I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off. I've tried giving them bone meal
after bloom (or nonbloom), but it hasn't helped. Other daffodils in my yard
bloom profusely. I am about to dig up the non-bloomers. Question: Should
I try replanting them elsewhere, with nice compost in the holes etc., or
should I let them do their bit by tossing them into the compost pile?

heclo
East central Illinois

On Tue, 1 May 2007 10:58:24 -0500, "helco"
wrote:

I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off. I've tried giving them bone meal
after bloom (or nonbloom), but it hasn't helped. Other daffodils in my yard
bloom profusely. I am about to dig up the non-bloomers. Question: Should
I try replanting them elsewhere, with nice compost in the holes etc., or
should I let them do their bit by tossing them into the compost pile?

heclo
East central Illinois


If they are not burried deep enough they may not bloom, so after the
foliage dies back, dig them out and make sure they are burried six
inches and put the phosphorous in the hole when you replant them. If
they don't bloom next year it can be that you are cutting off the
foliage sooner than you should and the plant is not getting enough
nutrition from the sun.

In article ,
says...
I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off.

1) Some varieties do better than others, and it can depend on climate.
Some have buds that like to rot if damp for too long. Some dry out
if weather gets hot and dry too fast. If you can figure out what
they like, you may be able to move them to a cooler/hotter sunnier/
shadier moister/drier place and have better results.

2) If they have been in the same place for awhile, the bulbs may be
too crowded. Under good conditions they will divide every two or
three years, and after awhile the cluster gets so big and crowded
that most of the bulbs barely get enough nutrition to survive.
If you dig, separate, and replant with some fresh soil they can do
well again for several years.

3) If they don't do well in your yard in spite of your best efforts,
replace them with something that works better.

On 2007-05-01 11:58:24 -0400, "helco" said:

I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off. I've tried giving them bone meal
after bloom (or nonbloom), but it hasn't helped. Other daffodils in my yard
bloom profusely. I am about to dig up the non-bloomers. Question: Should
I try replanting them elsewhere, with nice compost in the holes etc., or
should I let them do their bit by tossing them into the compost pile?

heclo
East central Illinois


Daffs tend to bury themselves deeper after a few years and that will
stop blooming. After the foliage dies back separate and replant them.
4-6 inches deep.

Johnny Borborigmi wrote:

Daffs tend to bury themselves deeper after a few years and that will
stop blooming. After the foliage dies back separate and replant them.
4-6 inches deep.



I don't find that to be true at all (that they stop blooming because
they are too deep). I plant my Daffodils 8 inches deep (because I plant
annuals on top of them and don't want to disturb the bulbs) and they
keep blooming (and multiply) every year.

Daffodils stop blooming because the soil is very poor and/or the foliage
is not left in place long enough for the new bloom (for next year) to
develop. Deadheading and applying bone meal will help keep them
blooming every year.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening for over 40 years

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Digital Camera - Pentax *ist DL

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

"helco" wrote in message
m...
I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off. I've tried giving them bone meal
after bloom (or nonbloom), but it hasn't helped. Other daffodils in my
yard bloom profusely. I am about to dig up the non-bloomers. Question:
Should I try replanting them elsewhere, with nice compost in the holes
etc., or should I let them do their bit by tossing them into the compost
pile?

heclo
East central Illinois

I've received a variety of answers here. I'll answer various questions that
were raised:

1. I always let the foliage die off on its own, and I always deadhead
(though not always soon enough). Some of the foliage gets shaded by hostas
after a while -- but those aren't necessarily the ones that don't bloom.

2. There's been some disagreement in the answers about whether they're the
right depth. Since some of those clumps look "leggy," I suspect they're not
deep enough, rather than too deep.

3. Some of them were getting lots of sun when they were planted, but their
spots are now shady. However, there doesn't seem to be much consistency
there -- some of the good bloomers are equally shaded.

4. Some of the clumps that don't bloom are newer than the good bloomers, so
I don't think they're too crowded.

5. Central Illinois soil is good (think corn and soybeans), and I think I
put compost in with everything when they were first planted.

So -- I'll put markers on the duds, and once the foliage has died back I'll
dig them up. I'll replant them at the proper depth, if that seemed to be a
problem, I'll move some to sunnier locations, and I'll give everything some
compost and phosphorusand/or bone meal. And then if they still don't
bloom -- they're compost.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

helco

I planted daffs along a very long drive. they are "naturalized" and go into deep
shade. the original holes were scraped hollows in basically limestone type gravel.

