Spring Bulb Hint

[nightowl]

It occured to me yesterday, whilst having a bit of a mad HRT moment in Hilliers Spring Bulbs section ( only went in for a look cos they sent me a 20% off voucher) , that many of our members profess to be novices and there are some pitfalls to buying bulbs that they may not be aware of.....

Firstly, I personally do not buy bulbs by mail-order any more. It is usually dearer. Their bulb packs tend to be about £4.99 for the same as you can get for £2.99 locally. And I have had too many delivered with signs of mildew or rot.

You can virtually eliminate any chance of this by going to your local GC, because there you can go through the loose bulbs and pick out the largest, firmest and best looking bulbs.

With Daffs and Narcissi, don't just shovel them in the bag, look out for ones with 2 or 3 "noses" (more flowers) and squeeze the bulbs gently as you handle them. Any sign of squidginess, drop them like a hot potato!!! (also, by placing them carefully in the bag and tucking them down, you can get lots more in!!) ;D ;D

You can do this with pre-packs as well, just gently feel your way through the pack, looking out for any softness. Look at several packs, you will probably find one with plumper, better looking bulbs.

It really is worth being fussy.

[carolann]

Good tips Nightowl, i'm a bit of a pain feeling all the bulbs, people start to look at you after a while though. 8-)hence the dark glasses.
Carol.

[jean]

I was thinking of you this afternoon NO when I was buying some bulbs ;D

Has anyone saved any bulbs from last year? I found some tulips that I had stored in the shed after they had been left to die back and was pleased to find after cleaning them that I now have 3 times as many ;D

[JennyWrenn]

I dug up my Angelique tulip bulbs but I think I wish I hadnt - I havent noticed they have multiplied but will check 2moro - last time I looked at them they looked a sorry pile of dead looking canker - is this something they do Jlottie? Multiply

[jean]

Try cleaning them off Jenny and I hope you will be pleasantly surprised. I have lots of good sized one and some tiny ones too. I'm going to plant them all and see what happens

[Deleted]

Thanks for the reminder, the tulips are still tucked away in the dark corner of the greenhouse shelf, they looked alright when I dug them up so I guess they will flower another year.

[MamIDdau]

My tulips went a bit wonky this year but I left them in the pot, partly because I forgot about them.

Anyway, woolies have got BOGOF on their bulbs at the moment so I bought 10 packs ;D All off my want list so I'm happy. Although I have nowhere to put them atm, I'm hoping we'll have bought a house in the next few months so I can plant them in the lawn to naturalise.

Oooooooh I can't wait to have my own lawn to bury stuff in!!

[JennyWrenn]

Thanks for the tip I assume by cleaning them off you mean putting them in the dishwasher or maybe scrubbing them with a scouring powder ;D ;D ;D

[jean]

Not exactly Jenny lol, just rub off the papery outside and old roots and take off any dead stems - that should be enough

[JennyWrenn]

Thanks Lot :-[tie some have mildew tho - I should have wrapped them in paper

[Chuckles]

Watch out for that mildew JW, I foolishly planted some Narcissi bulbs that had signs of mould in a pot, the whole lot rotted. I was sooooo cross with myself

If it's only on the outside papery bit just remove it as JL suggested. If it's still on the bulb after youv'e removed that I'd dump the bulb/bulbs

[owdboggy]

Rather than throwing away any bulbs with small amounts of mildew on them, buy some Sulphur (green or yellow, it matters little) and dust the bulbs with the powder before planting. The other thing to watch out for on stored tulips, either your own or bought ones, is greenfly living under the skin. We found huge numbers of them in bulbs being sold at a G/C in Liverpool one year. There is a variety of aphid which lives on tulip bulbs.
Personally we never buy from the big garden chains where they are much cheaper than elsewhere. The reason for the price is that the bulbs are smaller ones. This is especially true of lilies.

[Biggles]

I didn't realize that greenfly can live under th skin of Tulip Bulbs--what a good tip from 'owdboggy' to look out for these when buying these bulbs.Does this go for other types of bulbs aswell?
Can anyone suggest any different types of Spring Bulbs for a shady area of the garden other than Blue (Grape) Hyacinths and are not invasive?
I could look this up but thought other gardener's who have had success with anything different might like to recommend some new ideas.

[Deleted]

Mrs FA mentioned Spring bulbs the other day when we were looking at a catalogue from some company or other. I have to say that I've never had a problem with mail order bulbs and I only ever buy them when they're on special offer !

I'll have a look at some of my local GC's in the next few weeks and see what's about. Haven't been to a GC for months so I'm due a visit or two !!

FA x

[Chuckles]

I bought some Grape Hyacinths the other day that were described as a lime green colour with a blue tip to the flower, bit different.

Here they are Golden Fragrance but suttons describe them as golden yellow. I think they look nice and they are perfumed

[Biggles]

Thanks Chuckles I will order some of these from Suttons- they sound different.

[nightowl]

I am sooo chuffed with myself <bigheadsmiley>

Re what I said at the start of this thread, about buying loose bulbs, I saved myself a lot of money today.

Went to a large GC fairly nearby to see what they had that my local one didn't. Well, they had loads of loose bulbs, Daffs were 10p each or £2.99 a bagfull.

So I'm putting the biggest, fattest ones in and suddenly thought, "Hold on there a cotton-pickin' minute! I've only put 10 bulbs in here, and it's over half full! I would only get about 20 in , at the very most! Er... um...pay £2.99 for £2 worth of bulbs?? I think not!"

Tulips were even better, @ 22p each and £3.99 a bag. 5 really good big ones made nearly half a bag, but only cost £1.10!

So I went to the checkout with lots of part full bags and said I wanted to pay the individual bulb prices. They looked at me as if I was mad ( s'ok, I'm used to that) , and huffed 'n' puffed about checking the quantities (I'd written them on the bags).

I came away with 36 Daffs, 23 Tulips, and 48 large Crocus, all hand-picked super bulbs, for £13. I reckon it would have been about £21 by the bagful! ;D ;D ;D

[Biggles]

You little 'tinker!'--The GC must think some of us cant work it out and so gain quite a bit!
Will have to watch out for that scam--
I managed to buy some dwarf Narcissus from Wilkos--(2 packs)15 bulbs for £1.50p in each pack-- 12 Hyacinths mixed colours for £2 . Took you tips and felt them etc. I think I managed to get a bargain.
When I got home I found a few of the Narcosis bulbs were sprouting--will they still be alright if I plant them up straight away? If not I didn't get such a bargain after all!

[Deleted]

I think they will be fine I dug some up by accident yesterday, I was planting potted lavenders, & they were starting to grow on the soil which is as dry as dust. They have some interesting tulips in Wilkinsons this year.

[jean]

myacer said:

When I got home I found a few of the Narcosis bulbs were sprouting--will they still be alright if I plant them up straight away? If not I didn't get such a bargain after all!

You should be fine Myacer, planting time is usually from mid/late Sept anyway.

[Missredhead]

I got a leaflet in my local paper today that had a coupon attached for a FREE bag of daffs, so I'm off to the GC next week.
I'll keep in mind what you said NO.