I think I finally figured out why growing dahlias is so addictive.
It is not just the flowers. It is the emotional rollercoaster that starts long before a single sprout breaks through the soil.
First comes the dreaming. You spend months thinking about next season’s dahlia patch. Late at night you find yourself scrolling through online dahlia shops, loading your basket with far too many new varieties. Then you panic, remove half of them, and move them to a wish list instead.
All of this happens in secret, of course, because the people in your life can only handle so much dahlia talk.
Then one evening, when everyone is asleep, you bite your lip, close your eyes, and press the “buy now” button. You know full well that the total is double what you planned to spend. But that’s also a secret. You will never, ever share the real number with anyone – especially not your spouse.
And if you are anything like me, the buyer’s remorse is not about the ones you bought, but the ones you didn’t. So you go back. And you buy more. Unbelievable – and yet so familiar to many dahlia lovers.
The hidden boxes and the long wait
Then the waiting season begins.
You start planning new dahlia beds in your head. You decide where each new variety will go. You email the supplier (hello, it’s me) to ask when your order will ship. You walk around your garden mentally rearranging everything to make space for “just a few more tubers.”
And then one morning it happens: the first box arrives on your doorstep.
This is also the only box your family will ever see.
The other boxes will mysteriously never make it to the kitchen counter. They will be opened in your car, or quietly when the kids are at school, and nobody will ever know there was more than one delivery.
Now the real anxiety begins. You unpack the tubers and inspect every one. Some look a little dry, some have strange bumps, and suddenly you are questioning everything. No one in your house understands what you are ranting about, but luckily Facebook does. You join a few dahlia groups, post anonymous photos, and the other dahlia addicts reassure you that you are not crazy.
You plant them – with your heart in your throat – because they were expensive and you desperately want them to live. For the next few weeks you go outside every morning to check for growth.
When it rains, you rush out to cover the beds so they do not drown. When the soil cracks in the heat, you worry they have dried out. Eventually, if you are lucky, 70–80% of your tubers wake up and start growing. You feel ridiculously proud of yourself. You kept them alive. You did it.
The correct stage to pinch a dahlia
The first bud… and the big question
Then, one beautiful morning, you see it: the first bud.
Your excitement is sky-high. Months of planning, spending, planting, and worrying are finally turning into flowers.
But somewhere deep down you know you should probably pinch that first bud out.
You know that, in the long run, you will get more blooms from a pinched dahlia plant.
But emotionally? After everything you went through to get to this point, the idea of cutting off that very first flower feels cruel.
And that brings us to the heart of this blog post:
To pinch or not to pinch your dahlias.
Why pinching dahlias is so important
I am a firm believer in pinching dahlias. Not everyone is, and that is okay, but let us talk about what is actually happening in the plant – and why pinching can completely change your dahlia season.
Dahlias are living plants with one main goal: survive and multiply.
They do this in two ways:
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Making tubers underground
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Making seeds above ground
When you plant a dahlia tuber, it sends up a main shoot. This shoot grows tall and straight until it produces a flower. If you leave that flower on the plant, it will be pollinated, the petals will fall, and the seed pod will swell and turn green. Over time that seed pod turns brown, dries out, and eventually splits open, dropping seeds where they fall.
Once your dahlia has made seeds, it starts to slow down flower production because, in its mind, it has already done its job: survive and reproduce.
That is not what we want from a garden dahlia.
We are not growing dahlias mainly for seed – we want armfuls of blooms all season long. So we need to interrupt the plant’s natural plan a little, and that is where pinching comes in.
Dahlia plant with multiple stems after pinching
What does “pinching dahlias” mean?
Pinching dahlias simply means removing the very top growing tip of the plant when it is still young.
You normally do this when the plant has produced three to four sets of leaves. On many varieties this is at the same point where the first bud will appear. That is the bud you must be brave enough to remove.
You can use clean fingers or a sharp pair of snips:
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Find the point just above the 3rd or 4th pair of leaves
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Pinch or cut out the soft growing tip (and the tiny bud, if there is one)
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Leave the leaves and stem below your cut
It feels brutal. But the results are worth it.