8 years later. they bloom, they thrive, the clumps increase every year. they get no
fertilizer. go figure. If I had an unproductive clump I would pull it, stake the
area and order something else for the spot. Ingrid

"helco" wrote:

I've received a variety of answers here. I'll answer various questions that
were raised:

1. I always let the foliage die off on its own, and I always deadhead
(though not always soon enough). Some of the foliage gets shaded by hostas
after a while -- but those aren't necessarily the ones that don't bloom.

2. There's been some disagreement in the answers about whether they're the
right depth. Since some of those clumps look "leggy," I suspect they're not
deep enough, rather than too deep.

3. Some of them were getting lots of sun when they were planted, but their
spots are now shady. However, there doesn't seem to be much consistency
there -- some of the good bloomers are equally shaded.

4. Some of the clumps that don't bloom are newer than the good bloomers, so
I don't think they're too crowded.

5. Central Illinois soil is good (think corn and soybeans), and I think I
put compost in with everything when they were first planted.

So -- I'll put markers on the duds, and once the foliage has died back I'll
dig them up. I'll replant them at the proper depth, if that seemed to be a
problem, I'll move some to sunnier locations, and I'll give everything some
compost and phosphorusand/or bone meal. And then if they still don't
bloom -- they're compost.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

helco




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One thing that was not mentioned is whether the bulbs were planted at
the same time. When I first moved into my apartment (Brooklyn), I
wanted to get some bulbs planted (it was late fall) so there would be
something blooming the following Spring. As they years have passed,
these first ones have not done so well. I would plant fresher bulbs
from more reputable places (i.e., not Home Depot or Lowe's . . . ) and
these have thrived. This Spring, the ones that had skinny foliage and
did not bloom were yanked because they will never get better after 5-6
years, imho.

I think a little serendipity comes into play -- as noted by the writer
noted immediately below if the plants like where they are, they will
thrive even if under ":adverse conditions".


On May 3, 8:02 am, wrote:
I planted daffs along a very long drive. they are "naturalized" and go into deep
shade. the original holes were scraped hollows in basically limestone type gravel.

8 years later. they bloom, they thrive, the clumps increase every year. they get no
fertilizer. go figure. If I had an unproductive clump I would pull it, stake the
area and order something else for the spot. Ingrid


"helco" wrote:
I've received a variety of answers here. I'll answer various questions that
were raised:

1. I always let the foliage die off on its own, and I always deadhead
(though not always soon enough). Some of the foliage gets shaded by hostas
after a while -- but those aren't necessarily the ones that don't bloom.

2. There's been some disagreement in the answers about whether they're the
right depth. Since some of those clumps look "leggy," I suspect they're not
deep enough, rather than too deep.

3. Some of them were getting lots of sun when they were planted, but their
spots are now shady. However, there doesn't seem to be much consistency
there -- some of the good bloomers are equally shaded.

4. Some of the clumps that don't bloom are newer than the good bloomers, so
I don't think they're too crowded.

5. Central Illinois soil is good (think corn and soybeans), and I think I
put compost in with everything when they were first planted.

So -- I'll put markers on the duds, and once the foliage has died back I'll
dig them up. I'll replant them at the proper depth, if that seemed to be a
problem, I'll move some to sunnier locations, and I'll give everything some
compost and phosphorusand/or bone meal. And then if they still don't
bloom -- they're compost.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

helco

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Around here (Ohio) we dig up the bulbs every few years, discard the
small bulbs, and replant the large bulbs. This is done after the
foliage dies down, and there will be blooms the following spring.

I've heard many explanations of why we do this, and the only one that
makes sense to me is overcrowding. Regardless of the lack of
explanation, I know it does work.

helco wrote:
I have some clumps of daffodils that don't bloom or else bloom very
sparsely. Some have buds that die off. I've tried giving them bone meal
after bloom (or nonbloom), but it hasn't helped. Other daffodils in my yard
bloom profusely. I am about to dig up the non-bloomers. Question: Should
I try replanting them elsewhere, with nice compost in the holes etc., or
should I let them do their bit by tossing them into the compost pile?

heclo
East central Illinois

Bill R expounded:


Daffodils stop blooming because the soil is very poor and/or the foliage
is not left in place long enough for the new bloom (for next year) to
develop. Deadheading and applying bone meal will help keep them
blooming every year.

Mine have been in place for over 15 years. They're overcrowded and
the bloom has definitely lessened. They do need to be separated - at
least once in 15 years! G
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

I agree. sherpers is a good place for good bulbs. Ingrid

Tony Vassallo wrote:

One thing that was not mentioned is whether the bulbs were planted at
the same time. When I first moved into my apartment (Brooklyn), I
wanted to get some bulbs planted (it was late fall) so there would be
something blooming the following Spring. As they years have passed,
these first ones have not done so well. I would plant fresher bulbs
from more reputable places (i.e., not Home Depot or Lowe's . . . ) and
these have thrived.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan