After your dahlias grow to around 12 inches tall, it’s time to start offering them some support. There are many different ways to do this, but the most common methods are staking and corralling.
What is the difference and how do I decide which method to use?
Staking
Staking involves using a stake for every dahlia or a stake for every 4 dahlias with some twine. This is great for gardens with small quantities of dahlias, supports one to four plants, and offers targeted support in a mixed planting. If you use a single stake per plant, it’s best to add that when you initially plant your dahlia tuber so you don’t damage your growing tubers.
If you are using one stake per 4 plants, you can carefully add that now. Position the stake in the center of 4 dahlia plants, and then loop supporting twine to connect the post to each plant (4 loops, 1 per plant). As the plants grow, you can add more loops anchoring each plant to the central stake.
Corralling
Corral systems are great for larger quantities or rows of dahlias, offer an efficient way to box in bigger sections or rows of dahlias, and offer a frugal use of materials at scale. We plant dahlias in a double row, 12” apart in both directions. When our dahlias reach about 12 inches, we pound a single t-post every 25-ft down the middle of the row. We then make a “belt” of twine and corral the dahlias with it. As they grow, we add layers of twine as needed. We wrote a whole post about this (with the back story about how we figured this out) that you can check out here.
Hopefully this will help you decide the best method for offering your dahlias some support! Which one is best for you?
Great advice. Thank you!????
Thanks, Maureen!