Expert: C.L. Fornari - 7/5/2010

Question
I moved my dahlias that were over a foot tall and doing great to a bigger space in the yard and now they are drooping.  I've moved dahlias before and they died.  I'm afraid this will happen again.  I made sure to keep the roots and soil wet, I packed the earth.  What is going on?

Answer
Tracy,
Moving any larger plant in hot temperatures is always risky because you cut their roots and the foliage is loosing so much water in the heat that the plant quickly wilts.  

I'm a bit concerned that you say you packed the earth. When you place plants in the ground, moved or new, you should never pack down the soil. The air spaces in the soil are as important to plants as water and dirt are. The air spaces allow roots to grow into the soil quickly, provide easy access for water to drain through the soil around the roots, and allow earthworms etc. to crawl around making more air spaces.  When you plant or transplant, dig a wider hole than the pot or the clump of soil around the plant, place your plant in the center and fill the sides of the hole with the loose soil. Then water it all well in order to settle the soil and hydrate the plant.  

In the future if you're not sure about where a plant will grow, leave it in a pot until you are ready to plant so the roots won't be cut at this time of year.  If you have to move something when it's hot, dig a huge root ball that cuts few of the roots, handle it gently, and water very well after moving. You might want to wait to transplant on a cloudy day too, or when a stretch of rain is predicted.

Of course your first concern now is helping these dahlias to make it. If you packed the soil hard around them, I'd pop them out tomorrow morning, replant with loose soil around the plants (don't shake the soil off of the roots however - leave the root balls intact as much as possible) and water well.  If it's hot and sunny where you are, you might have to water every day for the first week, then every other day for a week and then decreasing in frequency so that you don't keep them too sopping wet.

And no fertilizer until they recover!
I hope this helps,
C.L.