Daffodils are one of the earliest spring flowers that adorn summer cottages, garden beds and home vases. How to properly organize the planting and care of this light-loving plant, how to water, feed, when it is better to dig up the bulbs and why daffodils do not bloom - the answers to these and other questions are collected in the material.
Content:
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plant description
A distinctive feature of spring flowers is the contrasting color of the petals and perianth
- early (late April - early days of May)
- early-middle (May 5–12)
- medium (May 15–20)
- mid-late (after May 21)
- late (June)
- blooming in autumn (do not grow in central Russia)
There are 13 garden groups, which differ in the shape, color and size of the flower and stems, flowering time and other features. There are more than 60 natural flower species, and about 30 thousand hybrid garden forms.
Daffodils are unpretentious flowers, which do not require too much care, and feel great both in the open field and in a flower pot on the windowsill. However, in order for the plant to please with abundant flowering, it is necessary to take into account the recommendations and rules of agricultural technology.
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Daffodils love sunshine therefore, it is best to choose a well-lit, open area protected from drafts and wind for their landing in open ground. If there is no suitable area in the garden, then penumbra is also suitable, where the plant produces flowers that are even more juicy in color.
For planting a plant, it is better to choose loose soil, providing good drainage.
The best soil for planting a plant is loose, well-drained. It is important to prevent the location of the flower garden in the lowlands and stagnant water, because the bulbs will get wet and will not sprout.
Immediately before planting, you do not need to fertilize the flower garden with unripe manure - the adventitious roots of the bulbs can simply “burn out”. Fresh organics at the rate of 12–15 kg per 1 m2 are applied to the site no later than 1–1.5 years before the planned planting.
When choosing between sandy and heavy clay soil, it is better to give preference to the latter.. In the sand, during the cold months, the bulbs of the plant can freeze, but the clay will keep the plant warm and viable. cucumbers
The ideal soil composition for daffodils is an acid-neutral soil with the addition of 15–20 kg of sand or peat and the same amount of humus for every 1 m2.
The arable layer of soil in this case should be at least 25–30 cm., since it is at this depth that the roots of the plant go. Good precursors for daffodils are peonies, cereals and legumes, as well as beds cucumbers and tomatoes. Flowers will not grow well after bulbous crops, perennial asters and chrysanthemums.
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Landing in open ground
An important stage in planting narcissus bulbs is soil preparation, which begins in late May - early June. The place of the future flower garden is dug up to the depth of one bayonet of a shovel, 15–17 kg of humus are added for every 1 m2 of soil. At the end of July, 3 weeks before landing, the site is again dug up, this time adding 40–50 g superphosphate and 30–35 g of potash fertilizer.
Before planting in open ground, the bulbs must first be pickled or sprayed with chemicals against pests.
For central Russia, the end of August - the beginning of September is considered the best time for laying a flower garden of daffodils. Such an early planting allows the plant to take root quite firmly in the ground (this takes about 20-30 days) and safely endure the winter.
Before placing a plant bulb in the soil, it must be sprayed with fungicides (Fundazol in a solution with a concentration of 0.2%) or insecticides (0.3% Rogor's solution), and as a prophylaxis for gray rot, it should be pickled in a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Hole depth for instillation, it should be at least 3 bulb heights (10–12 cm), and the distance between them should be at least 2 diameters of the bulbous seedling. At the bottom of the hole, it is advised to pour 50–60 g of an ash-sand mixture as drainage.
After the bulbs are covered with earth, garden bed watered, compact and mulch with a layer of peat, fallen leaves or shavings by 5–8 cm.
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It is necessary to transplant the plant if the bulbs are crowded in the soil due to the initially close distance between the tubers during planting. Another argument in favor of transplantation is not abundant flowering.
It is best to carry out this procedure in July - August, when the root system of the plant dies off. So the process of "moving" to a new place for the flower will be the least painful. To do this, you need to carefully dig up the tuber, clean it from the remnants of the soil.
Usually the bulbs of the plant are transplanted to a new place in the fall.
Damaged, infected or rotten bulbs are discarded, and healthy ones are etched in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. If during transplantation it was necessary to divide the nest of the bulb, then the wounds should be sprinkled with wood ash crushed to a powder state or activated charcoal.
If the plant has to be replanted due to disease or invasion pests, then the planting material should be treated as a prophylaxis with the drug "Fundazol" or smoke bombs "Vist" (against gray rot).
Elite varieties are recommended to be planted more often than ordinary ones, preferably every season, so that the plant does not lose its unique decorative characteristics.
