Why do established daffodil bulbs sometimes come up "blind" and do they ever recover/?

Two main reasons;


a) under nourished


b) over crowded.


For a), feed them after flowering (or after they should have flowered) and certainly don't cut the dying tops off until they've gone brown and whithered away. They pull away when they are dead anyway.The bulbs need to draw back the nutrients from these dying leaves. A feed during this time will help. You can also feed them in autumn (if you can remember where the heck they are!), which will give them an extra boost.


For b) then dig them up after flowering (or not) and just thin them out and re-plant. give them a feed,agian to help them along, and next year they should be OK


And yes, given either treatment they should recover.

Why do established daffodil bulbs sometimes come up "blind" and do they ever recover/?
They generally come up blind when they are overcrowded or underfed.





Dig them up and space them out a bit more replanting deeply. Feed with a general fertilizer such as Blood Fish and Bone or pelleted chicken manure.
Reply:My mother has always said once they come up blind they stay blind, but when they divide they will come up flowering.
Reply:Bulbs will come up blind if they are not fully developed. They will recover and flower if treated properly. The leaves are the plants food factory and go on making food long after the flowers have withered. It is important not to remove the leaves until they have turned yellow and can be pulled up easily. The plant also takes nourishment from the soil, so apply fertiliser to your soil in the Autumn. It also helps if you remove the dead flower heads with the seed pods so that the plant is not using energy producing seed that you not need.
Reply:All good answers, overcrowded or underfertilized.
Reply:I had many blind bulbs so dug them up and spaced them out. I also added bone meal and leaf mould. I'm still waiting for them to flower.............27 years. My advice is buy a sack of new bulbs and don't waste your time with the old ones. You can get naturalising bulbs quite cheaply.

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