Transplanting daffodils

Because of a disability I am having to have my front garden landscaped and I have moved the plants that I want to keep into containers but I'm not sure what to do with the daffodil and narcissus bulbs that I have dug up. I have for the moment just put them in a large plastic pot but do I remove the leaves and leave them to dry out and then plant them in compost or should I plant them in compost now and let the leaves turn yellow before removing the leaves ?

 

They will be fine "heeled in" in a pot - ideally with the compost level in the pot the same as the soil was in the ground - i.e the white part of the "shaft" of their stems underground, and the green above ground.

If they get stressed during the Summer (too hot in the pot, for example) they may not flower well/at all next Spring, but they'll recover after that.

Feed them (now, in the pot) with a high Potash fertilizer (e.g.l a Tomato fertilliser) to boost their bulb production, and remove all flowers (whether they have finished, or not) so the plants concentrate on building up the bulbs for next year - which will be harder than normal as their roots will have been damaged by being lifted.

Do not cut off the foliage, just let it die down naturally. Do not let them dry out now, they need to finish their season, die down naturally, and you could then lift them and store them dry until the Autumn - but personally I would leave them in the pot until you are ready to plant them again (towards the Autumn).

 

Thank you so much for all this information; I shall do as you suggest and leave them in their new home until I'm ready to plant them out again in the autumn.

 

I must have been extremely fortunate

Last year, my friend dug up all of her daffs, stuck them in a bucket (no soil, still with their green) and delivered them to me. I did mean to plant them up, honest I did; but, with the atrociously wet Autumn, I never got around to it (baaaad Mum! ) Even worse, because they were in the copse end, the ducks had knocked the bucket over and spread the bulbs

Snowy winter on uncovered bulbs should have spelt complete disaster then? Nopey, they have bloomed in situ

Ok, that is the most unprofessional experience to recount; all I'm saying is, sometimes, even a bit of neglect doesn't spell total disaster.

Good luck with your landscaping If you get the chance, how about posting some "before" and "after" photo's to inspire others?

 

There's a difference between Survival and High Performance I reckon Mum

The flower was formed, in your bulbs, last year so they were able to flower this year. But to flower well next year they need to build up the bulbs; your bulbs that have been "neglected" probably won't flower very well next year but, assuming planted!!, they will then flower just fine in following years, although may take another year to get their full strength back.

But you're not alone. I've got hundreds that are in a large tub where I chucked them, with a bit of earth, about 5 years ago ... I have forgotten to plant them out every Autumn since then!! They come each year, and flower rather feebly ... I'm going to try better this Autumn, I promise!