The magnificent, golden trumpets that daffodils produce herald the return of the warm and bright days of spring, making them one of the most prized plants in our collection. That’s why we need to take care of these spring beauties – once blooming, daffodils need care and attention to increase the likelihood of blooming again for years to come. When and how you should cut off faded daffodils, we will tell you below!
When should you prune your daffodils?
The care you give your daffodils after they’ve bloomed can affect their growth for the next year, so it’s important to do it right. Only when the leaves of the daffodil plant have turned yellow should you prune them.
It’s important to allow daffodils to die off naturally so that the energy can be put back into the bulb and allow it to produce blooms the following spring. These beautiful spring flowers continue to absorb nutrients for about six weeks after the flowers have died, so they need plenty of sunlight and a steady supply of water during this stage.
Cut off faded daffodils: you should pay attention to this
Removing faded flower heads is an important task and an essential part of the spring gardening a gardener must do to keep flowers at their finest. While it may seem like a small task, learning how to remove faded blooms from daffodils is really important because it allows the bulbs to grow and produce healthy blooms the following spring.
You can cut off daffodils at any time after the flowers have faded. Your flower beds will then look much nicer and clearer and the plants will not be damaged, but no new flowers will form on the plants either. However, if seed pods form, you should remove them as they rob energy that is important for the bulbs.
If you want to be successful, you should just follow these simple tips:
- It is not necessary to cut off the stem at the base as the plant can benefit from this, although it will eventually die off on its own.
- Simply remove the dead flower along with the top inch of the stem, but leave the rest of the flower intact so it can continue to photosynthesize and nourish the plant.
- If you prune daffodils after flowering, you prevent the plants from wasting their energy creating seed heads instead of giving it back to the bulbs to prepare for next year’s flowering.
Fertilize daffodils after flowering
You can support the process of returning energy from daffodils to the bulbs by feeding the plants even after they have finished flowering. You can do this by either watering the plants with a liquid tomato fertilizer every two weeks, or by applying a general granulated feed.
You can let nature take its course – the leaves should fall off on their own after about six weeks. You can also hide the unsightliness of wilting plants by surrounding them with evergreen perennials and later flowering plants.