My daffodils didn't bloom.. What could be the issue?

11 years ago

Hi everyone -

We moved into the house fall of 2011, and spring 2012 comes around, we saw a lot of daffs foilage come up in the front garden flower bed (South facing, plenty of sun) in clusters. One large cluster had no flowers at all - not even buds. Other small cluster had two flowers, when it looked like it should have close to 10. I am a total newbie, and after some research, I decided to wait a year because I suspected the foilage might have been cut too early prior year? So I let them brown on their own during 2012. I also thought they might have been too clustered, so I divided them into less crowded clusters in the same area in early October 2012 and mulched, etc. I left the small cluster alone.

This spring, foilage on the small cluster came up earlier and thicker and that one flowered much better! It looks great! But the large cluster that had no flower or bud last year that I divided, same result. Lots of foilage but nothing else. Foliage for this cluster is thinner than the other one that has flowers, but they seem to be full length foliage, looks healthy, etc.

I am suspecting couple of things, but not exactly sure what the issue could be and what I should do... I am a total newbie so all these are speculations based on research of course.

1) Maybe the bulbs are not mature enough to flower/send out buds? When I dig some of them up last fall, they did look smaller than the ones you see at the garden center. Some of them like a size of a garlic clove some bigger. If so, do I need to leave them in the groupd a couple more years to see them flower anything?
2) Are they planted to shallow and keep dividing without being able to mature? Should I replant again in the fall to the deeper depth?
3) Do I need to fertilize them? 5-10-5 seems to be the right way to go for daffs?

I have no idea if they flowered prior to 2011. Would I be What do you think? Do I have a solution here, or just dig them up and plant new ones?

Thanks!!

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Comments (13)

stimpy926
11 years ago
Since the area they're growing in sounds successful, the bulbs will grow and do fine with time. But separate clusters into individual bulbs, replant, water in until foliage withers. Each bulb needs space. 2-3 years +/- needed for these bulbs to mature and flower. If you have lots of leftovers give to friends and explain that it will take time to see flowers.
Nancy
11 years ago
Maybe a late flowering variety? I have many later flowering daffs that haven't bloomed yet. Plus I added some last fall that just haven't bloomed yet, even though some are mid season & even 1early bloomer. My latest flowering daffs are Twin Sisters, & I often give up on them blooming, they are so much later.
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I have a book on bulbs here and it says that the most prolific of daffodils needs to be divided every five to six years. Some daffs are slower to increase, in which case you can also just divide them every decade or so. I grow Mount Hood, this is the second year they will bloom and already the flowers on each bulb have tripled and there are bulbils in sight as well. I might have to divide mine every four years... I guess it is best that you keep a journal for your daffs and monitor closely how much they increase each year. If you have trouble seeing how more new growth could come up in the limited space between this year's growth, that would be a sign that it is time to divide. I can't find the bit about when to divide these, but I gather all bulbs are best divided during dormancy, which would mean any time between the moment the leaves fall off and the moment the ground freezes, although I think earlier is better. I think that fall is a bad idea because by then, the plant may have grown more roots that reach deeper, and it will be that much harder to lift them, plus the new root growth would be wasted and it wouldn't have enough time to regenerate properly by next spring. But this is just my admittedly not perfect logic speaking. I would try to do it as soon as the leaves fall off. That way, you do it before new growth starts but after the plant is done producing for the current year. It would then be about to start using its gathered reserves to grow new roots, so your newly transplanted daff would be nicely nestled into place by the time spring comes.
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Mj
Original Author
11 years ago
I am not sure what kind of variety it is since I never saw it flower! We will see, but there are no buds at all though. Could that come up significantly after the foliage has come up?

Should I separate them into individual bulbs now or wait till the fall? Would it matter? Guidance seems to be that I plant them twice as deep as its own length (6 in hole for 2 in bulb) - would that be a good start? 4-6 inches between each bulb sounds good?

I have a large garden with not many things planted (previous owner was not a gardener for sure!), so I should have plenty of places to plant them even if I have some extras!
iris_gal
11 years ago
Do not dig bulbs now. Wait until the foliage begins to yellow. At that point you can dig and store the bulbs for September planting or replant immediately. In my zone roots begin in August and there's a huge root mass by Sept. (found this out accidently).

Foliage first, buds next.

Sounds like the soil is depleted. Your 5-10-5 fertilizer sounds great. I also like to dig in bonemeal when prepping a new bulb area. It supplies phosphorus in future years.

PS: new roots can be burned by contact with fresh granular fertilizer so dig it in. I also put an inch or two of soil over the fertilized soil with the bulbs on top of that.
Nancy
11 years ago
My very late daffs are not showing sign of any buds yet, the foliage has been up for some time now. There is still time. I mentioned Twin Sisters, it blooms the latest of all my daffs & I don't expect to see signs of buds for a while yet.
strouper2
11 years ago
Hey mk they always tell you to wait until the plant starts to die before you separate them but I separated some that were in my yard (they were also here when we bought our house & didn't bloom last year) when they 1st started coming up and they're in pots doing just fine. In fact I even got a few blooms from them so I'm not sure if it matters or not & I have a tendency to be a little bit impatient. I have another similar group that I was just debating on heading out and separating right now.
Nancy
11 years ago
If you wait til the foliage starts to yellow, you will get more blooms next year. A few daff varieties are stronger & can handle being divided early & may bloom anyway, but others can sulk.
Mj
Original Author
11 years ago
I have no problem waiting till foliage yellows to be safe! Plenty of other garden tasks for me to attend to other than that... Can I go ahead when it starts to yellow, or wait till it is all yellow? I will probably replant it right away at that point... They actually need to be moved anyways, because I am redesigning that part of the garden..
Nancy
11 years ago
I usually divide when there is still some green, just because I am more likely to be in the mood then. I tend to forget when they get completely yellow, mine have bloomed just fine the following year. I read somewhere that you should really store them til fall to replant, but I always replant right away. Otherwise I may find bulbs tucked away after a year or so, too late to replant.
Mj
Original Author
11 years ago
Sounds like a good idea! Last year when I replanted, I missed some of them because the foliage was so yellow and some already has fallen off. I will plan to do that! Thanks for the advises!

Hopefully I get blooms next year, or the year after that :)
Mj
Original Author
11 years ago
Some of my "problem" bulbs are sending up flower buds now! I wonder if they will have some blooms?!?!? Maybe they were late bloomers? We will see!
Nancy
11 years ago
Sounds like they are late ones, let us know what they look like when they bloom!
Mj
Original Author
10 years ago
UPDATE!

They didn't bloom and it looks like they won't.... I was excited that they might for a bit!!!! Many of the did shoot up flower buds but they never bloomed and now they are browning and drying up.. Foliage still looks ok though... I don't know!

Maybe I just need to replant them once the leaves brown with some food??

My daffodils didn't bloom.. What could be the issue?

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stimpy926

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My daffodils didn't bloom.. What could be the issue?

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