Can Anyone Answer this Tulip/Daff Question?

We have to dig up several of our Tulip/Daff beds - won't go into details. Question: How do we dry out our newly flowered bulbs or do we dig them in under a pile of earth??
Thanks for all answers!

Maybe this will help.

http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Storing.html

http://www.gardenguides.com/articles/bulbs.htm

oh, no, it says to store them in a temp of 50-55 degrees? where in the world am i gonna store my daffs in texas?? my fridge is much colder than that, right? i have to be able to plant mine again...they were sooo pretty and smelled soooo good! i thought i could leave them in the ground like my easter lilies, and then i'd have a zillion more next year!!! why can't i do that??? oh, i'm sooo bummed!!

I leave all my bulbs in the ground and are mulched good. Course, I plant mine alittle deeper than what the package always says.
I'm here in Texas; zone7

deeper than the package always suits daffs

coco, you must be in north texas, cuz i'm in san antonio, zone 8. do you think mine will be okay, then? they are beginning to turn yellow, and i've been cutting the stalks and leaves back about an inch or two off the ground. they are heavily mulched, but it's still brutally hot out there!! don't think i have the energy to dig them all up anyway, so i guess we'll see what happens!

mark, do yours make it through the summer heat in the ground?

we tend not to have heat :-( yesterday was 65F

I dont think the summer heat is as important a factor as the chill over the winter

hmmm...your yesterday was over 30 degrees cooler than mine! i guess we'll just have to see how they do next spring...if they do anything at all?

I plant my daffs 8" deep or else they multiply so fast they don't bloom.

Spring bulbs need a cold period or they don't flower, they just send up foliage. If you live in a climate that doesn't get cold for long enough, put the bulbs in your fridge for 6-8 weeks in the fall/winter, then pot them up. Just make sure you don't eat the daff bulbs: they are poisonous! (same with hyacinth)

To dry the bulbs for summer storage, leave them in the open air with the foliage attached, but not in direct sun, for a few days. When the foliage is all yellow, cut it off, put the bulbs in dry peat or sawdust (anything that will absorb moisture from the air) in a paper bag. Keep them in a dark dry area until you can re-plant them. Even if they need to be dug and divided, you can re-plant them right away, or any time you want. They don't need to be stored until fall. That is a myth because the commercial growers have the time to ship theirs right then. They can be planted anytime the ground isn't frozen solid! Tulip bulbs that are left in the ground year-round actually begin putting roots down (here in OH) in July. Delaying planting until October means the roots won't be as well developed, and thus won't perform as well as they otherwise would.

Bulbs don't need to be dug every spring and stored. They can be left in the ground for years, until the clumps get so over-grown that they don't flower well. How fast that happens depends on your soil, growing conditions, planting depth, etc.

Basically, you can do what you want - replant the bulbs now or wait until the fall. I have to thin out some daffodil/narcissus clumps every year. I do it in the spring or early summer so I know exactly where to dig. The folige has turned yellow but it is still there. (If you dig them up when the foliage is still all green, they might not bloom the next year.) I could replant the bulbs right away, but I don't. I let the bulbs dry out in the open for a couple days and rub off whatever dirt I can then I just keep the bulbs in the garage until the fall. The garage is as hot as anything in the summer. I only dig up the overcrowded clumps. The others I leave in the ground and they flourish. No refrigeration is needed for daffodils/narcissus where I live.

hey, girls...WOW!!! that was some really great information you passed along! especially since it's exactly what i was hoping to hear! i'm quite sure it gets cold enough for my dafs over the winter, since i planted them in november, and they bloomed for two months, easily (it was a mild winter here too!)

because i bought a collection of dafs, and they came to me all mixed up in one big box, i had to wait until they bloomed before i knew what they were, so now that i know, i want to move them around to group them for better aesthetics next year. i can dig them up, but need to wait until the foliage has died off, is this right? i don't necessarily need to let them dry out, do i? i have a tendency to forget things like that, and they'll rot in my little garden center until the smell reminds me of what i was supposed to do three months earlier...ya know what i mean girls??? hehehe. so, anyway, i can just move them right when i dig them up, you think? i sure hope i don't loose these pretty flowers!!!

You can replant them right now. Just wait for the foliage to get yellow before you dig them up.

hey, thanks kell! i think they're almost ready, then!!!