Daffodils: Bulbs haven’t flowered

Martyn Davey, Head of Horticulture and Design, Easton College
Monday, April 23, 2012
2:06 PM

This condition may be due to the growing conditions or pests and diseases. It can be remedied in several ways.

To help avoid blindness, always prepare the site well before planting, alleviated compaction, poor drainage, and adding moderate dressings of general fertiliser.

If planting daffodils in turf, ensure you select cultivars suitable for naturalising such as Peeping Tom, Fortune or February Gold.

Flowers should be removed or pinched off as they fade. Don’t tie up the foliage into a knot; leave them to die down naturally. After flowering, leave at least six weeks before leaves are removed. In dry conditions after flowering, water until the foliage shows signs of dying down naturally.

Improve dry soil by mulching around the bulbs in early spring with organic matter. Avoid planting bulbs in very dry areas under turf or near trees. Where flowering rapidly declines try feeding the bulbs. As the growing points emerge in the spring apply Growmore at a rate of 70g per sq m sprinkled evenly on the soil surface around the bulbs. After flowering, especially for container-grown bulbs, apply a high potassium liquid feed, such as tomato food, at one to two week intervals from when the blooms have faded until the first signs of yellowing of foliage.