Getting it to bloom

Why won't my Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Café au Lait' bloom? (and how to make it flower)

Also called Dinnerplate dahlia (Dahlia 'Café au Lait').

More about dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait'

About Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Café au Lait'

Dahlia 'Café au Lait' · also called Dinnerplate dahlia · flowering

Dahlia 'Café au Lait' is a celebrated dinnerplate dahlia producing huge, fully double blooms up to 20-25 cm across in soft creamy blush, peach and café tones. A wedding and cut-flower favourite, it flowers prolifically from midsummer until the first frost. Grown from tender tubers, it needs sun, rich soil and staking, and is lifted or protected over winter in cold climates.

Plant type: flowering

The reasons dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' isn't blooming

Almost every non-blooming dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' traces back to one of these, roughly in order of how common they are:

Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.
Too much nitrogen feed, driving lush foliage at the expense of flowers (very common with general or lawn feeds).
The plant has not been deadheaded, so it stops flowering once it sets seed.
Irregular watering — drought or waterlogging at the budding stage makes buds abort.
It is still too young or was checked by a transplant and is rebuilding before flowering.

Feeding dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' a high-nitrogen general feed and growing it in too little sun — you get a big leafy plant and almost no flowers.

The fix — how to get dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' to flower

Maximise sun. Give dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers.
Switch the feed. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.
Deadhead regularly. Remove spent flowers often to keep it producing more rather than stopping to set seed.
Water consistently. Keep moisture even through budding and flowering — drought-then-flood swings make buds drop.

Light and feeding do most of the heavy lifting here. Dial in the spot with the light guide for dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' and get the feeding right with the dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' fertilising schedule — the wrong feed (too much nitrogen) is one of the most common silent reasons a healthy plant makes leaves instead of flowers.

Bloom season and what to expect

Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Café au Lait' flowers across its growing season (mostly summer) and, kept fed and deadheaded, can bloom for many weeks or right up to frost.

Post-bloom care so it flowers again

Deadhead, keep feeding lightly, and many will rebloom; collect seed from the best plants at the end of the season if you want to grow them again.

For everything else this plant needs day to day, see the full dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' care brief and its watering schedule — a stressed, badly watered plant rarely has the energy to flower at all.

Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Café au Lait' blooming — frequently asked questions

Why won't my dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' flower?

Dinnerplate Dahlia 'Café au Lait' blooms on the season's growth given enough sun, warmth and the right feed — there is no cold or photoperiod trick, just good growing conditions and a bloom-leaning feed. The most common reason it is not happening: Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.

How do I make dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' bloom?

Give dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.

When does dinnerplate dahlia 'café au lait' normally bloom?