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Watering
The plant loves abundant moisture to the entire depth of the roots - as needed, beds with daffodils are watered with 2-3 buckets of water for every 1 m2. On hot days, watering can be done daily in the morning, and after it, be sure to loosen the soil to reduce evaporation. It is also important to clean the beds of weeds that take some of the water.
The plant is moisture-loving, but does not tolerate stagnant water in the lowlands of the garden plot.
Flowers provide moisture until the end of July - mid-August, when the heat begins to subside, and the leaves of the flowers begin to wither. If watering often fails, then you can cover the soil under the leaves with mulch.
Watering the beds during the flowering period, you can extend the life of the flower. However, this must be done carefully: strong water pressure can damage the petals of the opened bud. During the dormant period, which begins at the end of summer, after the end of flowering, watering can be reduced until it stops completely.
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It is best to fertilize the flower garden to feed the plant during the budding period, when it needs extra nutrition the most. If the soil is infertile, then 3 top dressings per season should be carried out, for each important period of daffodil growth: the emergence of seedlings, buds and flowering.
For the first time, 100 g of nitroammophosphate is applied, in subsequent times - 50–60 g for each 1 m2 of beds.
Properly selected top dressing will enhance flowering and activate plant growth.
In humid climates, liquid fertilizers can be replaced with dry fertilizers. Before a rainy summer, the beds of a flower garden with daffodils are sprinkled with 5–7 g of Agricola-7, superphosphate or potassium sulfate for every 1 m2 of soil.
Feeding the plant with organic matter, in particular, with manure or droppings, is not recommended at all: the aroma of decomposition can attract an insect pest - onion hoverfly (narcissus fly).
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Not only new, but also resistant varieties of plants are susceptible to damage by pests and diseases. The most dangerous enemy of the flower is the large narcissus fly.
Its larvae damage the bulbs, eating away the storage scales. The fly overwinters in tubers, and flies out at the end of June-July to lay eggs in new plants.
It is quite simple to understand that a narcissus is infected with larvae: the leaves and stem wither, lag behind in growth. They fight the fly by spraying the beds or treating the tubers with a solution of karbofos (5 g per 2 liters of water).
It also helps to dig the soil, replace the earth, remove the affected bulbs and transplant them to another place.
Large narcissus fly larvae can destroy a flower bulb
Another insect pest is the onion root mite, which bites into the bulb through the bottom directly into the ground. The affected plant dries up or lags far behind in development. To get rid of the tick, the dug out bulbs are treated with the organophosphorus preparation metaphos.
Failure to comply with the rules for storing bulbs leads to fungal diseases: fusarium and gray rot. The first affects plants at high air and soil temperatures, and the second - at their high humidity. The only effective way to combat these diseases is to dig up all the bulbs, cull the damaged ones and transplant to a new place.
Daffodils can be overwhelmed by plant mosaics - a dangerous viral disease, which manifests itself in the form of inclusions or stripes of bright yellow color on the leaves and deformation of the peduncle. All that can be done to save healthy flowers is to dig up and destroy the affected bulbs.
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Reproduction of daffodils occurs in a vegetative way - by transplanting bulbs or their nests and even parts (for rare or especially valuable varieties). To do this, the tuber is carefully cut into 4–5 parts, each of which is treated with root system growth stimulants.
Then the pieces of bulbs are well dried and planted in a tray with sterile steamed soil.
Reproduction by bulbs - the easiest and most convenient way to propagate a flower
Daffodils reproduce relatively quickly: in one year, a large healthy bulb can grow up to 6 children. They are formed from renewal buds located in the upper part of the bottom. Children become independent plants after they emerge from the sinuses formed by storage scales.
Small daughter bulbs can also be used as planting material in the third year after planting, having previously grown.
Another option for planting a plantation plant is to sow freshly harvested seeds of wild species in a pot or tray for germination. The bulb is formed in this way in 1–2 years, then the already strengthened tuber is planted in open ground as a regular planting material. Such daffodils will bloom only after 5–6 years, small-flowered ones - a few years earlier.
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After flowering, the plant requires enhanced care, in particular, abundant watering. The leaves remain green for another 1.5 months, accumulating nutrients for laying in the scales of the bulbs, where organ formation processes are continuously taking place.
After flowering, the plant needs no less care than during it.
After the leaves wither, the fourth top dressing is introduced into the flower garden exclusively potash (15–20 g) or phosphate (30–40 g) fertilizers. If the plants remain in the ground for wintering, then the dead leaves are raked, and the soil on the site is gently loosened.
