Flower potatoes…Now what?
We all know the story. You get excited for springtime, you are lured in by the beautiful blooms you saw pictures of, you bought the goodies and the box has arrived! You open the box and you see a bunch of things that look suspiciously like….potatoes?
Welcome to tubers!
And you’re not wrong—-dahlia tubers DO look a lot like potatoes. (You can even eat them like potatoes…though it’s not recommended) Sometimes tubers look a little rough…..like the “Cousin Eddie to a Clark Griswold” potato, but it’s roughly still a potato-looking thing with no “This Side Up” arrow.
So, what do you do!?
My first piece of advice is DON’T PANIC! Short of drowning your tuber in a bucket of water, it WILL grow no matter how you plant it. But to get those eye-catching blooms you saw pictures of- the details matter.
You’ll see all over the internet: to plant tubers this way, no that way, no wait definitely this way. And many of the methods are valid! But if you’re like me, you have kids in sports, dinners to be make, laundry to fold, and a yard still needing attention after winter’s abuse….you’re lacking time for intense tuber planting strategies.
But before we get to the “how”, let’s quickly break down the tuber. There IS a proper “up” and “down” to dahlia tubers. But also? Every tuber looks incredibly different, right!? Some look like round balls, some like Thanksgiving yams, some like teardrops with long slender stems (actually called the neck, but more details on that later) With all the shape varieties it can be hard to discern “up” from “down.”
Here is the method I’ve used for the last 10 years, which is a little different. For each tuber, regardless of WHERE you’re planting them (in ground or in pots) dig a trench about 4-6 inches deep and roughly as long as the length of your tuber. Then lay your tuber in sideways like you’re placing a hotdog into a bun. Then it’s just a matter of covering up the tuber with the dirt and calling it aces! Let nature do what nature does. The roots will grow down and the stalk will grow up and you don’t have to stand there questioning your tuber choices. By planting the tuber sideways- you now don’t have to wonder if it’s upside-down or not!
One small exception: Sometimes tubers arrive with sprouts already going (you are LUCKY!!!) if you get a go-getter dahlia like that, plant it “sprout side up”, tuck it in for it’s dirt nap, and wait for nature to do it’s thing.
KEEP THIS IN MIND, sometimes dahlias can take a LONG TIME to get above ground. Just have faith, keep giving minimal water (if the rain isn’t providing enough) and wait for sprouts. I planted a dahlia in early May that didn’t pop up until the end of June! I thought for sure I had killed it. But when I went to dig it up to reuse the pot I found that under the dirt were baby sprouts and LOADS of roots! That dahlia was just on its own timeline, but as you can see in the photo- it still bloomed beautifully.
My dahlia friends, if you can only take away one thing let it be this. Dahlias want to grow.
Even if you were to plant it upside-down, a sprout will show up- it just might take a little extra time. So, if you’re just starting out, seriously, don’t worry about it! Just stick it in the dirt and let it do what God intended for it to do. GROW.
Before I sign off, I have to lean into a “Mom-moment”. Fair warning, it’s about to get sappy.
Happy Birthday to my firstborn, my son Jack! You are my first chapter in motherhood and the original crash course in parenting and honestly…I couldn’t think of better timing for Dirt Diaries to debut. I hope you don’t mind sharing your spotlight today. Love you Bubba- keep being exactly who you are and keep doing exactly what you need to do. GROW.
My slow to rise dahlia in all it’s glory
