Why Aren't My Daffodils Blooming?

I have an old, well-established stand of daffodils on the sunny bank near our river and each year they seem to have fewer and fewer blooms. Yet I see long-abandoned stands of daffs blooming their little heads off! Any idea what's going on? This spring I only got about five flowers from an 18-ft semicircle of healthy-looking plants.

Did you leave the old foliage attached until it dried up to give nourishment to the next year's bloom?

Have you given them any bone meal in the fall when you divide and separate the clumps?

I don't feed them; that may be the problem. I'll have to try bonemeal in the fall.

They may also need to be divided. If they have multiplied in the way I suspect they may be competing for space, as well as food.

Also, careful about bonemeal with real bone in it. It attracts dogs, and sometimes other creatures, who think that there is a dead animal there, and they will dig it up the site to get to it.

Donna, that does concern me about bone meal. Are there any alternatives that aren't so attractive to critters? These daffodils haven't been divided in a long time, but I didn't know that was necessary since I see large stands that are obviously neglected and still bloom profusely. I'm wondering whether the fact that I cut them for display inside affects them, since I know you're not supposed to remove spent flowers because the plant needs them for food.

Just boring old bulb food. Holland Bulb Booster (9-9-6, I think) was the classic, but pretty much anything that you see in the store labeled "bulb food" will do. Don't spend lot of money. If you have a liquid fertilizer that you like, you can dilute it and use it.

I don't think that they are affected by your cutting them for indoor display unless you are taking the foliage. The foliage is what feeds them for the next year.

I left my daffs in for a few years and noticed that I had small bulbs rising to the surface. Those bulbs were a fraction of the size of the original ones, and they were Mt. Hoods, which are robust. But they weren't blooming size. I think that they needed some space, and some food!

If you can remember (and it isn't totally necessary) for the very best bulbs fertilize them after bloom and as they are rising from the earth in spring.

There is a huge patch down on Lake Jacomo, back in Kansas City, Mo. - it's been there for many, many years and has bloomed every year, with no help from humans. The soil there is very well drained and rich, from dropped leaves and animal droppings, but otherwise, untouched. I'd suggest your bulbs might need a good compost top dressing, gently worked into the soil surrounding them.

Thanks, Donna and Kay. I did some checking online and found that feeding them seems to apply best as a solution to my situation. A couple of sites also mentioned that the newer hybrids aren't as hardy and don't last as many years as the older varieties, but mine have been in the ground for quite a few years so I'm not sure how modern they are. I am thinking of trying some new bulbs, though.

This message was edited Apr 3, 2013 6:45 PM

If you can put down six inches of top soil OVER your existing bed, then plant your new bulbs, you might find you have a lovely patch next spring! Why not buy some other than the plain yellow and mix them up?

I just love the plain yellow! They always meant spring to me. I used to have some smaller white multiple daffodils - several blossoms on a stalk - but they seem to have disappeared. But I'll try to topsoil idea - along with some bulb food. Our soil is sandy and rather acid.

Perhaps not top soil, which has almost no nutrition in it. Compost would be better - that's what I use. And the compost will break down over time and give them nutrition for years. It will also balance your acid soil, making the ph more neutral, and improving the structure, making it less sandy..

I found that the multiflowering daffodils (do you mean triandrus) never worked for me - they would disappear in two years. And you are right about the newer ones. I paid a pretty penny for pink and white 'Vie on Rose" - twice - and they disappeared.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2013 5:44 AM

Changed tulips to daffodils, in response to the correction below.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2013 7:34 AM

Donna, yes, I was planning to use compost along with bulb food; we have chickens and a big compost pile that mostly goes in our vegetable garden. The multiflowering bulb was a type of narcissus; it was very pretty and bloomed for possibly five or ten years and then stopped.

GG, my guess is that you are blooming now. Yes?

I just chucked the five daffodils I picked for cut flowers in the house from that 20' semicircular bed, and there are no more coming, even though the foliage is lush. There are clumps of daffodils that have naturalized in a couple of other places and they're blooming like mad!

