Daffodils have never bloomed - WHY????

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We planted a ton of Daffodils about 4 years ago and they have never flowered. They get beautifully green but never produce a flower. WHY??? Anyone have any suggestions? :idunno
 

patandchickens

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what zone are you in? where were they from? how much sun do they get? do you let the foliage yellow and die off messily on its own?

Pat
 

Buff Shallots

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My guess would be not enough sun, and/or infertile, poor soil...
 
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Ok...
1. They get alot of sun during the day (from 9 am till 5 pm).
2. They are planted amongst all of our Irises, tall flox, and others that are doing wonderfully so there shouldn't be any problems with the soil.
3. We are in zone 5.
4. They were planted as bulbs (1 1/2" - 2" bulbs) that were purchased from a local nursery.
5. We let them die off naturally; turn yellow and just prune them when they are completely dead.

NOW WHAT? Do you have any suggestions?
 

Buff Shallots

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Scott, I think you had better change your screen name!

(You're doing everything right, maybe you have some sort of bulb nematode...)
 

patandchickens

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I'm not sure a nematode would leave the plant healthy while just preventing flowering.

If it were me, I would dig up a few and look at what I'd got there. Are the bulbs flowering-size, i.e egg-sized or so in diameter, or are they all split up into a gajillion daughter bulbs with none of them individually being big enough to flower. If you should find the zillions-of-small-daughter-bulbs-and-no-parent scenario, I'd either say Oh, Phooo and chuck the lot of 'em into the compost pile (where, according to murphy's law, they will probably start flowering profusely) and replant next fall with bulbs of a different source; or I would break them up, save just the very largest daughter bulbs, and plant them individually, expecting to have to wait a year or two before any chance of flowering.

If nothing obvious strikes you as being wrong when you dig them up, I would try fertilizing half or 3/4 of them (I assume this is multiple clumps?) with something relatively LOW in nitrogen and HIGH in potassium and phosphorus, this is the right time of year to do it, and see what happens next year.

other than that you got me stumped too :p

Good luck,

Pat
 

Reinbeau

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patandchickens said:
If you should find the zillions-of-small-daughter-bulbs-and-no-parent scenario, I'd either say Oh, Phooo and chuck the lot of 'em into the compost pile (where, according to murphy's law, they will probably start flowering profusely)
:lol: You must have been out back and seen my compost pile from my daffodil excavations last fall! :lol:
 

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