Extending The Daffodil Season

There are things that can be done that changes the time daffodil blooms can be used, regardless if the purpose is for the home or the show bench. We are not destined to the whim of the weatherman and can help him along. It doesn't matter if we are trying to get the most out of our early bloom daffodils, or hurry up the blooming season, here are a few techniques that can help.

Early Blooming Daffodils

Early daffodils are quite often lost to the showing world and the home for that reason; they are just that, early. Most growers give up in despair and don't try to salvage those early blooms for a later date, or home use. Fact: Daffodils can be cut and refrigerated for up to a month. A blue ribbon daffodil was cut on March 18, and won on April 11 at the Washington Daffodil Society show a couple of years ago.

The trick of cutting and preserving daffodil blooms for the show bench, or for maintaining fresh cut flowers for the home, is to cut the stems of freshly bloomed flowers and to refrigerate them at an optimum temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Somewhere between 35 and 38 degrees "F" should hold them fine. The humidity inside the refrigerator must be kept high, and can be accomplished by placing wet towels on the bottom. Misting the flowers with fresh tap water will also help, along with maintaining the moisture on the towels.

The refrigerator must be of the old fashion "Frost" type refrigerator, as the newer "Frost-less" refrigerators remove all the moisture from inside the refrigerator and will also remove the moisture from your flowers. The older the stem when cut, the less it will maintain itself in the refrigerator. Dry-wrapping new flowers in sealed plastic will work for a week or so, if you have the newer frost-less or frost free refrigerator.

Most flowers if picked newly bloomed or in late bud will continue to open in the refrigerator. However there are some division 1 and 2 daffodils that grow the bloom after opening, and early refrigeration will create a smallish bloom. These cultivars will open in the refrigerator, but will not continue to grow, especially the whites and yellows such as 'Bryanstan', 'Homestead', 'Clouded Yellow', etc. Those of us that grow the orange and red cup daffodils already cut the flowers in bud and let them open in the dark.

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