Withered flowers and leaves of daffodils are recommended to be removed regularly, so that the plant does not waste energy on their nutrition, instead of laying new scales. However, green leaves should not be cut off - due to the process of photosynthesis in the scales, nutrients are accumulated.
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Experienced gardeners advise digging narcissus bulbs out of the ground at the end of July. Determining the optimal time is simple: the leaves of the plant begin to deviate in different directions, and their tips turn yellow.
You can dig bulbs not only for propagation or transplantation, but also for winter storage.
It is undesirable to wait for the complete wilting of the leaves: so you can lose the approximate position of the bulbs in the ground and accidentally cut them with a shovel when digging. Also, late harvesting of root crops for the winter is fraught with the germination of roots, which are almost impossible to get out of the ground without damaging.
Such injured tubers then take root poorly and give weak flowering, small flowers.
The extracted tubers are freed from soil residues, damaged and dead are separated, and then prepared for storage, pickling for half an hour in a weak fungicide solution. Store planting material in a wired box in a dark, cool place, dry and often ventilated.
The optimum storage temperature is +8-+10 degrees at a humidity of 70%.Root crops are inspected every two weeks and dried, wet or rotten are discarded.
Even if the tuber looks healthy and clean, then an unpleasant smell should alert the gardener - it can be a symptom of bacterial rot, and dark spots are a sure sign of a fungal infection.
Why don't daffodils bloom?
The plant does not always bloom profusely even with proper care.
Even with all the rules of agricultural technology, some gardeners sometimes do not bloom healthy sprouted daffodil bulbs.
There may be several reasons for this phenomenon:
Preparing for winter
Terry varieties need special care in winter
Daffodils are resistant to low temperatures, but deep freezing of the soil in winter can kill the bulbs. As well as thaws, due to which the plant begins to awaken, and after the return of cold weather it dies.
To protect the tubers that winter in the ground, the following preliminary work must be carried out at the end of autumn:
- clear beds from withered leaves and stems
- gently loosen the beds
- cover with a layer of peat, straw, sawdust or fallen leaves 15 cm high
A flower garden with varieties of low winter hardiness, especially terry and tacet daffodils, must be covered for the winter with agrofiber or spruce branches.
Where to buy bulbs and how to choose the right one?
Planting material is best purchased in specialized stores or via the Internet. Due to the fact that the onions tolerate storage well, they can be sent by mail.
The correct choice of the bulb depends on which varieties will fall into the gardener's flower garden.
The optimal time for acquiring tubers is 3-4 months after flowering - in August or early September. In the southern regions, this period is shifted 2-3 weeks earlier. It is better to refuse bulbs offered for purchase in the spring months, as well as after the onset of persistent cold weather.
Which bulbs are best to choose - the advice of experienced gardeners is collected in the table.
| good planting material | Better not to buy |
|---|---|
| Bulbs are dense, firm, without dents | Dry, soft |
| The bottom of the onion is clean and whole | Damaged tuber parts |
| Necks are smooth and tight | The tops are soft, rough to the touch, there are many of them. |
| Root is not visible | A sprout appeared |
| Only onion | With stem remnant or flowers |
It is best to choose bulbs that are quite large in size - at least 5-6 cm in diameter, otherwise, the tubers will have to grow before planting in open ground. It is preferable to plant multi-top onions (they have several tops with one bottom), because several stems will develop from such tubers at once.
Use in landscape design
Unusual design move - plant flowers in the form of a bouquet
Many gardeners recommend planting bulbs in the shape of a circle., then during flowering a kind of bouquet appears on the flower bed, which looks festive and elegant. Low-growing varieties look great on Alpine rollercoaster and against the background of low ground cover plants.
Best planted nearby perennial peonies or phloxes, which, with their greenery, will mask the foliage of the daffodil withering after flowering. The flower goes well with hyacinths, forget-me-nots, pansies, violets, early tulips and others bulbous.
Daffodils are a beautiful, ornamental plant that is not demanding on soil, climate and frequent feeding, and if basic agricultural practices are observed, it rarely gets sick. Flower care is simple and pleasant, and the result of growing always pleases gardeners.
Important information on how to properly plant and care for daffodil bulbs before, during and after flowering is collected in the instructional video:
VIDEO: Features of planting and growing
Daffodils: description, planting and care in the open field, transplantation, reproduction, when to dig and what to do after flowering (55+ Photos & Videos) + Reviews
