Bulbs

[Pullman]

I have loads of Daffodils in tubs which I will need to take out when they have finished flowering. What would be the best way to keep them for replanting in the Autumn.

[ferlew]

Can't you plant them really deep in the tubs, and plant other stuff on top?

[mazie]

Leave them in the tubs...If you want to plant on top or in between do so...best not lifting them. They belong in the ground

[maggiebee]

Daffies don't like being moved. Could you dig a big hole and put all the contents of the tub into it. That way you won't disturb the roots.

[atalanta]

I put the dry bulbs into old cardboard shoeboxes, in single layers, and stack them on shelves in the garage so they get air circulating. I have done this for years, with both daffs and hyacinths, and I reckon I lose less than 5 percent of them.

[treetops68]

Dig out,shake off excess compost and leave in the open to dry.Once dry place in trays (wooden seed trays if you have them or what I use are the blue mushroom trays if you can get them) so that the air can circulate around them and put them somewhere dry. Replant in September.

[frugalfred]

You will not get any bulbs at all unless you wait until the leaves have started to yellow, and thus have finished making next year's bulbs.

[woofgang]

another vote for leaving them where they are, just plant over the top.

[ladybirder]

I thought you got a diminishing return if you left them in the ground. Or is that tulips?

[woofgang]

tulips ladybirder. daffs naturalise wonderfully well if planted deep enough and allowed to wither naturally.

[boxtops]

They are much happier if you leave them there, just put up with them until the leaves yellow - we plant 3 layers of different bulbs in our planters which come out at different times.

[ladybirder]

I just wanted to bring tulips into the conversation woofy. ******* kids ripped all the heads of my lovely white tulips yesterday and I'm hopping mad. Pulled chunks of aubretia out as well.

[frugalfred]

Well, our native daffs, common around the Newent area of Glos., stay in the ground year after year. Pre-WW2, train excursions were organised from Brum so that folk could pick the flowers. Anyone who has travelled the M50 in March will have noticed these native daffs on both the verge and the central reservation. This emphasizes my point above - wait until the leaves yellow before lifting (if you must) Similarly, if one has them in a lawn, mow round them until July, and DON'T tie the leaves in knots!! The leaves must be left to get on with making food which is stored in the new bulb, formed at the base of the leaves.

[ladybirder]

But you should dead head them right?

[boxtops]

Dead head the flowers, yes, otherwise they put their energies into making a seed head rather than fattening up the bulbs for next year.

[frugalfred]

Dead-heading is fine - it means the plant is not wasting energy/food making seeds, but can concentrate on making a new bulb. Of course, the heads are not really dead, merely gone into the seed-production stage.

[frugalfred]

Great minds think alike, boxtops!

[boxtops]

:-)

[ladybirder]

Yep, that's what I was taught.

[Ann]

But what do others do about the tatty leaves? I can't leave them until June or they will be everywhere among my newly planted bedding plants and those in tubs will take up all the space I need for other things. I usually leave them for a very short time then cut them off as I'm fed up with the mess. They mostly come back.

[woofgang]

I leave(ha ha) mine. I don't want to plant other things till late may early June anyway and the leaves are nicely yellow by then.