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Soil Additives To Support Dahlias

Nichole recorded this video as part of a series called the Dahlia Tip of The Week. This 11 minute video takes you through all the products that could be used and what they can do for you garden.

pH

Nitrogen/ Phosphate/ Potassium

Salts

Soil additives to support dahlias are numerous and each serves a purpose in certain climates and soils. The advice in this video is really targeted to helping you understand the basics of what each product is for. It is also tailored to people living in coastal climates or areas that get massive amounts of rain. We grew up in desert climates, but live in a temperate rainforest now. Our house can get up to 100 or more inches of rain and there have been days we get 5-6 inches of rain. This is inconceivable to some. While not enough water is the problem in many areas, too much water is a coastal issue.

Thinking about your soil type, your climate, rain fall, and other factors can help you determine what is needed to grow nice big healthy plants. For example, there is advice that you should not water your tubers until the plant has come up. In our area on the Oregon Coast, this is sound advice. But if you were living in Southern California, Arizona, Texas and trying to grow dahlias, the soil can suck water out of your tubers and they will fail to grow because the soil is too dry. A tuber in the ground needs to be treated differently than a tuber in a pot because there is no ground water in the pot and pots dry out faster.

View of back of dahlia patch where the Holly Hill Black Beauty and Lady Liberty dahlias are looking down the dahlia rows from the tall plants to the short and the cedar tree near the garden fence is glimpsed in the back ground of this image.
Supporting the soil means tall and healthy plants producing numerous blooms through the season.

So clearly, we digressed a bit there into a water concept, but the same is true for nutrition. We need certain soil additives to support dahlias. Another common piece of dahlia advice is not to apply nitrogen fertilizers to dahlias. They will go crazy with foliage growth. While that is true in some circumstances, after 100 inches of rain, a lot of what was in the soil has been washed away and the pH changes. Understanding the products above can help you figure out what is missing and support healthy growth no matter where you live.

Cheers! And Happy Gardening!