We all love dahlias (how can you not?!) but they are definitely on the pricier side when it comes to buying new tubers. For that reason, you may be thinking of growing some Dahlias from seed this year.
If you are planning to start your own Dahlia seedlings then one thing you are definitely wondering is how many Dahlia seedlings should I have per pot?
This is a good question and one I have struggled with myself when growing my own Dahlias from seed. But that experience has taught me one thing that I will pass on to you now.
Only Grow One Dahlia Seedling Per Pot!
Melissa – The Cut Flower Farmhouse
There you have it, the answer you were looking for. Only grow a single Dahlia seedling per pot. But why?
The simple answer is, that’s all you need! Dahlia seedlings germinate really well so you should get a really good germination rate, meaning you don’t need to sow lots of seeds in case some never germinate.
On top of that Dahlias grow quickly and turn into large plants, so unless you have acres of space you don’t need lots of these gorgeous flowers.
The Downside of Sowing More Than One Per Pot.
But why stop at one Dahlia seed per pot? What are the possible downsides of sowing more?
The major downside is that your pots will get overcrowded quickly and you will need to split the seedlings up. This will inevitably lead to root damage as you try to separate the seedlings.
You may completely kill some of your seedlings off, and those that you don’t will at least have some root damage. This will slow their overall growth down and put them behind seedlings that were grown in pots on their own.
I can say this confidently because I have made the same mistake myself. Excited to grow as many Dahlias as possible from seeds I stuffed multiple seeds into each cell on these root trainers.
As you can see, they are overcrowded, and I definitely had to thin these out quickly. After thinning them I did soo much damage.
The roots had wrapped themselves around each other making them really tough to separate. I didn’t lose too many plants separating them but the damage caused to the roots definitely set them back a few weeks.
It makes much more sense to grow one Dahlia seedling per pot so you don’t lose out on this precious grow time.
In case you were wondering below I will add a few photos of how these seedlings turned out, growing Dahlias from seed can be really rewarding!
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