Daffodils - Why do they sometimes come up with no flower?

[charliecat]

Just the green leaves?

because they were a bit starved last year. After they flower they build next year's strength and flowers in their bulb. So if they don't get enough strength this April/May/June they can't flower next year. Big problems are overcrowding (especially ones in the lawn), being ignored (ones in pots) or cutting off the leaves as soon as they have flowered. What you should do is nip off the dead flower head and give them a feed and let the leaves die down in their own time.

Why aren't we watching Gardener's World?

Can I omph them this year by feeding them?

because each year i forget they're there and lawn mower them down

LOL SEA, you watched that vid yet? I often think of you....

not for flowers this year, it's too late, they are pregnant for about 9 months too. But if you feed them in a little while (wait until after next week's promised cold spell) they may flower better next year. and if they are crowded dig them up, spread them out a bit, put them back as deep as they were, feed them and look forward to a lovely display next year (as they say in the magazines)

no i'm doing badly. i have no confidence to quit at all

Thanks Budgie:0 i will do that, its the lawn ones that are all headless
SEA, watch the vid. Then email me.

i will but i miss the thread

sorry i never have time to do anything

Make time The thread is dead isnt it

Oh and hold onto your seat, my mum stopped 2 weeks ago tommorow, she was ill, she hadnt smoked or ate for 24 hours and I said this is your chance, honestly...take it, and she has. By the horns. Took up knitting and isnt talking about it.

no

are the bulbs buried deep?

I cant remeber I put the bulbs under the lawn and they came up the first year...with such a vangence they lifted the lawn up and I had to cut thru to stop the lawn looking VERY humpy. This year pathetic leaves....i wonder if I mowed them early last year

Because they're blind

Or so my mother has always said

Yes, blind daffs. What you should do is let them die back after flowering, if you cut them down before they do this happens. They don't get the chance to gather their strenght.

you have to resist the urge to cut them back apparently, though mine are really pants this year

All the ones I put in last year are blind. My mum says it's because I didn't put them in deep enough. She is most probably right because I remember having trouble digging the holes as the ground was like concrete so they didn't go in very far.

your mum is right. (why do we only learn that Mum is always Right when we are too grown up to really benefit???)

too shallow and they dry out and are just plain unhappy. Do the deed, dig them up now the ground is wet and put them in so deep that if you stacked two more on top the top of the top one would be at ground level. Not a science - you do not need a ruler, but that's a good guide

That's a good idea, I'll do that .

becuase they are rubbish