A bushy Dahlia Monroe plant after being pinched in Spring
The three big benefits of pinching dahlias
1. Bushier plants
When you pinch out the growing tip, you interrupt the plant’s main vertical growth.
The dahlia responds by sending out lateral shoots from the leaf nodes below the pinch point. Each pair of leaves can produce a new branch with its own growing tip.
Instead of one tall, lanky stem, you now have 6–8 branches growing from lower down. This makes your plant bushier, with more leaves to photosynthesise and more space for flowers.
2. More flowers over the season
If you do not pinch, you get one main stem with one early flower – nice for a quick photo, but not ideal if you want a long, productive cut flower season.
When you pinch, you redirect the plant’s energy from that single tip into all the lateral branches. At the end of each branch, a new flower bud will form.
So instead of one flower, you can end up with six or more on that same plant – and that is just the first flush. Over the full season, you can easily get 18–30 flowers (or more) from a well-grown, pinched dahlia.
Yes, the first flowers will arrive a few weeks later than they would have if you did not pinch. But once the plant starts, it keeps on giving.
3. Stronger, more stable plants
Dahlias can be drama queens in the wind.
Tall varieties with big blooms are especially prone to snapping or falling over after heavy rain or a strong gust. If you leave them to grow as one tall stem, it is like putting a dinner plate on top of a pencil. Not very stable.
Pinched plants tend to be:
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Shorter
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Better branched
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Stronger at the base
That structure makes them much less likely to flop over. A pinched dahlia is simply a stronger, more resilient plant – especially useful in South African gardens where we often juggle heat, wind, and sudden storms in the same season.
Dahlias ready to start growing into the flower support nets
Support for tall dahlias
Pinching and staking go hand-in-hand.
In my garden at Love Dahlias in Douglas, I believe that any dahlia taller than about 80 cm needs support.
You can use:
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Wooden stakes
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Bamboo
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Steel rods
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Or, like I do, horizontal support netting
Here is how the netting method works for me:
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After planting my tubers, I install horizontal netting over the bed
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If a plant grows to about 100 cm, I set the net at roughly two-thirds of the final height (around 67–70 cm)
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All my plants are pinched before they reach the net
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The new branches then grow naturally through the holes in the net and are supported as they develop
If you are growing dahlias for cut flower production, you can even pinch twice:
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First pinch: After 3–4 sets of leaves
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Second pinch: When the new shoots reach the net and the second set of buds appear
Yes, this will delay flowering by about a month, but the number of stems you will harvest after that is incredible.
The emotional side of pinching
On paper, pinching dahlias is simple: cut here, get more flowers.
In real life, it is emotional.
You saved up for the tubers. You waited months. You checked for sprouts every day. You survived the “are they dead or just sleeping?” phase. You celebrated that first bud. And now I am telling you to cut it off.
It is completely normal to struggle with that moment.
But if your goal is a full season of blooms – vases filled with flowers, buckets for the house, and armfuls to share – then pinching is one of the best tools you have as a dahlia grower.
Think of it as short-term heartbreak for long-term joy.
Dahlia plant after top have been pinched
Pinching dahlias in South Africa – a quick summary
For South African home gardeners, small-scale flower farmers, and floral designers:
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Pinch early – when plants have 3–4 sets of leaves
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Pinch hard – remove the entire growing tip, even if there is a small bud
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Support tall varieties – especially anything over 80 cm
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Expect a slight delay in the first flowers, but a big increase in total blooms
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Consider a second pinch if you are growing for cut flowers and using netting
If you are still unsure, start by pinching half your dahlias and leaving the rest unpinched. By the end of the season, you will see the difference in structure, stem count, and overall productivity.
From my field to your garden
At Love Dahlias, all our dahlia tubers are grown, lifted, divided, and selected with South African gardens in mind. Strong plants, good tuber formation, and reliable flowering are my priorities when I decide what stays in the field and what goes.
Pinching is part of my standard growing practice here in Douglas, and I have seen the results season after season: bushier plants, more flowers, and happier gardeners.
So, to pinch or not to pinch?
For me, the answer is clear: pinch them – and then enjoy the flood of blooms that follow.
She who loves dahlias,
Mareli