cut back daffodils or let them rot?
Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent
flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? email: -- Richard S. Levine |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
"clipster" wrote in message ... Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? \ Don't cut the leaves off till they have died all the way back. I always had very good luck with reblooming. In fact my daffs and tulips were always spectacular and most even multiplied each year. I dead headed the flower after it bloomed and then I foliar fed the plant from before the bud opened till the leaves started to yellow. It would also help to know where you are located. Some areas just aren't right for many types of bulbs. Val http://photos.yahoo.com/valkyriemi |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
In article , "clipster"
wrote: Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? email: When the leaves first start to brown, cut them back rather than let them rot to the ground. They've finished replenishing the bulb by the time they're browning, & to leave them thereafter is at least unsightly, at best doing neither good nor harm if allowed to rot, but at worst inviting unwanted fungus or route for insect attack. Bulbs that don't grow back the following year may not have had enough light when the blooms were finished. I've had this problem only with those I planted under deciduous shrubs, & will not plant them in those locations in the future. They bloom before the shrubs leaf out so it seemed a good idea at the time; but by the time the bulb has only leaves remaining & should be recharging, they're overshadowed by leafy shrubs. Also with bulbs that have been "forced" (& if instead of planting autumn bulbs you do spring plantings from potted narcissus already in bud, those were almost certainly forced for the sake of early spring marketing) these often never do bounce back for future years. Some cultivars simply do not perennialize well no matter what one does. Varieties which expressly promise to perennialize or naturalize with ease will return with the greatest vigor year after year. -paghat the ratgirl -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
Let the foliage and flower stems stay until they turn yellow by themselves.
Next years flowers depend on this years foliage to store energy to develop mature bulbs. If you remove the foliage prematurely, the bulbs will not reach flowering size. clipster wrote in message ... Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? email: -- Richard S. Levine |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
"Valkyrie" wrote in message news:1052836220.488385@yasure...
"clipster" wrote in message ... Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? \ Don't cut the leaves off till they have died all the way back. I always had very good luck with reblooming. In fact my daffs and tulips were always spectacular and most even multiplied each year. I dead headed the flower after it bloomed and then I foliar fed the plant from before the bud opened till the leaves started to yellow. It would also help to know where you are located. Some areas just aren't right for many types of bulbs. Val http://photos.yahoo.com/valkyriemi Above is true, up to a point. The leaves provide food for the bulb to regenerate itself and create bulblets, in the case of daffodils or tulips. However, if you are not having good results with reblooming, there could be a few causes: such as, not enough sun. Flowering bulbs need a good six hours of sunlight a day. Also, are you using a fertilizer on them? If so, stop, unless you are sure it's not too heavy on nitrogen, which will give you more leaf than flower. The third thing is, how old are the bulbs, or more accurately, when is the last time they were divided? Daffodils should be divided every five years or so. They will reward you with bigger, better blooms in a couple of years. |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
On Tue, 13 May 2003 09:28:25 -0400, "clipster"
wrote: Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent flowers or just simply cutting back the entire plant? I have been dead heading daffs for years and am not impressed with any spectacular regrowth in the following year. Would simply cutting them back harm them? Daffodils don't "rot" after blooming. The foliage remains and becomes less attractive, but the leaves are nourishing the bulb tor next year's bloom. As others have posted, daffs require a good amount of sun, and may decline in shady situations. The bulbs multiply undergound and benefit from being dug up, divided, and replanted every few years. The problem, of course, is that by dig-up/replant season, the foliage is gone and you don't know where they were. The meticulous gardener makes a map or places markers in spring so as to know where to dig in the fall. The rest of us say "I think they were here," and dig carefully. |
cut back daffodils or let them rot?
If the ugly dying stems bother you, you can do this:
On a fancy home tour once I saw the spent daff stems were gathered in a bunch (15 or so stems?), braided - like you braid hair - and then rolled under into a coil and you could hardly see them. Foliage around them will cover the unsightly stems and later, when all yellowed, they can be pulled easily from the bulb and thrown away. Roberta "Frogleg" wrote in message ... On Tue, 13 May 2003 09:28:25 -0400, "clipster" wrote: Question whether it is better to let daffs rot after cutting off the spent .. |
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