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.

Having given it a bit more thought, I remember prolonged record heat last summer. It might just be that the heat killed the flower buds, which are formed while the leaves are growing in late summer and early spring. I know that heat from manure compost can do that, which is why you should not put a layer of manure compost over a bulb bed. I do know that with tulips, when they get hot, they divide very quickly and all you get are very small bulbs that won't bloom again for a few years but will still put up a lot of leaves. That is why you need to plant tulips at least twice the recommended depth to keep them perennial, according to my Dutch bulb grower friend, especially where summer temperatures are over 90 degrees. Planting them deeper keeps them cooler so they don't divide as fast.

Jessaka, Giving up the use of chemical pesticides is the hardest thing I EVER did. Many, many times I second-guessed myself and wondered if I was on the wrong path. Yet, ultimately, it was the most rewarding AND best decision I ever made. It can take years for a landscape to return to the proper balance once you stop using pesticides, but it will happen! I simply refuse to poison our air, land and water with chemicals that are, in fact, often nerve poisons. Randy, You and I feel the same way about the damage caused by broad-spectrum pesticides. AND, you know, it was hard for me to accept that many commonly-used ORGANIC pesticides (like rotenone and pyrethrins, for example) are just as damaging to the environment as chemically-based ones. It was especially hard for me to give up Bt kurstaki, but I like the butterflies and moths, so I gave it up too. Like you, I'd rather have the birds and the butterflies and the moths and the other critters! Hi Laura, I hate that you lost your asparagus. Those beetles can be so devastating to a bed. I hope the peppers are doing well. Ticks are very, very, very hard to control and I use a method most people cannot use--free-ranging chickens and guineas who roam the property and eat bugs all day long and are locked up in a secure henhouse to keep the predator birds and animals from getting them at night. Like Randy, we keep all the tall grass mowed down short OR take proper precautions when walking through it. One thing we do in the pastures is cut a path 8' to 10' wide and we only walk on the path. That way, all the insects can happily co-exist in the tall grass but don't bother us much in the short-grass paths. The pathways also help us avoid poisonous snakes by making them more visible. I'll search for a previous "tick control" thread and link it below. One thing I did notice here when we were clearing the land before we built the house was that the cedar trees DID have billions of ticks on them and the ticks literally DID DROP DOWN onto us when we were near the cedars. I am sure they were on other trees as well, but they were especially heavy on the cedars. Since cedars are highly invasive, we took out all the cedars on the 3 acres closest to the house--which took years and years, by the way---and that helped a lot. I think you have to take a multi-pronged approach to ticks and must treat the landscape around the house, but also take steps to protect yourself. I always wear long pants and tall socks....no shorts and flipflops for me! I also spray my shoes, socks, and pant legs up to about the knee area using a good DEET-based repellent. I HATE using DEET, but it isn't going on my skin--although I am sure some of it penetrates the clothing and makes its' way to the skin underneath. Ticks (and mosquitoes too) carry so many diseases that you have to do what you can to protect yourself. I have never found that any of the chemical products are very effective on ticks--people I know who religiously treat the lawns and dog yards/dog kennels with chemicals that are supposed to "control" ticks seem to have just as many ticks as people who don't treat those areas with chemicals. Oh, and when we come in from the outside, if we have been in an area that we know tends to have ticks in it, we check ourselves religiously for ticks and remove them before they have a chance to embed themselves in our skin. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: One Previous Tick Thread

Pirula...I can almost bet that the answer to your question is NO LOL And the same for 80's horrific bathrooms with tile, lots of grout, colored sinks and toilets as well as oak cabs. Bleh. The addition of the bathrooms for all of the bedrooms was actually done really well. None are shared and each has at least a shower if not a bath and shower. I could see if it ever did become a B&B again that keeping the one in the wine room would make sense (plus the whole issue of the trip through the kids room to get to the other one now if ya'll have tasted too much wine). But the other on the top floor...it's actually an extra (3 bedrooms on the floor and four full baths). I actually dreamed of a stackable last night after hauling laundry down to the basement yesterday LOL The master suite remodel will probably ruin that half of the 2nd floor for B&B use unless they charge a chit load for the suite LOL But really we don't expect to move and we want a well apointed suite. It's two bedrooms with two baths now and a huge 8x8 foot space between that's empty (probably a skelaton or two....) It used to be one big room with a dressing room and bathroom (I wish we had all of the fixtures...it was written up in the paper at the time). We're going to put it all back as best as we can figure out. Any future B&B user can just figure it out later LOL Funky....I'll mail you a key...Send DH over when he gets grumpy. We'll let him spend the day showering in all remaining bathrooms til he's had his fill :oP