Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/10/2007

Question
I read that it was good to put pebbles or rocks at the bottom of your lily bulb holes for drainage on P. Allan Smith's site, but now I read on yours that it does no good.  Is there any damage I could have caused to my lily bulbs by putting rocks at the bottom of their planting holes?
Also, when transplanting potted daffodils in the spring, should one separate the individual bulbs, or is it better to leave them together, so as not to damage root hairs any more than necessary? I was wondering whether the bulbs would be more likely to rot if not separated, and how deeply should one plant them?  Thanks!

Answer
The rockybottom exercise was conceived years ago. Someone came up with the idea that if you put rocks or pebbles at the bottom of a pot, you would allow water to fill the air spaces.  This would, in theory, streamline, or even substitute for, drainage holes.

Some very smart people have revisited this practice, and concluded it just does not work that way.

Instead, the rocks take up space.  They do not absorb water.  The area between the rocks fills up with soil.  Less region for water to be stored; higher odds of rot and ruin.

The only danger (if you can call it that) is that your Lily is more inclined to rot if you do that.  The rocks do not cause any pain or suffering to any of the plants in the pot.

Put serious drainage holes at the bottom of the pot, if they're not already there, and the problem is solved.

How deeply to plant Daffodils?  If you have not planted them yet, it's a little late to be asking this question.  C'st la vie.  If not, perhaps you are looking ahead to next year?, plant them 8 to 12 inches deep.  The deeper planting is reserved for very sandy, light soils; shallow planting works for heavy clay soil.  None of this is written in stone; you do not have to be THAT PRECISE when you do this.  If you have to use a fertilizer, make sure it's Bone Meal or Superphosphate; don't use ANY Nitrogen fertilizer.  (Anaerobes tend to love the Nitrogen, they proliferate, invade and decay the bulb tissue which turns to mush.)

Transplanting your potted Daffodils is going to hurt no matter how good you are at it.  It will hurt less if you don't separate them.  But remember, the root hairs will re-grow.  It just takes a little time.  Try to gently separate them with minimal root damage, assuming you have no choice.  If you have a choice, wait until they are done blooming.  Even better, wait until the foliage has completely died back, months from now, and the bulb is dormant.  That in fact is a perfect situation.

Daffodils grow in clumps in the wild.  Keeping them clumped, one season, is not a real problem. A real problem would be nematodes, Daffodil bulb rot, Narcissus bulb fly, viruses (a seriously real problem), or if you ate one (these are poisonous).

Thanks for writing.