Bulb planting help

From: Linda Subject: planting and…

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I was about to plant 50 new daffodils in a semi-circular plot measuring about 5′ X 5″ X about 6′ at the semicircle. My watering system,though on a timer,has not reached this plot as it should have for about 2 years. As I dug up this mostly dry soil, to my surprise, I’ve just dug up 92 daffodils. Now that it is partially dug, I’d like to plant other bulbs way below or above the daffodils like anenome, hyacinth, tulips and such.Can you provide, or let me know where to find a depth chart for these different bulbs? I will be enhancing the soil in this plot with 2 cubic feet of good soil and perhaps, if you think it will help the poor soil, crushed lava gravel.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Linda
Since this will take some time, how long can I keep the daffodil bulbs without planting them?

4 comments for “Bulb planting help

  1. Linda has another question. As I was digging up another plot, some of the bulbs I dug up looked alien, that is a bulb growing out of a bulb, not bulbs clumped together. What do I do with these?  Also,  have now I have dug up close to 300 bulbs I didn’t know I had. I know in the spring I did not have blooms galore.  What are some of the reasons most did not bloom?

    Thanks!

  2. I found this planting depth chart on a Master Gardener site. It should be helpful for the other bulbs Linda was asking about. Linda, we can provide better information if you tell what area you are in. Daffodils do not usually like summer watering so most of us avoid planting them where a watering system will water them throughout the summer. Here in middle Tennessee I hang bulbs that are dug in net bags and aim a large fan at them to make sure they stay dry and do not rot. The soil doesn’t cool enough for us to plant here until November. 55 F. or below soil temperature is recommended. People up north (Michigan/Minneapolis, etc.) have to plant much earlier so that the roots have time to get established before a hard freeze. It is recommended to water the bulbs right after you plant them.

    My guess is that the “bulbs growing out of a bulb” you describe (not new bulbs growing on the side of the mother bulb) might be corms. Crocus, gladiolus, crocosmia are a few flowers that grow from corms.

    Some of the reasons daffodils don’t bloom is they are not getting enough sun (6 or more hours a day is recommended) or are too crowded.

    Let us know where you are located and I hope others will add their advice.


     

  3. If the embryo or the developing flower was destroyed by heat, freeze insects or mechanical problems and that shoot died, the remaining live material convert into another ’bulb ready to try in again the next year.

    Often a bulb is large enough to split into two or more bulbs, this occurs often on an axis splitting the bulb in half and these bulbs grow out of the opposing sides of the bulb. When left for many years, a chain of bulbs results.

    The old leaves and basal plate material will rot away leaving separated bulbs. If this material has not rotted away or was eaten, it remains as dark tunics on the bulbs and a corky connecting plate. If bulbs are congested some are forced into another layer above the first one.

    I have dug old clumps with three layers of bulbs. In some areas where conditions are not favorable, when trees are removed and sunlight again can hit the forest floor, after a couple of years, the dormant bulbs rebloom.

    I would make sure that your bulbs can get fall or winter water and 4-6 hours of sunlight for at least 6 weeks to bloom.

  4. Thanks for the depth chart. I am located in northern California, (Berkeley), therefore no need to dig up bulbs every year. The oddity I was trying to explain was not a daffodil producing another side bulb, but another bulb sprung up on top of an existing bulb. They look very strange, something I’ve not seen before. Does this forum allow pictures to be posted? Can someone tell me how to do this if it is possible. I’m technically challenged. (I’m better at gardening). I do understand that I had so few blooms last year was because they were crowded and the soil had not been improved in quite a few years and some of the bulbs I dug up had 5 side bulbs. I now have many to give away.  I have clay soil which I have now amended.

    Thanks

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