Your dahlias are lovely! Hope you have successfully overwintered the dahlias.

Bunti, did you fertilize and mulch last year? It sounds like your dahlias could use extra fertilizer every week or so, in low dosages. And dahlias like their water, too!

The easy way to fertilize is to treat them like tomatoes. Purists will have my heart out for saying that, but if you don't want to get bogged down in buying lots of different supplements (like bonemeal, alfalfa pellets, 0-20-20 specialty fertilizer, etc.), and just want to improve your plants/blooms, look for basic fertilizer for tomatoes and follow the directions, repeating as often as the directions suggest until September.

Good luck with your new varieties! Nick Sr. is a beauty, but a late bloomer, so you might want to start him early inside in a pot before planting him out in your yard.

CCvacation,

I have dug all my dahlia tuber from ground and kept them in the garage. Now i have planted them in pots.

I don't see any growth. Do you want me feed them now only, or after seeing little growth?

I live in zone 7. Can i leave the bulbs in the ground during winter?

Thank you,

Tubers need no fertilizer in the beginning as the tubers themselves store fertilizer. If you did not see any eyes starting to sprout when you put them in the pots, it is very possible your storage method killed the tubers. Water plus temps of about 70 degrees for a week or two so should get them to sprout if they are going to do so.

Tubers can be left in the ground in any zone where the soil does not freeze to a depth of about 3 inches. Killing temps are usually in the low 20s for more than 2 or 3 days in a row. Mulch like tree leaves can keep them from freezing in much cooler temps.