Last spring I transplanted freesia bulbs after flowering. This spring there was no hint of foliage emerging so I found some glads on sale and proceeded to plant. When I started digging, I discovered perfectly firm freesia bulbs with no roots whatsoever. Could they still be dormant?
The same thing happened with some daffodils that were planted in fall 2012. They bloomed in 2013 but never bloomed in 2014. when I was digging around I found perfectly firm bulbs, with no roots. I put them back where I found them, but I'm puzzled.
Has this happened to anybody planting bulbs?
Voles?
Hiya Bert! No voles. The bulbs are intact they just didn't do anything but be under the soil
I have the same problem with freesias, begonias, and caladiums I purchased and planted in February.
I just contacted the nursery for credit against another purchase. All of my other bulbs have sprouted and some are blooming.
Vossner......were the freesia bulbs smaller than the ones you planted the year before and or were there 2 bulbs on top of each other?
Today I planted some rustled daffs and found this while digging: a perfectly firm bulb w/ no roots. I am 100% sure this was an area where no daffodils bloomed last year. Dormant b/c of less than perfect daff blooming conditions? Let me know if this has happened to ypu
Sorry Bert, I overlooked ur ? And yes, they seemed smaller but not much. They r small 2 beginwitn
Freesia's, during the last part of flowering, pupate (devide) and continue to grow. However, if you dig them after flowering, they are not full grown and thus more then likely will not flower the next year.
Some bulbs need a soil temp of at least 55 degrees to start the growing process. This is not the case for Daffies and freesia's. Caladiums, when planted in soil that is too cold, go through a process of developing an hard shield through which it becomes very difficult for the roots to go through.
Should I assume that they will flower next yr or the next?
Also, can you plant freesias too deeply causing them not to come up? I planted a bag last year, not too deeply but I added 3" of mulch.
Unless you go a foot deep, otherwise it would come up.
Tks . Looking forward to ur next amaryllis coop. Will b looking for red/white doubles
This message was edited May 14, 2014 6:30 AM
Yes this is not an uncommon here in Texas - happens for last 2 years with lilies. I think the size, location, depth and water content are instrumental in this. I think as far as the bulb is tight and still feeding we can re plant the same. Will continue to watch and learn. Keep this thread alive.
Anyone think it has something to do with the drought that Texas was experiencing? Perhaps the bulbs didn't have enough soil moisture to emerge from dormancy? Same thing for you in CA? Just a thought.
It could be. I've had some African bulbs reappear after 1-2 years of dormancy. I haven't checked how close we've been this year to our average rainfall but it seems to be improving
Yeah I looked it up and it seems like (in general) all of TX is close to average or only slightly below. But that drought broke only this year right? I'm just guessing.
Correct
If that's they case it could have not been enough water to make the bulbs sprout this season. Maybe next spring you'll see some sprout since it's wetter.