Problem with spring bulbs

Hi all,

I planted my first lot of spring bulbs last year and was excited to see them come up a few weeks back.
The trouble is the crocuses (I think that's what they are), started to droop and look sick:




Now today, the tulips (I think) seem to be going the same way:




Any ideas?? frost damage?? birds?? pests???

Please help

cheers

 

Hi Bashy, the crocuses look like they have finished flowering, they don't flower for very long and then flop. Just leave them and they will be back next year. Frost won't hurt them at all, occasionally mice, voles or even birds will nip off the flower buds, but yours look like end of flowering.

The second pic looks like a daffodil about to flower, can't see anything wrong with it, a nice fat bud is about to burst.

 

Some of my crocuses are the same, but only the big ones, the smaller ones are nearly over but they haven't flopped. The bottom two are daffodils and I don't see anything wrong with them personally, they lean over to one side naturally but it is exacerbated by them being on their own rather than by being in a drift ie supporting each other slightly. The heavy flowered ones are particularly bad for this and are really only suitable to use for cut flowers which is what I do and why I have so many daffodils.

 

thanks guys. shame about the crocuses. not too impressed with them!
cheers for the info.

 

Its the crocuses first year, give them a chance! They'll be better next year.

 

Your bulbs will get better with time. What seems like a poor show this year, will get better in years to come, as the bulbs get bigger, and ultimately baby bulbs are born! They will then make a bigger impact.

If during the summer you accidentally dig some bulbs up, what I do, is a clump the same type all together, and plant them in one hole, or several holes closer together.

Hope this helps!

 

thanks again for the advice guys. I won't give up on them.
Now I just hope my Dahlias will come back from last year. I left them in the ground and we had some bad frosts.
Fingers crossed as I've planned my whole garden around my Dahlia's (around 20 of them)

 

I've never grown Dahlias (this year will be my first go at them) but I thought they were susceptible to frost and the cold? Don't take this as gospel though, just what I've read/heard.

 

My Aunty was blessed with moving to a house with a large Dahlia bed, (140+ blooms were 'got' by the first frosts in the autumn) She hasn't lifted them, and so we don't know if they will reappear this spring, but they have done in previous years.
I think most plants do acclimatise to their surrounds, but to what extent, nobody knows!lol

 

I wonder if Dahlia tubers aren't affected more by wet than cold. If the tubers are four inches below the surface, I doubt that the frost would penetrate that far down normally.

Dahlias come from Mexico. Whilst I don't know much about them, I know that there are a lot of tender Salvias that also come from Mexico, and they invariably need good winter drainage, even in pots in the greenhouse.

This site gives some info on Dahlias including the need for good drainage http://www.anglo-dutch-dahlias.co.uk/how_to_grow_dahlias.htm

 

I would be amazed if any Dahlias would have survived here last Winter. Our ground was frozen for days on end, and when I dug my veg my fingers were frozen in a very short time getting parsnips out of the grown ... definitely very cold down at 4" - 6" level.

I might bury some sensors and record soil temperature ... would be interesting to know. Must be some data on the InterWeb somewhere.

They amy also get eaten. My Jerusalem artichokes were comprehensively eaten (whilst still in-situ) in mid January. Looked like mice (rather than nematodes or somesuch), there was almost nothing left.

 

It would be interesting to measure the soil temperature - Kristen.

My remark was partially made on the observation of a bucket of water left out for a long period in the freezing weather. When tipped upside down there was about an inch or just over of ice at the top. But nowhere near four inches.