Blind Daffs Plague ?

Sorry for the Daily Express shock headline . Planted daffs on an off for years . Stick em in the ground November , next March lots of flowers . But some new bulbs planted at the caravan came up blind , also about 20 bulbs in planters at the front of the house look blind ( no head forming ). And the tete a tete in a planter are 50% blind. The tete a tetes will be thinned by 50% after flowering. Any ideas ?
TIA

 

So theyre not overcrowded. Are the getting enough sunlight? If they are maybe they just need feeding. I feed mine after flowering,growmore and tom food.
If thats all ok then I woild look at the planting depths...

 

There does seem to be lots of talk of blind Daffs this year @HarryS .My theory is a very dry period last year as they were dying back or in some cases not planted deep enough..I still go with last years unseasonable weather myself.

 

I wonder if they were cut down too soon last year Harry??
I know it’s the most common advice about daffodils but I see so many folks cutting foliage off too soon and it really does make a difference
The other thing I am particular about is deep planting...I usually plant deeper than recommended. Esp important in planters I think
Thirdly, I feed daffodils here.....for me when they are in flower....with fish blood and bone

 

Thanks all for the replies. The two planters were new bulbs. I do add feed Growmore or BFB and plant at a good 4" deep or as deep as the planter will allow.
I also let the foliage die back for as long as possible - also dead head when the flowers have gone over. I'll thin out the tete a tete after flowering and put t'others down to experience.
May just do Tulips next year.

 

Where I live, tulips are nothing but expensive squirrel food.

 

Cut a piece of chicken wire and place over the top of the bulbs cover with a bit of soil stops them in their tracks ...

Spruce

 

That's not a bad idea, Spruce, but my dog is a digger so....

 

Now you never mentioned a dog

 

It's definitely squirrels. The dog makes a lot more mess when he digs something up.

 

Going back to the OP, a lot of my daffs have come up blind too. The Tete-a-tete are all in flower but the big ones have barely a bloom between them. Most likely last summer's hot weather I reckon cos these have been in four years and have always flowered before. And I never take the foliage off, I just let it die back on its own.

 

I'd be inclined, especially for the ones in containers to give them a few feeds of high potash rather than growmore from flowering time until the foliage dies down.

Really dont think last summer was a problem for spring bulbs, bearing in mind daffs do pretty well if lifted and dried off.

New bulbs that come up blind are basically just rubbish bulbs, as the flowers are set in the bulb the year before, if the flower is formed in the bulb they can't really fail to flower the following year.

 

I am sure that I have contributed to this or similar questions before. Please bare with me. First and foremost. Choose wisely. Daffs are members of the narcissus family. These bulbs reproduce by growing a side bulb. We have all seen this and no doubt we split them up so, one becomes two. Be patient and wait. Try out this experiment. Plant the single and the double bulbs. The basic planting direction for bulbs is at least twice their own depth. So here is problem 0ne. So you are planting up a container, urn or whatever. You want, hope for a really container filled with flowering bulbs. Here you part fill your container, you estimate the remaining depth of compost. You plant, spaced out some bulbs. Now you cover with say 4-6" of compst. Now place the second row of bulbs in place and cover. So straight away the dirctive of planting double the depth has been blown to the wind. In time you have a full and delightful planter of daffs. Please, please. Stop wasting your money on feeds.

Now container grown or field grown. Yes there is a limitation asto how deep to plant. So in time you have a grand display of daffs etc. Now they start to fade. Here we enter a new part of the bulb's world.

Following flowering. You must understand that botanical biology for this subject is different from many perennial plants. Here the bulb is created to live on. To do this. The season dictates, so the bulb sprouts flowers and the flowers die. To the average gardener all is over and done. To the specialist seed saving is important. Whatever your predicament might be, the bulb has to be fed by its past growth. So, no cutting down, mowing etc, and no bending over the foliage and tying. This is just a sample.

 

@pete , so if new bulbs come up blind , is it best to green bin them ? They are not a great cost or trouble to plant . But it is a huge waste of time and a disappointment to plant in November and show nothing in March .

 

No @HarryS , what pete means is not that they are rubbish as in waste to be thrown away. They are underdeveloped. This means they need growing on for another year to bulk up.

As per growing in containers..... I disregard planting levels/depths in pots etc. The reason for this is as stated before the buds are formed this summer for next years flowers. So, if you want to plant them in planters/pots at just below or even at soil level you can and then you can plant them out at their correct level " in the green " after flowering has finished.