Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/15/2007

Question
Hi I live in west central Wisconsin, zone 3-4, in the past three years my crocus and daffodils quit blossoming, a lot of my crocus never did, they have sufficient sun till the trees leaf out and I give them compost for nutrients, what am I doing wrong? the daffodils are well established and used to be like a giant flower bouquet, the crocus have been planted over the last 6 years. thank you

Answer
We all know the great anticipation -- spring seems to take forever, then one morning we see the first Crocus and early Daffodils sprout through the snow and ice, and it seems to wonderful.  And then something goes wrong.  Our bulbs fail to flower.

Joey, I feel your pain.

Dig up a few of those Crocii and Daffodills and check the bulbs asap.

Study them carefully.  How healthy do they look?

If there are any necrotic areas -- sections where the bulb appears mushy or soft -- you have a case of rot.

Bulb rot results in failure of flower development.  Infection is favored by moist conditions and can be caused by several kinds of Bacteria and Fungus.  The Narcissus Bulb Fly larvae take over bulbs, one per bulb, and occupy the interior of the bulb and dining slowly until it grows into a mature adult.  Since it eats the flower part of the bulb first, infested bulbs may still have leaves but no flowers.

Compost is a fantastic amendment for soil.  But in this case, I have two things to say:

1.  Compost won't address a poor drainage issue -- and if there is anything bulbs MUST have it's GREAT drainage.  'Adequate' is NOT adequate where bulbs are concerned.  They are EXTREMELY vulnerable to damage by anaerobes, and anaerobe populations explode when you cut off underground Oxygen.  Make sure first and foremost the drainage for those bulbs is EXCELLENT.

2.  Compost varies in N-P-K but if yours is high in 'N', your bulbs are in trouble.  Nitrogen facilitates bulb rot.

That said, my best advice is to take a few of those nonblooming bulbs over to your local Cooperative Extension (click on http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/ and find your County) and see if they are able to detect symptoms of bacteria or Fungal rot, insect damage, or -- and this is where a microscope comes in handy -- nematodes.

There are agazillion nematode species in the garden and many of them are your friends.  But any that invade your treasured spring bulbs are NOT.

If you have nematodes, well, that's a whole new ballgame, and we will have to discuss that in depth.  You can learn about Nematodes here: http://www.pested.msu.edu/Resources/bulletins/pdf/2160/ch8.pdf

But let's see what the Coop Ext people say first.

I could fib here and tell you it is definitely one of those other problems.  But no one can tell that without really looking closely at your bulb and enlarging sections 1000x for a good view of alien microbes.

Meantime, keep that Compost on the lawn and in the rest of the garden.  Top dress with Humus and Bone Meal or some other product that won't spike the Nitrogen.  After you know what's ruining your flowers.

Keep me posted, Joey.  Thanks for writing.