Since moving here in 2005, we have never put in daffodils or any resemblance, so all those yellow flowered non-tulip plants are at least that old. They come up reliably every spring as do the lunaria, scilla and muscari. The only early spring bloomers intentionally planted were crocus and reticulated iris. Instead of dying out or being dinner for moles and voles as the tulips have, the daffs are as strong as ever.

Not everything the former owner planted was my favorite, but she did ok with lady's slipper, jack in the pulpit, epimedium, trout lily and others in the shade garden. Unfortunately she put in some of the worst invasives still driving me crazy after all these years. (Feeling like Simon and Garfunkel.)

Cathy, make a list of your invasives, post them on this thread, and we might trade with you! If I don't have them, and they'll grow here, I'd probably trade with you.

I hear you Cathy. The previous owner actually moved ditch lilies under a tree for "something that would grow there" Have you ever dug those blasted things from between tree roots? And lily of the valley. And sterile red and yellow strawberries.

I have the previous daffs too. They are early, which is nice because all of my pink and pink and white ones are middle to late. I put in reticulated iris, and they are not the toughest of guys but lasted about five years. I love chionodoxa. Critters ignore them, they come in great colors, and they multiply.

I had given up on crocuses, but this year I went out periodically and ground fresh pepper over them. Seems to be working.

This message was edited Apr 7, 2013 11:18 AM

This message was edited Apr 8, 2013 8:56 AM

What does ground pepper do for crocuses, pray tell?

We foolishly planted lily of the valley too, once, and eventually found that they were strangling our azaleas! It took DH a lot of time and a lot of digging to get them all out of there. Another thing he doesn't like are my black-eyed Susans; they want to take over, too. But I really enjoy them.

It repulses the squirrels that dig them up!

I was digging up lily of the valley this morning. The previous owners let them run wild, and they swamped and killed things. I am amused to find that they are sold by White Flower Farm for lots of money. I am going to pot some up and let them bloom. I'm actually thinking about selling them!

Donna, you DON'T want to wish those on some poor unsuspecting souls! I'd burn them if I were you.

You would be amazed how many people are looking for them. I have written several times about their invasiveness. But some people want that. Go figure. I have a neighbor with a ton of space in an empty area who begged for them. I showed her what they looked like in my yard, and she was enchanted. So I took some over in pots. I hate them in the yard, and am chagrinned that I removed hundreds and the darned things are back. I personally am going to pot them up for interior bloom.

I think it's great to use them as they are in the first picture:

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/82681-product.html#.UWLGUMna6uI

But check this out on the same site. And look at the prices!:

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/search.html?keywords=lily+of+the+valley&name.x=16&name.y=4&name=Go#.UWLGSsna6uI

I'm mystified, and think they should be sold with a warning, which is what I would do.

Donna, our shade garden is under a Japanese Maple, but I think the worst roots are from the huge oak tree next door makes it ten times more difficult to dig up anything. Even the spear head spade has difficulty getting through. I wish she would remove her twig-farm-creating tree! We are on a lovely, treed street and consider ourselves lucky that we have not had more damage from old large trees in recent storms as others in our community. The trees are probably more than 60 years old, and their roots go far and wide.

I don't know whatever could have made the former owner think houttuynia was a good plant for a garden. Until I get every plant out of there and then use vegetation killer, it will still grow. Every time I pull a plant from that garden, we wash the roots and isolate it. We also have some form of artemisia that has both soft and woody stems. There are others but those are the worst to contain.

I planted some lovely daylilies, and about 2 years later they were taking up triple the real estate, so I dug them up and gave them to my gardening buddy. He thought I was crazy.

My daylilies don't take over; I have a stand of wild ones down by the river and they're lovely. The deer were getting them for a while but we managed to discourage them.

Donna, I can't believe the price for those lilies of the valley! But as long as people are warned, I suppose it makes sense. They just don't play well with shrubs.

The daylilies on the north side of the house are well contained. It was only when I put in new plants in a prime, sunny location that they really took off.

Anyone can have my lilies of the valley....