On 09/05/2013 18:05, Emery Davis wrote:
On Thu, 09 May 2013 13:14:41 +0100, Spider wrote:

Tis true. They need to be left for 6-8 weeks in order for the leaves to
feed the bulb. You could give them a high potash feed to help them
along.

Is the right time for this just when their done? I wanted to feed some
blind ones this year, but am not sure when to do it.




Do it while the leaves are green. If you do it as a foliar feed, it
will be taken down into the bulb a little more quickly, as a filip.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 09/05/2013 16:26, S Viemeister wrote:
On 5/9/2013 9:54 AM, Sacha wrote:
Stephen Wolstenholme said:
wrote:
Pete C wrote:
My daffs have now finished. Do I bend in half and tie or not.

I've never seen anyone do that before, until I saw my neighbour do it
yesterday!
She said "I know you're not meant to do it, but ... "

Years ago I was told to tie daffs. I thought that was a stupid idea
and so ignored it.

It's something very old gardeners used to do to make things look tidier.
I think most of us can think of better things to do with the time!

I visited a garden a few years ago, where the gardener had _plaited_ the
leaves before tying them!



Sounds a bit precious to me! Must be short of something to do.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

"Spider" wrote in message
...
On 09/05/2013 18:05, Emery Davis wrote:
On Thu, 09 May 2013 13:14:41 +0100, Spider wrote:

Tis true. They need to be left for 6-8 weeks in order for the leaves to
feed the bulb. You could give them a high potash feed to help them
along.

Is the right time for this just when their done? I wanted to feed some
blind ones this year, but am not sure when to do it.




Do it while the leaves are green. If you do it as a foliar feed, it will
be taken down into the bulb a little more quickly, as a filip.

All very interesting stuff. I have some Tomorite. I love this group
--
Pete C

On 09/05/2013 20:24, Spider wrote:
On 09/05/2013 18:05, Emery Davis wrote:
On Thu, 09 May 2013 13:14:41 +0100, Spider wrote:

Tis true. They need to be left for 6-8 weeks in order for the leaves to
feed the bulb. You could give them a high potash feed to help them
along.

Is the right time for this just when their done? I wanted to feed some
blind ones this year, but am not sure when to do it.




Do it while the leaves are green. If you do it as a foliar feed, it
will be taken down into the bulb a little more quickly, as a filip.


Which is why I said to use a tomato feed,
Just don't mix it to strong, stick to the recommended rate of dilution.

Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
Years ago I was told to tie daffs. I thought that was a stupid idea
and so ignored it.

It looks as though it's done to 'tidy up', but the knotted leaves and
bruised green look really ugly, imho.

On 2013-05-09 18:30:26 +0100, David Hill said:

On 09/05/2013 18:05, Emery Davis wrote:
On Thu, 09 May 2013 13:14:41 +0100, Spider wrote:

Tis true. They need to be left for 6-8 weeks in order for the leaves to
feed the bulb. You could give them a high potash feed to help them
along.

Is the right time for this just when their done? I wanted to feed some
blind ones this year, but am not sure when to do it.


Feed ASAP
Now with this bit of rain you could use a liquid tomato feed, and water it on.

As for tying spent daffs, this was common 50/60 years ago it left a
small garden tidy, but we used to fold a clump of leaves over and slip
a rubber band over them, a lot easier than tying.
David @ a stormy end of Swansea Bay, Mumbles head recorded wind gusting
to 71 mph 2 to 3pm today

Tsk! Grandpa used to tie neat little bundles up with raffia! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-05-09 16:26:44 +0100, S Viemeister said:

On 5/9/2013 9:54 AM, Sacha wrote:
Stephen Wolstenholme said:
wrote:
Pete C wrote:
My daffs have now finished. Do I bend in half and tie or not.

I've never seen anyone do that before, until I saw my neighbour do it
yesterday!
She said "I know you're not meant to do it, but ... "

Years ago I was told to tie daffs. I thought that was a stupid idea
and so ignored it.

It's something very old gardeners used to do to make things look tidier.
I think most of us can think of better things to do with the time!

I visited a garden a few years ago, where the gardener had _plaited_
the leaves before tying them!

Definitely too many gardeners with too much time etc. (Only a mild
case of envy here, you understand!) ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

As for tying spent daffs, this was common 50/60 years ago it left a
small garden tidy, but we used to fold a clump of leaves over and slip
a rubber band over them, a lot easier than tying.
David @ a stormy end of Swansea Bay, Mumbles head recorded wind
gusting to 71 mph 2 to 3pm today

Tsk! Grandpa used to tie neat little bundles up with raffia! ;-)


What's this young Sacha?
Trying to lump me with your grandfather.
I'm not "That old"
David @ a now much calmer end of Swansea Bay

On Thu, 09 May 2013 08:38:52 +0100, Broadback wrote:

No, leave them until they die back. If they are in a mowed area don't
mow them until they die back either.

I always follow the way the council treat those planted in their
verges, as these seem to do well, also they employ professionals, that
works for me.

Same "professionals" that appear to cut trees down for no reason and when
the residents don't want the trees cut down? B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 2013-05-10 09:29:18 +0100, David Hill said:


As for tying spent daffs, this was common 50/60 years ago it left a
small garden tidy, but we used to fold a clump of leaves over and slip
a rubber band over them, a lot easier than tying.
David @ a stormy end of Swansea Bay, Mumbles head recorded wind
gusting to 71 mph 2 to 3pm today

Tsk! Grandpa used to tie neat little bundles up with raffia! ;-)


What's this young Sacha?
Trying to lump me with your grandfather.
I'm not "That old"
David @ a now much calmer end of Swansea Bay

I was VERY careful not to draw comparisons!! ;-) I was only saying he
used raffia, not them new-fangled rubber bands! (whiny voice mode off!)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2013-05-09 18:30:26 +0100, David Hill said:

On 09/05/2013 18:05, Emery Davis wrote:
On Thu, 09 May 2013 13:14:41 +0100, Spider wrote:

Tis true. They need to be left for 6-8 weeks in order for the leaves
to
feed the bulb. You could give them a high potash feed to help them
along.

Is the right time for this just when their done? I wanted to feed some
blind ones this year, but am not sure when to do it.


Feed ASAP
Now with this bit of rain you could use a liquid tomato feed, and water
it on.

As for tying spent daffs, this was common 50/60 years ago it left a small
garden tidy, but we used to fold a clump of leaves over and slip a rubber
band over them, a lot easier than tying.
David @ a stormy end of Swansea Bay, Mumbles head recorded wind gusting
to 71 mph 2 to 3pm today

Tsk! Grandpa used to tie neat little bundles up with raffia! ;-)

This discussion on Daffs has many similarities with fancy fishing lures -
they are designed to catch fishermen rather than fish. All these fancy
ways of dealing with Daffs once they have finished flowering are designed
to make the gardener feel better, rather than to benefit the Daffs.

Some 40 years ago, a research institute carried out an experiment
in Cornwall to investigate the different methods of dealing with Daffs
once they have finished flowering. The experiment continued for 5
years and the winning group of Daffs were those which had been
cut down to ground level immediately after flowering. They put this
down to two main factors:-

The bulbs made the bulk of 'next years food' before the flowers
had appeared.

Allowing the leaves to shrivel and die before removal allowed a
dramatic increase in the level of eelworm infection in the bulbs.

I have a clump of Daffs in the middle of my lawn which are cut
to lawn level as soon as they have finished flowering. Over the
last 23 years the clump has trebled in size and is frantically
flowering at the moment.

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland