Dahlia Cutting Care

How to care for your dahlia rooted cuttings:

● Unpackage your cuttings the day they arrive.  

● Remove your cutting from the container it was shipped in. For the first 2-3 days, do not pot up right away. 

● Keep your cutting out of direct light, indoors. It’s been in the dark while shipped and you don’t want to shock it

● After 2-3 days, pot your rooted cuttings up into a 4” pot with drainage holes with nice potting soil that is moist but not soaking wet. Gently water in. 

● Keep the cutting watered gently.  Allow to dry out between waterings. Do not over water. You do not want to soak your cutting and cause it to dampen off/rot. We recommend watering from below, have your cutting on a tray or flat plate and water below to allow the water to absorb up.

● After approx 2 days move your cutting to direct light indoors, ideally under grow lights

● After several days under grow lights, start hardening it off out of doors in preparation for planting. If you plant your rooted cutting outside right away it will die. It can not handle the change from indoor lighting to full sun rays all at once, it must be gently acclimated. Place it outside for increasing periods of time over several days. Look up online further “hardening off” instructions for seedlings. Don’t put out during hottest/brightest part of the day.

● Plant your dahlia cutting outside after it’s been hardened off.

● Your dahlia cutting will grow into a full plant and flower in the first year. It will also produce tubers. Follow dahlia growing best practices for your area. You should have blooms in 90-120 days.