Caring for Dahlia Cuttings

Emma Grinthal
Jun 15
2 min read

A rooted dahlia cutting upon arrival, ready to be cared for!

When your cuttings first arrive

Make sure to open your order immediately upon reciept! We do everything we can to make sure your cuttings arrive safe and sound to your door, but they will be ready for your care after a journey through the mail!

Please gently remove your cuttings from their packaging as soon as they arrive. Bottom water to resaturate the roots. If you’re not ready to plant outside, repot them as soon as possible while being careful not to distrube the roots, and be sure to give them plenty of light to avoid cuttings growing tall and thin.

As you approach planting time, place the cuttings outside, but in indirect light, for 2-3 days to harden them off. Your cuttings have been grown indoors, protected from full sunlight, so they’ll need a little time to adjust. Immediate

exposure to full sun can burn them. Once cuttings have hardened off, plant them in soft, well fertilized, well draining soil. To encourage tuber production, gently remove the bottom set of leaves and bury the stem up to an inch past the first set of leaf nodes.

Care after planting

Cuttings usually require daily watering as they are first getting established, since they have no built in water supply like a tuber. You also want to avoid overwatering, which can encourage rot. Saturating the soil at watering time is ok, but your goal is to keep the soil generally lightly damp for the first two weeks after planting outside.

Cuttings also benefit from a general purpose fertilizer applied at planting time, and (like all dahlias) from regular fertilization throughout the season. Follow the directions on a good quality all-purpose fertilizer. To protect against garden pests like thrips and aphids, we apply Neem Oil on the top and underside of the leaves/