Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/10/2008

Question
should i dig up dafs. now, (when they are dying down),(i usually tie the tops in a knot) and replant in fall or leave in the ground, until next year to devide? i am in zone 7. thanks for any help you can give me. sandi

Answer
Daffodil leaves are very busy right now.  Next year's bloom needs to be started.  So the leaves are capturing all the Sunlight they can, and building the buds...

UNLESS you interfere.

Removing the leaves before they're ready to be removed -- that's interference.

Tieing them in a knot, painting them, covering them up, shielding them with other plants because they are unsightly -- all these are interference.

Yes, I know, EVERYBODY does this (it seems).  No, it is not a good idea.  If you interfere, the best thing that will happen is that the flower bud being generated this season will be diminished.  The worst thing that will happen is that you interfere so much, there's no energy to build anything, and they bloom blind next year -- a lovely stalk filled with anticipation, then poof! the pod at the tip disintegrates instead of growing into a blossom.

Proper procedure:  Remove spent flower before it makes Seeds by cutting the stalk.  Water generously (as needed) but make sure drainage is not a problem or your Bulb will rot.  When the leaves are brown and dead, remove at the base.  Dig up, put in a brown paper bag (NEVER plastic), keep cool and dark and dry all Summer and re-plant in the Fall.  If lifting them is not realistic (you have too many perhaps), leave in the ground, but cover with flagstones or something that will keep the ground dry.  Where these evolved, Summers were cool and rain-free.

Thanks for writing.