Can I lift spring bulbs and relocate soon?

I can see daffodil foliage coming up and there is still snow on the ground. I thought I moved most of what I had in one bed, because they weren't working out there, now I see I missed quite a bit. I thought that if I could get to them soon enough, as soon as the ground thawed and carefully lifted them, I might not interrupt their bloom for the season. Yes.... no? I actually cannot remember what the recommendations are for when the best time to move bulbs are, can someone remind me? Does anyone have any experience moving bulbs just as they are coming up?

I'm also curious about lifting and separating bulbs to increase them. Does anyone do that? I wish someone would do an article for the front page of Dave's on this topic. [g]

lisabeth

From a website I found:

If you must dig up spring bulbs, either to make room for annual flowers, or for other reasons, just make sure you leave the leaves on. Digging and transplanting often will make them die back faster.

Lisabeth, a year before last. I moved most of my Daffs. and other bulbs include hyacinches and Liliums in the Fall. They re-established over the winter months, and resume their blooming schedule without missing a beat. Taking the difference in our climates, I'd wait until the bulbs are dormant before I dig them up and devide/transplant them then. Toni Leland has written a helpful article about bulbs for all seasons. I tagged the article, I'll be glad to share that with you for more info. Toni's articles are very informative.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1793/

Hope this article, and you can look up others from DG about bulbs that could help you. Happy gardening.

Thank you both for that input and the link, Lily. I guess my difficulty is always that in the fall when they are dormant, I don't know where they are accurately enough to dig them up w/o both missing some and/or cutting into bulbs and killing them. When the foliage is still on the bulb, it is much easier to dig them out.

I will check out the link and see what else I can find on bulbs.

Thanks :-)

I just read a tip to mark them with clear plastic knives. That way the area won't look bad this spring and summer, but you can find them this fall.
If you do move them, get as much of the surrounding dirt as possible and try not to distrub any of the roots. My daffodill loving friends say they won't grow any new roots this season so you don't want to break any off.

Good Luck!

Thanks very much 3 gardeners, that is very helpful information. I didn't know about the fact they have grown all their roots for the year. I think that is a good idea with the clear plastic knives, but unfortunately won't help me this time around. I thought I had gotten all the bulbs out of that bed in preparation for moving two shrubs into it, right in the location where the bulbs are. So the bulbs are going to have to come out this spring. Even if I lose them. So I will try to move them as carefully as possible and keep my fingers crossed they will recover. I can also use the clear knives on any bulbs I see in other areas that I may want to move in the fall.

Nice to know what to do... thanks. :-)