"Falling" daffodils

DIS · New Member Joined: 25 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

Hi,
I have some daffodils, all growing in pots. After they started blooming one of them "fell" - it was almost horizontal, supported on some near-by plant.
At first, I thought some animal did something to it, and that it was dead. However, some days later, its angle started changing, and it slowly returned to a normal position.
It seemed to me that it started returning when it received more water - it was during a storm. So from that point I started watering all daffodils more, figuring they need more water than I'm giving them.
However, from that point on almost every one of my daffodils "fell" similarly at some point and slowly returned to normal later. The added water helped some of them, but I also suspect excess water may have been the reason for the falling of at least some.
Is this a known phenomenon? And should I water less or more?
Thanks!

rainbowgardener · Mod Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 6082 Location: Ohio, USA

I think daffodils falling or sprawling is fairly well known. Trouble is once they are in bloom they are a bit top heavy and can easily get weighted down by rain, blown over by wind, etc. There's a site called gardenlady.org where she says:

Always make sure that you plant bulbs to the recommended depth. If you plant bulbs too deep their shoots may not reach the surface If you plant them too high they will topple over once they begin to grow. So TheGardenLady suspects that you planted your bulbs too shallowly.

Likewise if they are over-fertilized, the stems will shoot up taller and thinner and tend to more easily fall over.

DIS · New Member Joined: 25 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

It could be that I planted them too shallow, but it's not the whole plant toppling over - just the stem with the flowers on it. I have a very massive type of daffodils, and the rest of the plant is unaffected.
I was mostly interested to know if watering more (or less) should help.
Plus, if indeed I planted them too shallow, is it possible to dig them out at the end of the season and replant them deeper?

cynthia_h · Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:08 pm Post subject:

There are plant supports designed specifically for these top-heavy flowers (tulips, too).

Search on "Walt Nicke" and then look through his garden-supply site for Plant Supports. The one I'm thinking of looks like very large-gauge hardware cloth on three legs.

His site is also a wonderful source of ergonomically designed gardening tools.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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