I'm no gardener but have had the unfortunate task of tending my father's grave. I planted some daff bulbs last autumn and had a beautiful display but the flowers are now dying off. I shall soon be re-planting with summer plants. Should I save the daff bulbs for next year, or shoud they be discarded and buy new ones again in the autumn?
Just leave 'em be. They will be back, year after year.
I'm sorry for your loss, whenever it was.
Care Charlie
Daffodills are quite hardy. They will survive most winters, even with snow and freezing weather. Just plant summer annuals over them without digging them up.
The one problem you might have is if the cemetary maintenance crew mows over your father's grave. Cutting the daffodill foliage before it turns yellow and dies will weaken the bulbs. If this happens, you might as well dig up the bulbs and trash them.
I thought you could dig them up, with tops, store in a paper bag in the dark until tops die off, and replant next year? Or am I getting confused? :)
I'm no gardener but have had the unfortunate task of tending my
I planted some on my Mums grave near the S. coast years ago and they come up year on year, I also planted some "Glory of the Snow" and after the first clump got stolen they grew well but the over enthusiastic early strimming of the grave by the workmen saw to them. They could see and miss the Daff leaves but not those of the little bulbs. No point in planting summer stuff due to the strimming.
If you don't dig them up, make sure to cut off the flower heads once they start to wither. This encourages them to put their strength into the bulb. If you leave the flowers they put their strength into setting seed.
Probably you are confused. It is necessary for the plants to remain in a normal growing state with roots and foliage intact so that they can support bulb growth which is what makes the new plants and flowers the next Spring. As soon as the plant has finished this process the foliage dies back and all that remains is the bulb (or bulbs) under the ground. Typically one can plant annuals around the remaining daffodil foliage to make it less obvious but even if the bulb is to be dug and re-planted in the Autumn it is necessary for the plant to go through its "recharging" routine to produce healthy bulbs. I normally clip the spent flower stem right after the flower fades to make the plants look less ragged but I would never remove any undiseased leaves.
Thank you John :)
Providing nobody mows over the grave and cuts off the leaves, let the bulbs remain in place. You can remove the faded flowers but whatever you do, leave the leaves in place as these will nourish the bulb for next year's flowering. Daffodils flower again and again every year and they increase naturally, creating offsets little bulbs that eventually turn into big grown up bulbs that produce more flowers. Think Wordsworth. There are summer bedding plants you can use, of course but there are also some summer flowering bulbs which can also remain in place.
Daffodils are very hardy and resiliant... unless you're going to enter a daff contest for best of show there's no need to do anything and they will continue to thrive and produce more and more year after year... even if you mow them before the flowers fade once established they will do just fine. You need to concern yourself more with critters ravaging daffs, deer and rabbits won't eat them but squirrels and chipmonks love them... still most will live on.
No, that would be you. =) They will do fine, and even thrive, when done as Pete C questioned. We dug up thousands last spring, after they finished blooming. Laid them all out under an overhang to finish yellowing/drying, cut the foilage off, and stored them in bulb crates under a bench at work. I brought home several hundred last fall, and /every one/ of them is still in full bloom (3 weeks now). The rest, re-planted at work, are also thriving.
The roots, at that time, are playing a very minor role. The food is all being sent back down to the bulb for storage. It's being made in the leaves, not the roots.
And, they wouldn't be removed if dug up, intact. They'll still produce food, and you don't have the ragged, yellowed foilage in the bed.
Yup, you can plant around them. You can also dig them up, just fine.
Perhaps in England (where the original poster apparently lives), roots might not be important in allowing nutrients to migrate into the bulb.
In my climate, the relative humidity tends to be much lower (21% at noon). Without roots supplying moisture, the leaves would prematurely wilt and shrivel before they could complete their task. Also, leaving the bulbs in the ground through the summer keeps them cool; summer temperatures here often exceed 90F and even 100F.
AFTER the foliage dies back you can do that.
Eggs Zachtly wrote: snip...
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Guess we'll just have to disagree. It is amazing that you would claim that the plant's roots are "minor" given that this is the only way they absorb water and nutrients. Sure, photosynthesis is happening in the leaves but without water and soil nutrients nothing useful is going to be happening since it doesn't operate on atmospheric C02 alone. I will remain with the position that for best results the plants should stay exactly where they are until the foliage dies back. It is a minor drawback since daffodils don't hold onto their foliage all that long and can be easily screened from view.
Granted, the plants are amazingly tough and might well survive the treatment you describe but if it was the way to produce best-quality bulbs I'd expect the big growers to be doing it that way to save time. The Dutch growers would be able to put their new crop in the warehouses in April and spend the rest of the year sunning themselves in Majorca.
No problem. I leave my bulbs at home in the ground, year round, cutting yellowing foilage as it appears. A bit time-consuming (there are seveal thousand bulbs), but the beds stay looking fairly fresh. My point was, it
*is* fine to dig the bulbs up, lay them in a cool place to finish, and then remove the foilage. Planted that fall, they'll produce fine the following spring.When bulb foilage begins to yellow, the roots are /not/ taking in water. If they're not taking in water, they're also *not* taking up nutrients. When the bulb finishes flowering, the roots are done, and begin to die off, same as the foilage. All food production is taking place above ground, and that food is being sent to the bulb for dormancy survival, and the following season's growth.
Again, there's nothing wrong with that method. Pete C's question was of digging them up (fine), storing them "in a paper bag in the dark until tops die off" (BAD idea). Lose the paper bag, and it will work, with no ill-effects.
Having never visited a "big grower", much less one in Holland, I can't comment on their production methods. Were you to ask one of them about the inner-workings of a bulb, and just what happens during it's life-cycle, I bet they'd tell you the same thing I stated above. ;)
Guess you guys know daffodils are toxic, Some bulbs mixed with young onions would not be easy to discern not good. Sort of a text for murder she wrote.
Standard Major Disclaimer.
So Charlie and Billy when shall we party?
Bill
You're not bring the onion dip are ya? Other than that, just let me get the cork out'en the bottle.
In my garden, the narcissus foliage (both daffodils and their relatives) remains green and vigorous for well more than a month after the flowers have withered and faded. The leaves are still working, manufacturing nutrients to rebuild the bulb. For this, they still need moisture as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other plant nutrients from the soil -- through the roots.
Only after the leaves start to yellow are the roots no longer important. Digging the bulbs before then might leave bulbs that flower the next year. But repeating this again in that next year might prevent the bulbs from flowering a third year.
Sometimes, I do dig and divide the bulbs in my garden. I do this when the foliage is not yellow but brown and dried. I immediately (same day) replant the bulbs that I'm keeping. I have no interruption of blooming with this practice.
That's exactly what I said.
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Perhaps you could snip a bit more next time? Repeating such a lot just to add one line is a bit of a waste of space.
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