How To encourage division

How do I get my bulbs to divide without giving them bonemeal? Will giving them a soluble 10-60-10 help?
Thanks!

Hi Cedar

Cedar, don't really know the answer to your question, but I do know that last year when I planted glads, I used bone meal for the first time. When I dug them in the fall, I had three times the number of good sized bulbs, plus 50 or so bulblets. I didn't count the bulbs of the calla lilys, but think they increased as well. I certainly plan to do the same this year, and it's time to get them out!

Cedar, is there a particular reason why you don't wish to use bonemeal? I know some folks are concerned about potential disease problems, but a couple things to keep in mind:

1. you're not going to eat the bulbs (are you??? ;0), and
2. as I understand it, most of the commercial bonemeal produced in the U.S. is from poultry, so there's minimal risk of it carrying the diseases that have been so prevalent in the news recently (namely foot and mouth disease).

I do wear gloves when I handle any fertilizer/soil amendments - organic or otherwise. I figure it helps my poor hands to not expose them to more harsh chemicals/substances. And while I don't take this precautionary step, it's probably a good idea to wear a good dust mask to avoid inhaling any of the fine particles.

Actually, the reason my dad, whom this quetion primarily concerns, can't use bonemeal is because his dogs will go after it and dig everything up.

OHHH! Yes, I can see where that could be a real problem. I wonder if you could disguise the bonemeal scent with something that dogs don't like (which is a pretty short list, in my experience, LOL!) But maybe mixing it with ground pepper (black or red) would throw them off the scent? Does anyone know if that would adversely affect the bulbs?

Hi, this is Cedar's dad. Maybe I will use bonemeal and use chicken wire as a physical barrier to keep the dogs out of the bed. Has anyone dealt with this problem?

Not me. I just have to keep our two idiot mutts out of my pond. (They loved ice skating this past winter.) When you choose lab mix puppies, and name them Duke and Daisy, you get what's coming to you, I guess.

We installed an invisible fence this spring, and it's probably the best $200 we've ever spent - it would have cost 10 -20 times that to fence our yard with "real" fencing, and I still would have had to deal with them in my garden beds. This solution gives them a huge area in the middle of the yard that they can roam to their hearts' content, but the perimeter is all mine, and they can't get to it without some pain.

I'd still consider the pepper, either mixed in with the bonemeal, or sprinkled on top of the area - you'll have to occasionally reapply it if it's on top of the soil, but they're not likely to snoop around much once they get a snoot full of pepper. And if they don't snoop, they won't dig? (Sounds logical, anyway.)

The pepper sounds like a good choice. That is what they say to use for curious cats. The chicken wire will not keep the dogs away. They will still at least attempt to dig if that's what they want to do. They may even tear it away like dogs that dig under a fence.

Dogs will often ignore regular pepper - Cayenne pepper works. I just am not sure it would work in this situation, unless you used alot of it.

I have 5 labs and 2 pomeranians and no kind of pepper deters them if they really want something. I have the best luck by not using anything that will tempt fate(them)
Sandy

a bulb isn't gonna divide until it is old enough. corms do it quite regular but it can take a few years for the cormels to get big enough to flower.

one way to multiply your bulbs to either do a proceedure called chipping or scaling.

Mark

Mark, can you please explain this technique? It might be helpful to start it as a new thread in the propagation forum....and link to it from here? This sounds very helpful to many of us who struggle with multiplying our bulbs. Will it work on corms as well, or just bulbs? Any specifics you can provide will be greatly appreciated, like when/how/which types of bulbs, etc.

Hi cedar's dad, try burying the chicken wire fence.I have done this around my shrubs where the dogs like to dig holes. They dug the first couple of times but when they hit the fence over and over they gave up.Thus, no more unsightly holes in my shrubbery.