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Selecting Daffodil Bulbs for Replant

© Clay Higgins

Thinning and Culling of Bulbs

After the bulbs are dry and cleaned, and before replanting, it is important to select the bulbs to keep and the one that are excess to need. Sort the bulbs to size, and note the numbers of each type bulb on a register. Triple-nose, double-nose, singles (or rounds) and the slags (bulbs too small for blooming next year) should be indicated.

The picture below is that of a triple-nose, a double-nose, and a single nose bulb of 'High Society'.

If space is a problem, like in my case, keep all the bulbs in the same bag until final sorting for planting. The register you made will let you know how many bulbs and what type bulbs are on hand. I plant back seven bulbs, and set the remainder aside for the various bulb exchanges and for give-aways. At the bulb exchanges, the triple-nose and double-nose bulbs are popular for garden application.

The mesh bag below is the bag where 'High Society' was stored after digging, earlier this summer, and where they will remain until planting time.

In preparation for planting, sort out the mature singles or rounds as the first choice for replanting, and the double-nose second, followed by the triple-nose bulbs. Throw the slags away. There are some advantages in planting "mature" singles or rounds before double-nose and triple nose bulbs. If, like me, planting is for showing, mature rounds produce the best show quality flowers.

Secondly, when I plant mature rounds I can keep the bulbs down longer before having to dig, as the propagation of the bulbs from a single bulb will not be as fast as from a double or triple-nose bulbs. In other words I don't have to dig and thin as often.

Sometimes you will see bulbs listed as "bedding size" which means they are usually triple-nose bulbs. For gardening purposes, and naturalization, when the object is to have large quantities of flowers and to raise large numbers of bulbs, by all means plant triple-nose and double-nose bulbs. Most of all, these bulbs will give you much foliage and make the bloom on the flower bed look full. For the Daffodil Showers out there, that does not guarantee that these "more" blooms will be show quality.

Triple-nose bulb.

In general terms, do not pull off the smaller bulbs that are attached to the same baseplate as the large "mother" bulb. Bulbs will separate when they are ready. However, when the bublets are large enough to have some base plate attached, it does not harm them to pull the smaller bulb away. These smaller bulbs may not be mature and may take a couple of years to provide a large bloom.

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