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New to bulbs - why aren't some of mine coming up?

18 years ago

I bought some bulbs from my friend's son last fall who was selling them for a school fundraiser. I bought tulips and daffodils. I am in SE Michigan and am noticing quite a few of the tulips popping through, but only 2 of the daffodils (I know I planted many more than that, but can't remember the exact number). Do they sometimes come up at different times or is it likely that only 2 are going to come up? They're only about 3 inches or so out of the ground right now, but I don't see any others. I planted them in my mulch bed which is well-drained (facing west and doesn't get a lot of sun yet, except in late afternoon).

The bulbs, by the way, were HUGE. I don't know anything about bulbs. I planted them just like the directions said to do - the correct distance and depth. I buried them and watered them well. One thing - I didn't bury them until late October - does that matter?

Also, could or should I fertilize the new life coming up now to help them out? If so, could I just use Miracle Grow?

Thanks for your help,

Jane

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Comments (4)

cls009
18 years ago
Daffodils tend to come up a couple weeks later than tulips do from my experience. Its possible also that you planted them a bit deeper and they just haven't gotten to the surface yet.

By mulch bed do you mean you amended the soil quite a bit, or you have a heavy layer of mulch? If you have a heavy layer of mulch it is possible that the bed is retaining a decent amount of water and the bulbs may have rotted. If they don't start showing their heads within another week or so you might very carefully remove the dirt....use your hand rather than a shovel since that would chop off any parts of the bulb it hits, and see if the bulbs are mushy. My guess is however that they just haven't reached the surface yet, if the tulips are in the same area and they haven't rotted its unlikely the daffodils did.
leslie197
18 years ago
Sunshine8,

There are early, mid, and late tulips and daffodils, even some early early and some late late ones. Contrary to Cls009, most of my daffs bloom before my tulips, but not all. Maybe you have early tulips and late daffodils. :~)

If you know the names of your varieties, you could probably check some of the online bulb catalogs such as Scheepers, Brent & Becky's, or Van Engelen and get an idea of the sequence of your bulbs. Also I find that my established bulb areas tend to differ in timing somewhat from the newly planted ones, even if the bulbs are the same, usually being just a bit later, but not always. Eventually they settle in and bloom pretty much together, if their conditions are similar, if not, they go their own way.

Also, late October is pretty normal bulb planting time in Michigan, so you should be okay that way. Wet and varmints are pretty much the main problems for newly planted bulbs. Daffs which are poisonous, are not usually eaten but may sometimes be dug up by varmints hunting tastier things. Tulips are loved by many creatures, but crocus are by far the most favored in my yard.
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cls009
18 years ago
I actually never said the tulips bloom earlier, only a few of the early doubles that I have, the Greigii, the species and the Kauffmannia tulips bloom earlier than my daffodils. What I said was they tend to come up later, they just happen to develop faster than the tulips. Right now I have several hundred tulip bulbs that have popped up above the ground and only see 1 or 2 daffodils so far. Perhaps this has something to do with the weather patterns in Montana, but this is a normal occurance for me.
Spy_RI
18 years ago
Sunshine 8- I know what you're going through, peeking at the soil all the time, but today (after deciding that they'd all died) about 18 tulips and daffs popped out it was a super nice warm day and I guess it was just time!

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