ive put new dahlia tubers in as normal but they have only grown verysmall instead of the large ones they usually are where have i gone wrong?

We are into guessing mode. My guess is that the key word here is "new". One possibility is that the tubers you bought had not been stored well and weren't very good.

People often don't realise the most important bit of a dahlia tuber is not the thick fat bit, but the bit where the thick fat bits join together.

Another possibility, if you keep on planting them in the same place, is that they have used up all of something they need in the soil, and you need to prepare the soil again.

On 7/25/11 1:52 AM, candy girl wrote:
ive put new dahlia tubers in as normal but they have only grown
verysmall instead of the large ones they usually are where have i gone
wrong?

There are dwarf dahlias. At a public garden where I am a docent, they
often plant dwarf dahlias in the spring for summer bloom. This year,
they planted dwarfs with dark red foliage, something I never saw before.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary