For quite some time now, one of my gardening activities during the summer months has been to tend to my beloved daffodils - pruning, fertilizing and replanting.

But the most important component of caring for these wonderful spring primroses is precisely digging out the bulbs, which must be done on time. Otherwise, daffodils will not delight you with flowering.

To the question of whether it is necessary to dig up daffodil bulbs, the answer can only be positive. Of course it is necessary. Most main question is when to dig up daffodils after flowering?

Let us immediately note that we're talking about not about digging up bulbs every year. Daffodils are not tulips; they do not need such manipulation. Once every three to four years is enough for good growth and daffodils blooming.

As soon as the bushes have grown too much and began to lose their decorative effect, falling apart in different directions, it’s time to take up the shovel.

Daffodils are a symbol of spring; it is their yellow and white heads that appear in our front gardens immediately after the snow melts. This is very unpretentious flower, and is well suited for gardens and front gardens, as well as for growing at home.

Narcissus is frost-resistant perennial flower, which belongs to the amaryllis family. Daffodils are not very demanding when it comes to soil, lighting and watering; they grow and reproduce well in almost any conditions.

Blooms in early spring, flowers are most often white or yellow color, and also combine shades of white and yellow.

Daffodils grow up to 40 cm and have long narrow leaves. Flowering lasts about two weeks, after which the flower fades. Different varieties daffodils bloom in different time, and if you carefully choose the bulbs, daffodils will delight you with bright petals all spring.

Despite their unpretentiousness, daffodils still feel best in sunny areas; in such places they bloom more profusely, and their flowers are much larger.

Caring for daffodils

Caring for daffodils is not difficult - you just need to provide them with sunny place, water, loosen, weed and do not fertilize with manure - daffodils of this organic fertilizer can't stand it.

Daffodils should be watered quite abundantly, not allowing the top layer of soil to dry out, and it is advisable to water with warm, settled water, ideally rainwater.

Weeds near daffodils should be removed, as there is a risk that the grass will choke out the small flowers and prevent them from developing normally. Yes, flowers look much more beautiful than flowers without unnecessary vegetation.

So, your narcissists need to provide the minimum:

• sunny place without strong drafts;
• loose soil without weeds (the composition of this soil is not particularly important);
• abundant watering without drying out the soil surface.

If you do everything right, even with this minimal care throughout the spring months you will be pleased with small bright flowers, which are so reminiscent of little suns.

After the daffodils have finished blooming, the most important part of caring for them comes - you need to start digging up the bulbs.

When to start digging up daffodil bulbs

The time for digging up bulbs is different for each region, and also depends on the variety of your flowers. It is clear that flowers early Flowering plants need to be dug up earlier than late flowering ones.

A rule that is universal and suitable for all regions is that you do not need to touch the plant until its leaves wither. This should happen naturally. Flowers that have dried can be removed immediately, and the leaves can simply be trimmed. And let them stand until the very end, until they completely turn yellow.

Once the foliage has completely withered, it is time to dig up the bulbs.

This occurs around the end of July - beginning of July. By this time, the flower bulb will have time to draw out all the juices it needs and nutrients from gradually fading leaves, and accumulate strength for subsequent storage and rooting.

In hot, dry weather, the leaves of daffodils turn yellow and dry quite quickly; by the end of June they are all yellow and withered. But if it’s damp and rainy outside, be prepared for the leaves to stay green until mid-July, and just be patient.

Once the leaves are dry, take garden tools and remove your bulbs from the soil. You should not delay this too much - if the leaves completely fall off, you will not be able to determine where your daffodils grew and risk damaging them - for example, simply cutting them with a shovel when digging them up.

In addition, the bulbs that you have not touched for a long time and that remain in the ground will begin to take root, and when digging there is also a high risk of damaging these roots. Because of this, the bulb may simply dry out during storage.

So mid-July is the latest date for digging up bulbs.

By the way, some aesthetes who are very annoyed by withered foliage simply braid daffodil leaves into braids - it looks funny and interesting.

What to do next with the bulbs

After digging up the daffodil bulbs, cut off the dry leaves (no need to touch the roots), clean the bulbs of any remaining soil and carefully inspect them.

As a rule, many bulbs have babies that should be carefully separated. If this is difficult to do, first dry the earthen ball with the bulbs that you removed from the ground, and only then carefully separate it into parts.

Some fans divide the bulbs directly into a container of water, but this is not a very good solution, although it is convenient - if some bulbs are sick, the infection in the water will spread to others very quickly, and you may simply not have time to save planting material.

After the bulbs have been separated, carefully inspect them, and ruthlessly sort and destroy all defective material - rotten bulbs that have teeth marks, etc. mechanical damage and just dry. There is no need to leave such bulbs, they will be of no use anyway, but they may well infect nearby ones.

Then the bulbs that you plan to plant should be carefully and carefully washed in running water, treat by placing in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 15 - 20 minutes, then put somewhere in the shade until completely dry.

You can dry the bulbs both at home and outside. The main thing is to prevent direct sunlight from hitting them, this can lead to burns and death of the bulbs.

So, after digging the bulbs out of the ground:

• divide;
• inspect;
• Rinse;
• handle;
• dry.

After this, you can proceed to the next one, no less important stage- storage.

How to properly store daffodil bulbs

Daffodil bulbs should be stored in a cool and well-ventilated area, such as a dry basement. If the temperature is too high, the bulbs may dry out or sprout.

It should be remembered that daffodil bulbs quickly lose moisture, so no plastic bags or film packaging - the planting material will simply rot in such conditions.

It is best to arrange the bulbs in wooden boxes and leave them until the time comes to plant them in open ground- this is the second half of August - the beginning of September.

The bulbs grow roots in September, so they need to be planted by this time. It is not advisable to store bulbs for more than two months.

When to plant daffodils

As we have already said, bulbs should be planted approximately from mid-August to the tenth of September - again, focus on the region in which you live. Daffodils will accumulate strength for subsequent wintering and flowering just in September, so the soil should still be warm enough.

If you live in a region with early frosts, plant your bulbs early, around the twenties of August. Two weeks of planting material is enough for high-quality rooting, and, accordingly, preparation for a normal wintering.

The area where you want to plant the bulbs needs to be prepared in advance - dig up the soil, add fertilizer. remove weeds. Directly ahead of planting, dig up the soil again.

Depending on the number of bulbs and your preferences, you can plant daffodils in different ways - in holes, in furrows, several pieces side by side, along paths, in a carpet under trees. It all depends only on your imagination and your capabilities.

Personally, in my opinion, daffodils look most beautiful as a carpet, and when I simply have nowhere to plant flowers, I make holes under the trees and plant the bulbs in a circle - then in the spring they look like a bouquet.

During the flowering of daffodils, the trees are just beginning to become covered with leaves and do not create dense shade. Therefore, such places are quite suitable for our spring suns.

I have under each garden tree Daffodils grow in one variety - only yellow, or only white. But when varieties are mixed, the color variety also looks very interesting.

How do daffodils overwinter?

After you have planted your bulbs, they should be watered and then simply left alone. The bulbs will have enough autumn moisture.

In winter, when cold weather has already set in, it is advisable to cover slightly frozen beds with daffodils with dry leaves, mown grass, sawdust or peat. It is advisable to do this not immediately after rain. The surface of the earth should be dry and already hard.

A layer of mulch should be poured about 10 - 15 cm, and your daffodils will overwinter without any problems and bloom in the spring.

In many gardens, lovely delicate flowers bloom in spring. You need to know the nuances of growing daffodils; for many, the question of digging up flower bulbs after flowering is relevant. It is not recommended to grow daffodils in the same area for more than five years in a row. It is necessary to carefully select the place where the daffodils will be planted. They thrive in sunny areas, although they can also grow in partial shade. The plant requires soil rich in nutrients; it should be neutral in composition; it can also be planted on slightly acidic soil.

Timing for digging up daffodils

It is necessary to dig up daffodil bulbs not annually, but when certain conditions occur. Daffodils should be inspected every year in order to notice in time which plants already require replanting. Different varieties of daffodils, as well as depending on the conditions of their maintenance, will produce different numbers of bulbs per year. On average, two to four bulbs appear per year. You should dig up and plant flowers only when there are already a lot of bulbs, they begin to grow very densely, it is difficult for them to be placed in the old place, flowering in this situation decreases. Separation of bulbs from nests is carried out every four to six years.

If planting material is very urgently needed, then you can dig up and divide the bulbs three years after planting. But, nevertheless, it is better to try not to do this, since some varieties of daffodils may weaken after this, and they will not have enough strength to bloom next spring.

Plants should be dug up after their foliage has completely turned yellow and the stems begin to fall to the ground, this usually happens in June. Do not rush to speed up the digging, otherwise the bulbs will not have time to draw all the nutritional elements they need from the foliage. Try not to delay this process; later digging may negatively affect the quality of planting material. Don't wait until the foliage has fallen off, or you'll have a hard time locating the bulbs. A small garden fork works well for digging.

Even after digging, narcissus bulbs continue to breathe and lose moisture. Therefore, you should not delay the transplantation process; you should plant daffodils faster than tulips. Usually the time from digging to planting does not exceed a month or two. The optimal time for planting is considered to be the second part of August, since the roots of the flower grow most actively in September.

Caring for daffodil bulbs

It is necessary to learn how to properly care for dug up bulbs. First of all, they are inspected, removing diseased and pest-affected ones. It is best to burn such discarded bulbs. Healthy bulbs should be cleared of soil and washed carefully in warm water. After this, the bulbs are kept in weak potassium permanganate for 20 minutes, and then dried in the open air. The finished bulbs are placed in a darkened room. Best suited for storage temperature regime at 17°C heat.

Daffodils are among those plants that thrive in one place for a long time. They do not need an annual transplant, but they cannot do without it at all. At first, the bulbs actively multiply, becoming overgrown with children. By the 6th year, the bush becomes large and too dense, as a result of which flowering suffers. Fewer and fewer buds are formed, they become smaller, and all that remains is to admire the lush foliage. To maintain annual flowering, daffodils should be periodically dug up and replanted. Today we will tell you how and when to do it correctly.

Some gardeners still dig up large-flowered varietal daffodils and replant them annually. They say that such manipulations help maintain the size of the buds.

When to dig

Unlike, which are dug up every three years, daffodils undergo this procedure half as often. You shouldn’t do this before, so as not to disturb the bush again. Repotting too often can cause daffodils to miss a bloom or two.

Regarding the timing, they are also later than for tulips. You need to remove the bulbs from the ground in the summer. Depending on the growing region, this may be early June or July. You can determine whether the bulbs are “ripe” by appearance bush: it begins to fall apart, and the foliage begins to turn yellow.

It is better to start digging in sunny weather.

Daffodils after digging: how to store the bulbs

In daffodils, the dormant period is not very pronounced and they are not stored for long. However, this must be done correctly, otherwise the bulbs may not survive to be planted in the flowerbed. An important nuance is proper preparation daffodils for storage, namely:

1. After digging, they should be cleared of soil and dry scales.
2. Select damaged and diseased specimens.
3. Treat with a fungicide to prevent fungal diseases.
4. Place under a canopy (in the shade) and dry well.

The prepared onions should be folded in one layer in cardboard box or a plastic box with holes. Cellophane bags are not suitable for storage - the bulbs will suffocate there, because they emit gas. Place the container with daffodils in a cool, dry, ventilated place. Optimal temperature storage of bulbs is 20 degrees Celsius. They are planted in open ground at the end of summer - at the beginning of autumn, changing the place to a new one.

When to dig up daffodils - video

Daffodils are relatively unpretentious, but after flowering they need little care so as not to lose their varietal properties and decorate the garden for many years.

What should you do after the daffodils have bloomed?

5 secrets lush flowering daffodils

After flowering, young daffodil bulbs are not dug up. The bulbs do not require annual drying in the sun. To lay flower buds they need a temperature of +16...+18 degrees C, and in middle lane- this is the normal soil temperature in summer.

Adult daffodil bulbs are dug up as soon as their foliage turns yellow (June - July). Planted until the end of September, optimal time- the second half of August, since the roots of daffodils grow most actively in September.

