It sounds like they are in transplant shock. And with the scorching weather we have had, that is not at all surprising. Correct me if I have this wrong, but you had them in containers first and now you have planted them in ground? When they were in the containers, were the containers indoors or outside?

All of that is probably a moot point now though. Here's what my mom does. Whenever she plants something tender like that out in her garden, especially in this heat, she covers it for several days. She uses these mesh pop-up laundry bags. They are kinda genius. They provide airflow and sun but also a semblance of shade on the plant. If you don't have those, you could use some shade cloth. You can drape it over a tomato cage or anything else that will cover the plant but not allow the cloth to lay on top of it. Mom has even used buckets to cover the plants for a few days while their roots settle in before exposing them to the brutal sun.

By the way, I have never heard that dahlias don't like a lot of water. I water mine daily. I do know however that they may not appreciate a lot of water on their foliage. So I use a watering can for mine.

Hope this helps.

Hi Popmama, yeah they were in containers indoors. This is so helpful, thank you so much!!!!!! I have some weed fabric that I can probably make a shade tent type thing with so I’ll try that tomorrow! And thank you so much about the watering advice!!! The soil seems to hold moisture quite a lot so that makes me less worried about babying them/being OCD about watering. Hopefully it’s mot too late for them. Another set of 5 I have in their pots where I’m planning on planting them. They’ve been there a few days and are faring way better so I’ll do that for the rest too. That area is way more shady but I think that putting them out in the pots is probably still an easier transition. THANK YOU!!!!!!!