Hi I live in S Florida and will be trying to grow Dahlia's for the first time. Just wondering how long does the stalk have to be to transfer from pot to soil? Also, wondering if anyone on the forum have experience with growing Dahlia's in South Florida successfully?

Hi Welcome!

Many people plant dahlias before they have grown any sprouts at all. If you read the info at the Swan Island Dahlia site, they suggest that if your tuber has grown a long sprout, to snip it down to 1" when you plant it, however that is directed at people who havent potted them up first. I plant mine at what ever stage they are when I am ready to plant. Right now, some of my dahlias are close to 12" plants, some have just barely eyed up and started putting out roots, and everything in between. You just have to be really careful with the sprouted ones and dont break the sprout as they go into the ground. If the sprout breaks off at the base, it will most likely re-grow, but it will take a while.

I am in WI, so not much help when it comes to growing dahlias in the tropics. On another site I frequent there is a gentlemen from FL (not sure where) who talk of planting them out in Feb, his are full sized plants and starting to bloom now. He says his plants go pretty much dormant in the full summer when the heat really kicks in, and then begin flowering again in the fall. Apparently there are some dahlias that are ore heat tolerant than others, but I am afraid I dont have a list for you.

Good luck with them!

Thank you Mandolls, for the information. I actually planted two yellow passions from pot to soil earlier today only to find an iguana hanging out near the site. I didn't think much of it, well, about three hours later I decided to check on the site, only to find one of the yellow passions eaten completely, I could barely see the stalk. Hurtful, in less than four hours it was eaten all the way down. I will be visiting Home Depot tomorrow to buy some sort of iguana repellent.

Sorry to hear of your iguana problem. Are they common there? I had no idea that they could grow to more than 5' long and weight 15-20 pounds until I read about the problems they are causing with fruit farms in Puerto Rico. Entire crops of bananas, mangos and papaya are being destroyed. Various groups are issuing free pellet rifles to farmers to help control them. The population is estimated at over 4 million and growing rapidly. In three days, one group took over 300 in just a 100 yard area. And I'm complaining about a few rabbits! I hope you can get rid of yours. Supposedly, they taste like chicken. LOL No thank you! I'll pass!

OMG. iguanas. Yup. And all I have is slugs. I wonder what is causing the explosion in their population. Surely something 'we' have done

we have had alot of rain the last few days, I will keep you guys posted

Can anyone please tell me why might my dahlia in the first pic be drying out. It's been raining a lot but it's in well drained soil and only this one looks like this. I've also been spraying it to keep snails and iguanas away

The iguanas discovered my yard after i planted dahlias then took over once they noticed my mango tree..no more mangos now I have a little break

Ground sure looks bone dry.

@Oberon46, the soil was mainly sandy but I have since removed it due to tuber rot

Interesting. You would think that sandy would drain well. Maybe it just clumps around the roots.

From Davie, Florida.I bought some dahlia tubers from Michigan bulb and Aldi two years ago and I had beautiful flowers the first year. They didn't flower the next year. I dug them up and planted some that I can find in pots and I had flowers this year. The tubers didn't grow any bigger and they require a lot of work, you have to be vigilant with aphids and the pests. I will try to plant them again. I love dahlias, but I don't like wasting more money on them.

What about dahlias in North Florida? I'm in the pandhandle and our zone is 8-9. I'm majorly in love with dahlias that are this form (cactus form?)


I bought one like that from the store 2 years ago that was maybe a foot tall and blooming. It was nice for maybe a month and then the bugs got to it. 1 slug fell an entire stock. I've tried planting bulbs and the sprouts get eaten before they can really take off. I definitely have slugs here and snails but I don't like using any pesticide. To be honest I don't like fooling with plants that need a lot of looking after and protecting. I think I saw a Youtube video of someone in Florida growing a whole garden of dahlias for cut flower selling and I was shocked that they could have so many here. Part of why I really want Dahlias is a video I saw of a guy's garden in the UK where he has some big burgundy colored dahlia bushes with orange flowers and they look so good in his tropical garden. Ha found the video:
https://youtu.be/MFw7w6uKCos

So should I try getting a dahlia again or should I just look for an alternative? I'm into daylilies right now but I sure would love to find something that has the same spiky looking flower as that dahlia.

Hi Alea,

Well it can't hurt to try, right? That is a cactus form. I know of a guy in Gainesville that has grown dahlias for awhile, and they usually bloom early, take a break during the really hot months, then come roaring back once it cools. Due to the crazy rains, he plants in grow bags to ensure good drainage. I guess he could also technically move the bags to safety if a hurricane rolls in, but don't think he does.

On the other hand...daylilies are so much more low fuss.

Your Avatar photo is gorgeous Melissa!
I will try growing one on my back porch in a plant bag then. That way I can also keep a close eye on it to protect it from critters. It's too bad they go away when it gets hot. That must have been why the pretty one I got at Lowe's one year stayed nice for a while and then started declining and disappeared. Now I'm sure that it didn't come back because of all our rain/moisture. Oops!

I definitely love daylilies I think I added 10 more this year. I'm on a quest for lots of blooms!

Awww, thanks Alea! I appreciate the acorn too, that was very kind. I hope you have lots of blooms this growing season. It's a bummer that the tubers rot from all the rain. Dahlias don't like super hot weather (they get crabby here as well), so that's why they take a break during the peak of Summer. The nice thing is that you've got a much longer growing season, so you'll probably have blooms long after most people's gardening gloves are tucked away for the Winter.