper as a packing material, but with no plastic bags as secondary packaging, or any other storage mediums. That's for a few reasons:

It's better for the environment
A staggering amount of peat moss, vermiculite, sawdust, soil, stickers, and plastic are consumed in shipping dahlia tubers in the US each year. It costs more fuel to ship those materials, and while some are composted by the recipients, much of it is tossed in the trash.

We can't avoid producing some waste, but we want to do our part to be good stewards of the environment. Our shipping method uses far fewer resources than others.

It saves you money
Complicated packaging methods and materials cost more to buy, and cost more time to use (imagine individually packaging and labeling 10,000 dahlias in ziplock bags, filled with peat moss, with custom printed labels!).

Most other sellers are not providing this degree of packaging for free. The extra handling time and material cost is reflected in their prices. Which means you are paying for it. We pass on what we save in handling time and material cost to you.

It works!
99% of the time, this method works great, resulting in tubers arriving in great shape, at a lower environmental impact, and at less cost to you, the gardener. Our number one concern is that your tubers make it to you safely.

If you've had an issue with your shipment, please reach out to us! No method is fool proof, and sometimes a shipment goes through conditions that will damage the contents no matter how it's been packed.

We're here to help

Is your question answered below?

I'm not sure if my tuber is viable to grow. What should I do?

I can't find an eye on a tuber I received

How do I store the tubers I received until planting time?

How do I start dahlias early indoors?

Does it matter if some tubers are smaller than others?

Why does Sunset View Farm ship the way we do?

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