How did I screw up daffodils?

Last fall I picked up a couple bags of basic daffodils on sale at Lowe's. There was probably a total of 100 bulbs or so. I put them in a new bed on the edge of the woods (I'm slowing reclaiming bits of the woods). I was lazy and just planted them in big old pits. Probably 3 or 4 holes with all the daffs divided among them. I know I planted them in the right direction, and I watered after I planted them. I didn't use any bulb fertilizer because I didn't have any left. The timing must have been ok because several tulips planted in a different bed are coming up fine.

Well the snow's been gone from that bed for a couple weeks now and even in the beds where the snow hung out for awhile the daffs were coming up even with the snow cover.

There is no sign of these daffs. At first I thought maybe I planted them too deeply and that they are just making their way up. But as the days go on that seems more and more unlikely. What could have possibly gone wrong? The bed is pretty sandy soil that I've tried to amend.

Should I start digging around to see if I can find them? I could probably do it without disturbing much ... there's not a ton of stuff in that bed yet. I just can't figure it out and I'm so disappointed!

Twonewfs,

Daffodils can sprout and bloom over a long season, depending on the type. I have some that didn't even hit the surface here in TX until April!! Others were up in early February. You don't know the variety? Could be a late bloomer....I wouldn't give up just YET.

Did you plant them late, by any chance? Like in November or December? They are going to take their 16 weeks of chill no matter when you plant them.

If you planted them, and 16 weeks have gone by, it's time for an autopsy, or at least a look-see, to determine what happened, if for no other reason than you need to make sure you don't have a repeat next year.

Suzy

You are in Wisconsin right? Is that zone 5 or less? I am zone 5 and some of my daffodils planted from other years are just starting to poke their leaves up. One's I planted last year are no where to be found. I think I remember this happening other years -- the newly planted ones being a little behind the established ones.

When planted last fall, the bulbs were firm and not moldy or soft -- right?

Yep the bulbs looked and smelled fine to me when I planted them. I'm in zone 5a (I have to edit my profile to get that in there). Maybe I'm just being impatient. I'll wait a couple weeks and see if they come through for me.