Nests of daffodils are divided no earlier than 3 years after planting. Depending on the variety and growing conditions, an average of 2-4 bulbs are formed per year in place of one bulb. If you really need additional planting material, then you can dig up and divide the daffodil bulbs 3 years after planting. But it is better not to disturb daffodils too often: some varieties may weaken and miss flowering the next year or even not bloom after the last transplant for 2 years in a row until they are “sure” that they have been left alone. Daffodils are dug up and planted when the bulbs begin to crowd each other and flowering weakens. On average, division of nests and transplantation of daffodils is carried out once every 4-5 (up to 6) years.

Yellowed leaves are not cut off. The bulb extracts all the nutrients from the leaves and stores them in reserve. This period can last almost 2 months (especially long if the weather is damp). To prevent yellowing leaves from spoiling the appearance of the flower garden all this time, weave them into a loose braid and tuck them under neighboring plants.

How to plant daffodils

After waiting for the foliage to turn yellow, it is better not to delay digging up the daffodils: when the leaves dry out and fall off, the exact location of the bulbs will be difficult to determine, and you risk damaging them.

On a note

Lunar calendar of work with daffodils

Digging up daffodil bulbs - June 29-30, July 8-12, 26-27; conditionally favorable days- June 2-3, 10-14.

Planting bulbs - August 23-24, 29-30; September 23-24, 28-30; 16 (after 7 pm), 17, 20-21, 25-28 October; conditionally favorable days are September 3-4, 10-12.

It is convenient to dig up daffodils with a small garden fork. After digging, cut off the foliage, but there is no need to trim the living roots, if they still remain.

Place the bulbs in a vegetable box or on a tray under a shed, in a shed - anywhere relatively cool but dry shady place. When the shell dries and the soil crumbles easily, disassemble and divide them. Dug up bulbs, even without foliage, continue to breathe intensively and lose moisture, so daffodils are transplanted into more short time than tulips or other bulbous plants: that is, they are dug out later and planted earlier. From digging to planting daffodils, only 1-2 months pass, and not 3-4, like other crops.

The planting depth for daffodils is 3 bulb diameters, counting from the bottom. The distance between plants is at least 10 cm. The planting hole is filled with humus soil with the addition of complete mineral fertilizer(1 tsp per onion) and wood ash (1 cup per 3 onions). Planted at the end of August - in September, daffodils have time to take root before the onset of cold weather, with more late boarding they are covered with peat or dry leaves.

How to propagate daffodils?

Daffodils multiply vegetative way. The seed propagation method is used only when breeding work. Valuable varieties of daffodils can be propagated by parts of the bulbs. The bulbs are divided into 4-6 parts, treated with a stimulant, dried and planted in boxes with a sterile substrate. The resulting children bloom in the third year.

Although the foliage of daffodils dies after flowering, the plant does not have a pronounced dormant period: nutrients move in the bulb, and organs form and develop.

Division of daffodils

The narcissus bulb is a perennial bulb; it takes 4 years from the planting of a daughter bulb to its full development. When we dig up the daffodils, we will see that many of the daughter bulbs have not yet separated and are one with the mother bulb. The decision to divide each nest must be made separately. Daughter bulbs, which have already become sufficiently rounded, usually break off well from the bottom of the mother bulb. Separate such bulbs first (1).

Young daughter bulbs have a flatter shape. You can also try to separate them, but without using force. Gently rock the bulb; if it breaks off and the broken area is dry, good (2). Sometimes flat narcissus bulbs do not break off cleanly. At the site of the fracture, a wound surface is visible: living, succulent tissue of the not yet coarsened bottom. Sprinkle the fracture site with ash or crushed coal (3).

Place the bulbs for storage so that the wound surface is well ventilated and heals during storage. Sometimes narcissus bulbs are dumped for storage in heaps, in a poorly ventilated area, or the bays are mercilessly divided right before planting. In these cases, a fungal infection easily penetrates through the wound on the bottom.

After cleaning and dividing the daffodil bulbs, before storing them, it is advisable to treat them from thrips and bulb mites with Karbofos, Fufanon or their analogues. Working emulsion: 5 ml per 1 liter of water, processing time - 30 minutes. After pickling, the bulbs are first dried on fresh air in the shade, then put away in dry room with a temperature of about +18…+20 degrees. C, where daffodils are stored until planting (4).

Based on materials from the magazine "Gardener"

18.09.2017 1 653

When to dig up daffodils and how to preserve them before planting in the fall - the main secrets