The Lemon Fool

I have recently bought some pot grown minature daffodils (tête bouclé - height around 15/20cm). I am wanting to plant these out in position between snowdrop clumps so they take over when the snowdrops have finished, without their height overwhelming in the meantime. Whether they flower well this year is not important.

But the bulbs themselves have been grown on top of the soil, a bit like hyacinth bulbs are for Christmas. They are in growth, with leaf heights currently between 2 and 10cm (1 to 4"). There is no white portion of the leaves, all are green.

I have bought in the past snowdrops and bluebells "in the green" at the end of the flowering season, and they are replanted at the depth of the white/green boundary.

Unfortunately the garden centre wasn't much help, saying that yes I can plant out before the end of the flowering season, but wait a bit until the cold weather passes. The recent days have been, and the next five are all forecast to be over 10C, nightime minimum 5C.

Has anyone any experience of planting out bulbs that have been grown in this manner ?

mike wrote:I have recently bought some pot grown minature daffodils (tête bouclé - height around 15/20cm). I am wanting to plant these out in position between snowdrop clumps so they take over when the snowdrops have finished, without their height overwhelming in the meantime. Whether they flower well this year is not important.

But the bulbs themselves have been grown on top of the soil, a bit like hyacinth bulbs are for Christmas. They are in growth, with leaf heights currently between 2 and 10cm (1 to 4"). There is no white portion of the leaves, all are green.

I have bought in the past snowdrops and bluebells "in the green" at the end of the flowering season, and they are replanted at the depth of the white/green boundary.

Unfortunately the garden centre wasn't much help, saying that yes I can plant out before the end of the flowering season, but wait a bit until the cold weather passes. The recent days have been, and the next five are all forecast to be over 10C, nightime minimum 5C.

Has anyone any experience of planting out bulbs that have been grown in this manner ?

I would be inclined to leave them as they are to flower this year. Presumably they have been grown indoors and if they are planted out now they will most likely not do anything this year, as they will get a shock by being exposed to the cold night air. They are frost proof but having been grown indoors they will more or less shut down if planted out now. After they flower I would then plant them where you want them to flower next year.

I would not worry about being planted out in soil, but if they are miniatures do not plant them deep.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:

mike wrote:I have recently bought some pot grown minature daffodils (tête bouclé - height around 15/20cm). I am wanting to plant these out in position between snowdrop clumps so they take over when the snowdrops have finished, without their height overwhelming in the meantime. Whether they flower well this year is not important.

But the bulbs themselves have been grown on top of the soil, a bit like hyacinth bulbs are for Christmas. They are in growth, with leaf heights currently between 2 and 10cm (1 to 4"). There is no white portion of the leaves, all are green.

I have bought in the past snowdrops and bluebells "in the green" at the end of the flowering season, and they are replanted at the depth of the white/green boundary.

Unfortunately the garden centre wasn't much help, saying that yes I can plant out before the end of the flowering season, but wait a bit until the cold weather passes. The recent days have been, and the next five are all forecast to be over 10C, nightime minimum 5C.

Has anyone any experience of planting out bulbs that have been grown in this manner ?

I would be inclined to leave them as they are to flower this year. Presumably they have been grown indoors and if they are planted out now they will most likely not do anything this year, as they will get a shock by being exposed to the cold night air. They are frost proof but having been grown indoors they will more or less shut down if planted out now. After they flower I would then plant them where you want them to flower next year.

I would not worry about being planted out in soil, but if they are miniatures do not plant them deep.

Dod

Your idea regarding shocking the bulbs due to temperature differences tallies with the nursery, but the reasoning is rather better expressed, thank you.

The bulbs were dispalyed outside without any roof over, so will be used to lower, but not recently sub-zero, night temperatures, and I would agree they have probably been forced.

