Crocus bulbs planted in Autumn, now appearing on the surface - Frost Heave?

Hi All,

I planted 60 tiny crocus bulbs at the end of Autumn (near Ross-on-Wye, loam soil) and have noticed over the last couple of weeks quite a few (it seems more each day) appearing on the surface of the soil.

They look like they have started to grow, there is no obvious disturbance of the soil around them and don't look nibbled, really odd

Do you think it is frost heave? I have read about it, but have never come across it and am not sure if it also happens to bulbs?

- What would you advise, just planting them again?
- Or as the weather is freezing again here at the moment, should I pick them up, keep them in the garage, until the weather warms up and then plant them again?
- Or, plant them in a pot in the garden please?

Many thanks for any advice, a real head scratcher

 

I think that as the shoots have appeared above ground a blackbird or imilar has pulled them out, like they do with onion sets.
Unless the ground is frozen solid I would replant them between 1 and 2 inches down, weed the area and then wait.
How deep did you plant them originally?

 

Arh, thank you @NigelJ that makes sense, I have quite a few Blackbirds in the garden, never thought of that

I will collect them up and get replanting over the weekend, wallpapering today, much less fun

I put them in about 4-5 cm deep, should I go deeper?

Many thanks Nigel, I will be watching my lovely Blackbirds more closely now

 

I would poke them back in. A couple of inches deep is fine for crocuses.. Or chuck some more soil in on top of them - that corner looks as if it could use topping up a bit.

 

Thank you @JennyJB, I will get them back in and top up the area

 

They dont appear to have much root in the picture, for some reason.

Which would make them easy for birds to pull out.

 

I hadn't noticed that @pete was just bemused as how they ended up back on top of the soil

They are going back in and hopefully the Blackbirds will leave them alone this time

 

Hi

don’t look like crocus corms..

 

@Barders @Spruce has a good point there, have you planted any other bulbs?

 

Thank you @Spruce @NigelJ now you mention it, the ones I planted looked like the ones in your photo Spruce!!

So, what are the ones that have ended up on the top of the soil, the plot thickens This is the first time I have planted bulbs in the soil, and do feel a tad stupid that I forgot what they looked like

But gardening is a good teacher (for me anyway), so will replant these little ones in one area and see what emerges

Thank you everyone for your advice, learned lots through this experience

 

Give one a scratch and a sniff, they look similar to onion sets.

 

Will do @pete

 

Maybe wild garlic, I get a lot of that in my garden and often see the bulbs on the surface.

 

The wild garlic bulbs that I'm forever pulling out of my garden are a lot smaller than that, but maybe that's a sign that I'm starting to get the better of them and there are only baby ones left. But yes, if they whiff a bit oniony then they're some form of allium.
Grape hyacinths is maybe another possibility that you might have planted, or something like scilla or chionodoxa (I struggle to tell those two apart even when they're flowering).

 

It's easy to identify crocuses once they've started to grow leaves - there's a white stripe vertically down the middle of each leaf.