How to Make the Biggest Profit from Dahlias on Your Flower Farm

Growing flowers for profit is a rewarding and sometimes challenging journey. But my flower farming goal is to work smarter, not harder. And that’s one of the reasons I love dahlias and the multiple ways it can help bring money into my business. 

There are a lot of flowers that we call workhorses, but dahlias truly are in a league of their own. Believe it or not, they’re worth so much more than just their beautiful blooms. In fact, each stage of the dahlia lifecycle can help you generate sales. 

Here are the ways you can make your dahlias work harder for you. 

Sell dahlia tubers: The underground gold

One of the easiest ways to make extra money from dahlias is by selling tubers. When you plant a single dahlia tuber (the mother tuber), it’ll produce a bunch of new tubers during the growing season. By the time you pull up your dahlia tubers for the season, you’ll usually have between 5 and 20 new tubers growing from the mother tuber. 

This growth makes dahlias a great investment. While tubers can be quite expensive—sometimes more than $15 or $20 each—a single tuber can produce generations of new dahlias. This also means they can provide quite a bit of income, especially once you get your hands on varieties that are hard to find or that sell out quickly. 

After your dahlias have died back in the fall, dig up the tubers and rinse them so you can start dividing them. All you need to make sure individual tubers are viable to sell is to make sure each tuber has at least one eye. An eye is a dormant bud that will sprout a new plant after the tuber is planted. 

Dividing tubers is a great way to generate income during the slower winter season. Since tubers are fairly hardy, you can store them in a cool, dry place until they’re ready to sell. They’re also fairly easy to ship, so you can reach customers outside of your area. 

Sell dahlia cuttings: Share the love

A little further into the dahlia lifecycle, cuttings are another way to profit from your dahlias. Cuttings are small pieces that come from the stem of a parent plant. When you plant a dahlia cutting, it’ll grow into a new plant that will even produce its own tubers during the season. 

Cuttings allow growers to start new plants much quicker than waiting for new tubers to develop. 

By potting up your tubers a few months prior to when they need to be planted outside, you can take cuttings. This essentially creates more of the same dahlia at minimal cost. Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide to dahlia cuttings.

You can sell cuttings to people in your community. And it may actually attract a different type of customer. Some people may prefer the convenience of a plant that’s already established with roots versus a tuber that they need to start from scratch. This could be especially true for people in colder climates and shorter growing seasons. 

Alternatively, you could keep your own cuttings and grow more plants of your own. 

Sell dahlia blooms: A classic strategy

Of course, the most obvious way to make money from dahlias is by selling the blooms themselves. Dahlias are often a customer favorite because of their showy blooms that come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. 

This also means dahlias command a premium price. Whether you’re selling to florists, wholesalers, or directly to customers, dahlias tend to be worth more to buyers. 

Compared to some other cut flowers, dahlias are actually fairly easy to grow and harvest. And they can be quite prolific. Once they reach maturity, they’ll keep creating blooms until the end of the growing season. 

Lastly, because there are so many dahlia varieties, you can set yourself apart from other local sellers by offering unique dahlias. And of course, if your customers love your dahlias, they might be interested in trying to grow some for themselves, meaning you have a potential tuber or cutting customer. 

Invite people to your flower farm: Create a memorable experience

Just because you missed the window to harvest a dahlia bloom doesn’t mean you’ve missed any opportunity to make money from it. A dahlia in full bloom is a beautiful sight to see. And a field full of them? That’s even better. 

You can make money by inviting people to visit your flower farm. And of course, dahlias are a big contributor to the flowers people like to see. At Muddy Acres, we have a steady stream of photographers who come to visit. We also have a seasonal farm club that allows our VIP customers to just come hang out, relax, and soak in the beauty. And don’t forget about u-picks! This is when you allow visitors at your farm to cut their own stems and take them home. 

I’m also seeing more and more open houses, when flower farms allow the public to visit when dahlias are in full bloom. Triple Wren and Summer Dreams farms are both popular flower farms that offer this. 

While some of these strategies may take some extra time and effort, it’s truly amazing how you can take advantage of the entire lifecycle of a dahlia and profit from it. Don’t feel like you need to dive in and try everything at once, but don't be afraid to experiment and see what works best for you.