My thoughts are moving towards checking the soil temperature here at the correct planting depth, and as the pots are outside, planting in the morning when the air (and hence bulb) temperature will be lower than later in the day. Hopefully this will be close to the soil temperature which will be lagging the general warming of the air with the seasons and will lessen any temperature shock. If we do get a cold snap in a few weeks, it would be no different to the bulbs having been in situ throughout the winter, but if they do flower poorly this year, well, that'll have to be fine by me.

mike wrote:
The bulbs were dispalyed outside without any roof over, so will be used to lower, but not recently sub-zero, night temperatures, and I would agree they have probably been forced.

I assume they are of a similar family to tete a tete. If so, they are an early flowerer, and up here in Central Scotland tete a tete are well into leaf - outdoors and unsheltered, and definitely not forced.

I think daffodils are as tough as old boots, and it takes skill to kill them or set them back. I currently have a geranium in my conservatory, and I must have re-used old compost which contained a miniature daffodil bulb. This is now emerging through the bottom of the pot, bending upwards and is in flower.

I am sure your daffodils can be planted out now, though I would try to plant as deep as you can while allowing some leaf to show above ground level.

mike wrote:I have recently bought some pot grown minature daffodils (tête bouclé - height around 15/20cm). I am wanting to plant these out in position between snowdrop clumps so they take over when the snowdrops have finished, without their height overwhelming in the meantime. ...

But the bulbs themselves have been grown on top of the soil, a bit like hyacinth bulbs are for Christmas. They are in growth, with leaf heights currently between 2 and 10cm (1 to 4"). There is no white portion of the leaves, all are green.

I have bought in the past snowdrops and bluebells "in the green" at the end of the flowering season, and they are replanted at the depth of the white/green boundary.....

You could harden them off for a few weeks before planting, out doors, but sheltered from the worst extremes of cold. Gradually expose them more over the weeks, letting them adjust gradually to the cold.

Daffodil bulbs should be planted at a depth of three times the height of the bulb. After they have flowered dead-head them, you want all their strength to go into the bulb for next year's flowers, not into making seeds.

Plant daffodil bulbs in early autumn, ideally September, and potted bulbs in spring before they come into flower....

Bulbs are quick and easy to plant. Just be sure to set them at the correct depth in the ground – equivalent to three times the bulb's height. This will help to ensure they flower well for many years to come.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/daffodils/growing-guide

scotia wrote:

mike wrote:
The bulbs were dispalyed outside without any roof over, so will be used to lower, but not recently sub-zero, night temperatures, and I would agree they have probably been forced.

I assume they are of a similar family to tete a tete. If so, they are an early flowerer, and up here in Central Scotland tete a tete are well into leaf - outdoors and unsheltered, and definitely not forced.

If the weather continues as is, I will have a lot of my early daffs in flower in a couple of weeks. Some are at least 6 inches in height and showing flower buds now .That is north central Scotland.

Dod

My early daffs are now in flower (Kent/Sussex border), and my Tet a tets are just about to break into flower.

As an aside, I grow Tet a tets in planters as well as the ground. Those in planters are quite vulnerable to Narcissus fly grubs which eat the bulb from the inside. When I replant the bulbs in November I test for grubs by squashing the bulb gently, and burn those which are soft to the touch. The Tet a tets grown in the ground don't seem to be vulnerable to this pest.

Nimrod103 wrote:My early daffs are now in flower (Kent/Sussex border), and my Tet a tets are just about to break into flower.

As an aside, I grow Tet a Tets in planters as well as the ground. Those in planters are quite vulnerable to Narcissus fly grubs which eat the bulb from the inside. When I replant the bulbs in November I test for grubs by squashing the bulb gently, and burn those which are soft to the touch. The Tet a tets grown in the ground don't seem to be vulnerable to this pest.

Yes - I also grow most of the tete a tete (and several other narcissus varieties) in planters, and remove them when the foliage dies down, then replant in late autumn. All soft bulbs are destroyed. I normally leave those in the ground untouched. They would probably benefit from lifting and replanting periodically, but there are plenty other gardening tasks which seem more important.
Moving slightly off topic, I like the early flowers of Iris reticulata harmony in planters - but in spite of them getting the same treatment as the daffodils, they rarely do well in their second year.