Bulbs coming up blind

ie leaves but no flowers. WIll they ever produce flowers in future years, or are they duff bulbs to be removed? I have quite a few new bulbs planted last autumn which are no showers so far. I know there's time yet, but if they are duff, once the leaves have died down, I'd like to get them replaced.
Can you plant spring bulbs now while a lot of shops are selling them cheap?
Thanks

 

I also have bulbs that are showing long leggie leaves and very small flowers, also some with no flowers at all . I was thinking of lifting and separating them. Perhaps I should just lift them and plant new ones, they have been in 3yrs. The hyacinths were the only ones that really well. Cheers Barb.

 

I am sure that they will produce flowers in the future. If a bulb doesn't produce a flower its because it isn't ready too. One reasons for this is that the bulb may not be old enough. For instance after flowering, Tulips - especialy if you lift the bulbs can break into several smaller bulbs. The larger ones will flower next year, but the smaller ones may be too small and need another year to build up their size and strength. I don't believe that there is any such thing as a duff bulb, any more that you can call a girl of 10 duff because she hasn't had a baby yet.

Another reason is that when a bulb flowers, it uses up a lot of energy that was stored in the bulb. It needs to recharge the battery, so to speak, before it can flower again. It does this by drawing energy from the sun via the leaves and storing it back in the bulb. But if you cut back the leaves too early or lift the bulb when its in growth and break the roots, it can't store enough energy - so it takes a year off.

I believe that there is a further problem with things like hybrid hyacinths. They are reared like battery chickens and force fed for two or three years to produce a huge bulb that will give a magnificent display. This tends to be a one off. If you force fed them again for a couple of years you might get the same display, but in general they are neglected and their batteries and their display runs down.

There is a different problem with Tulips, and that is that they do tend to die off if they are left in the ground and need to be replaced. I think they rot, because they come from central Asia where the winters are very cold and wet (no problem in this country), but the summers are very hot and dry (and they don't get that here). The solution is to lift them in the summer and let them dry out - this is closest to their natural habitat.

 

I'm sure Peter is right,they aren't ready yet.
We had to wait several years before ours flowered and I was tempted to dig them all out. BTW,I've just top dressed around my Spring flowering bulbs.

 

Cool, thanks for that Patience is again the key! I hope they do flower 'cos they are some lovely daffs and tulips.

 

give them a feed with some growmore about now - well in the morning.

Also need some sunshine when they are growing.

 

Many thanks to you all ,for your good and very useful advice. Cheers Barb.

 

PeterS i didn't know that about tulpis. I wondered where all mine had gone:lollol: Thank you. Very interesting

 

Granny - thanks for the comments.

Just to go a little bit further. Tulips, like most other garden plants range from species, ie those that grow in the wild, to cultivars, ie those that have been selectively bred by man. The species generally are smaller plants, with smaller flowers. And the cultivars are "improved" and big and busty.

The species, by definition, have evolved over millions of years to be survivors, but the cultivars have been bred to be showy - not for their survival skills. Consequently the closer you get to species Tulips, the more likely they are to survive. You may not find pure species on sale, but their close relatives with names like greigii, sprengeri and fosteriana in their names, will have a better chance of surviving - especially if you lift them. Fancy hybrids aren't built to last.