Hi,

Sorry if this has been answered before, I'm a newbie lurker (this is my
1st post so hello all!)

What's the best thing to do when daffs fail to produce any flower? I
have a border full of bulbs, which have put on a wonderful display for
the last 20 years. They are in a slightly clay soil (though not too
claggy, and reasonably well draining) in a north west facing border, and
have been fed each year after flowering with fish blood and bone, and
the border mulched with garden compost and well rotted horse manure in
the autumn. I always leave it as late as possible to remove the leaves,
and until two years ago they've been great. The last 2 springs have
produced not a single flower.

I understand that this can happen when the bulbs are either too
congested or not deep enough. I dug up a clump to investigate, and found
lots of very small bulbs - mostly 1-1.5cm, none bigger than 2cm, and
quite a lot smaller than 1cm. Most of them had grown no more than 3
leaves. So I'm guessing congestion is the problem?

So what's the best thing to do? Do I leave them alone and hope that
they'll grow enough to flower next year, or dig them up and replant the
biggest ones, a bit more spaced out, or ditch the lot and start again in
the autumn with fresh stock?

TIA,

Jan

Jan wrote:
[...]
I understand that this can happen when the bulbs are either too
congested or not deep enough. I dug up a clump to investigate, and
found lots of very small bulbs - mostly 1-1.5cm, none bigger than
2cm, and quite a lot smaller than 1cm. Most of them had grown no more
than 3 leaves. So I'm guessing congestion is the problem?

So what's the best thing to do? Do I leave them alone and hope that
they'll grow enough to flower next year, or dig them up and replant
the biggest ones, a bit more spaced out, or ditch the lot and start
again in the autumn with fresh stock?

I'd dig them all up and replant the best ones four inches apart. The
soil is probably very fertile, as you've been so generous with feeding,
so I wouldn't do anything at root level. But I wouldn't do it till the
leaves have died down in the usual way. If you want a good display next
year, though, it isn't immoral to buy in new full-sized bulbs instead --
you could do half and half.

It's even possible that your generous feeding, coupled with natural
overcrowding, has actually encouraged the bulbs to send out offsets
instead of flowering. (I don't know if this is true of daffodils: I'm
just speculating, and others here will know for sure.)

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:

I'd dig them all up and replant the best ones four inches apart.

Thanks Mike, must admit this was my gut instinct

The
soil is probably very fertile, as you've been so generous with feeding,
so I wouldn't do anything at root level.

Thought I might just take the opportunity to give it a really good dig
over once the bulbs are out of the way, as it's not been done for the
last 20+ years...

But I wouldn't do it till the
leaves have died down in the usual way.

Right - that was another thing I was wondering about - whether it'd be
best to wait till they've died back, or to do the sort out now, and
replant the best with plenty of room to grow now - I know some folk do
lift their daffs and replant them elsewhere while the foliage dies, so
that they can get on with replanting the border. Or will they have done
all the growing they're going to this year?

Jan

Jan,
I would agree with other posts.
The small bulbs in indicative of a bulb divding itself when there is a
shortage of feed. Which given all you have done with Blood, Fish and
Bone and manure is very suprising.
Consequently may I suggest a change in feed. BFB is a slow release
fertiliser. Try something what is more instant, such as tomato feed.
Water it in now and repeat weekly until the leaves start to fade. If
you can get hold of a soluble 10:10:10 feed that would be the best,
but you should get a result from tomato feed. When the leaves have
died down, I would get in there and split. I would put the small buls
in a nursery bed area, where you can transfer them from as they bulk up
Good luck
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire