One of my mother bulbs and her 17 offspring!!!!

Here's one of my old mother bulbs (Apple Blossom, I think) and her 17 - yes, 17 attached babies! :-) Last spring she shot up 4 flower stalks and last summer, the leaves were near 3.5 long!

Wow what a happy plant! Do you do anything special to encourage this mama?

Hi boojum, for years I used a slightly diluted Miracle Grow solution. In recent years, I started using compost from my red worms (vermicomposting). Here's another of my more fertile ones - only 8 on this one.

Great to see such healthy specimens. I'm inspired!

Fabulous!

do you seperate them?

Appleblossom is known for its rich formation of offsets. A guide of 1970 tells me "can be more or less entirely propagated by offsets" (meaning: Twin scaling is not generally required) and, btw the same applies for "Red Lion".
Separation is not necessary. Grow a cluster instead which will provide you multiple scapes in oner pot. Bulbous plants are definitely herd animals!
The substrate looks poor - exchange prior to forcing the next season, and use a bigger container.

so all the babies don't effect the flower on the main bulb?

Maureen,

The babies should not have any impact on the flowering of the main bulb. Apple Blossom is very dependable and as long as you keep the blooming sized bulbs happy, they should bloom every year for you.

My very first Apple Blossom was planted in the ground. A clumsy person stepped on it (after it bloomed), and I was not surprised to see Mama die, but in her place were many little ones. Since I suspected that it was not planted in a good place, I dug up the babies and potted them in large containers.

Over the years, I have repotted those babies many times, and in the spring, I am thrilled with the blooms. As Hans-Werner says, it is not necessary to divide them as I have done, but you do need to provide them with a larger pot and fresh soil occasionally.

Hi Maureen,
I haven't divided them - mainly due to ever increasing lack of space! But, keeping all the babies attached hasn't harmed the mother bulbs at all, neither has it caused any problems with the mother bulbs flowering.