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

"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

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/

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

"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.

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.

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
..