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Daffodil Dilemma

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  • 10-05-2015 10:59am
    #1
    space2ground1
    Registered Users Posts: 559 ✭✭✭


    I had 3 flower beds of blind daffodils this year. Almost none flowered out of a hundred ish bulbs whereas last year we had almost 90% of them flower. I waited this year until the one or two that did flower died off and then gave it another few weeks. Yesterday I dug up a few with the stems still on to see what the bulbs were like and most were split with the roots tangled. The other problem was that the bulbs were generally very small.

    I dug the whole lot up and split them out and replanted them (stems still on) with a bit better spacing. Its the size of the bulbs though thats concerning me. Is it likely that I'll need to take them all up in October and just replace them with new ones from the garden centre?

    I got a tip from a person working in the local centre to dig up a few in October and cut them down the middle with a stanley knife to see if theres a yellow flower bud in the bulb. If not, its likely to grow blind again.

    Just wondering if anyone has any other advice?


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    #2
    solargain
    Registered Users Posts: 330 ✭✭solargain


    You need to feed them with tomatoe plant food , to get nourishment into the bulbs


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    #3
    space2ground1
    Registered Users Posts: 559 ✭✭✭space2ground1


    solargain wrote: »
    You need to feed them with tomatoe plant food , to get nourishment into the bulbs

    Great stuff. I did that yesterday too :D Keep doing it once a week until they start to go brown?


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    #4
    Supercell
    Registered Users Posts: 15,401 ✭✭✭✭Supercell


    Pick off the flowers as they die, don't let them develop seed heads, leave the stalks on until they are brown on the ground. No harm to giving them tomato feed either while still green. They do need lifting every few years anyhow to divide as otherwise there will be a bunch of them in the one spot competing for the same nourishment and little or no flowers. This is usually when people think their bulbs are "tired" and need to be replaced which is just nonsense, if that was the case how would we ever get new ones!?
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    #5
    space2ground1
    Registered Users Posts: 559 ✭✭✭space2ground1


    Supercell wrote: »
    Pick off the flowers as they die, don't let them develop seed heads, leave the stalks on until they are brown on the ground. No harm to giving them tomato feed either while still green. They do need lifting every few years anyhow to divide as otherwise there will be a bunch of them in the one spot competing for the same nourishment and little or no flowers. This is usually when people think their bulbs are "tired" and need to be replaced which is just nonsense, if that was the case how would we ever get new ones!?

    Gotcha. Given that they're so small now though is it possible to feed them up so they'll flower next year?


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