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Neglected bulbs (i.e. completely lost for a year) - need help to revive for Spring!
WillowBark
Posts: 243
A rather long post, but necessary for clarity. Please bear with me:
Our very elderly neighbour gifted us several plastic food bags of bulbs last year (during late Spring/Early Summer, just after we moved in), as she had lost a lot of mobility and said she couldn't do any proper gardening any more. She hoped we would enjoy them in our new garden, and asked us to give her a few in pots in the Spring if we could. There were some kinds that were separated and had labels, and some bags of "miscellaneous" unknowns, but all of the labels very quickly rubbed off and became unreadable. I popped them in our shed, ready to bring out in Autumn for planting. Come Autumn, I discovered we had a massive leak in our shed roof that I hadn't previously known about, and two of the three bags of bulbs I could find at that point in time had become sodden and completely rotted, with only a very few bulbs being salvageable. Having dug through a few towers of empty flower pots today and moved the lawn mower, I have today found a couple of extra bags of very neglected bulbs that have survived and are sprouting with some very pale, sickly looking shoots due to lack of light. This was from the drier half of the shed.
We are not forecast any frost for the next few days, so I have popped them out on the garden table to see if getting some (even weak) winter daylight might help them green up a bit more and regain some strength and vitality. They are still very wonky in their growth due to having been squished on a shed floor and having had to quest for even the vaguest hint of daylight.
I am hoping that if I pot some of these up this weekend they might survive and give her the varieties she so diligently cared for and nurtured, rather than the grab bag of different bulbs that I managed to nab at the garden centre when I realised that I had accidentally lost the vast majority of her treasured bulbs. Is there anything that I can do to help these bulbs survive, or any compost or food type that might help them to catch up on their lost growing time? I think, because the shed was quite mild in comparison to the outdoors, they started growing quite early, but with a lack of light they have become very long and leggy with little vigour.
Any advice on how to revive these (in pots so that they can be given to the old lady in a manageable, preferably windowsill form - but patio outside the back door if not) would be great. There were some Rip Van Winkles, some other mixed narcissi/daffodils, and the miscellaneous bags that may or may not have been lost to the wet. I am honestly not sure what bulbs I have left to me at this point. I have planted some of my garden centre finds up in pots in case I can't revive her gifts, but I would rather give her the ones she chose if I can.
Thank you.
Our very elderly neighbour gifted us several plastic food bags of bulbs last year (during late Spring/Early Summer, just after we moved in), as she had lost a lot of mobility and said she couldn't do any proper gardening any more. She hoped we would enjoy them in our new garden, and asked us to give her a few in pots in the Spring if we could. There were some kinds that were separated and had labels, and some bags of "miscellaneous" unknowns, but all of the labels very quickly rubbed off and became unreadable. I popped them in our shed, ready to bring out in Autumn for planting. Come Autumn, I discovered we had a massive leak in our shed roof that I hadn't previously known about, and two of the three bags of bulbs I could find at that point in time had become sodden and completely rotted, with only a very few bulbs being salvageable. Having dug through a few towers of empty flower pots today and moved the lawn mower, I have today found a couple of extra bags of very neglected bulbs that have survived and are sprouting with some very pale, sickly looking shoots due to lack of light. This was from the drier half of the shed.
We are not forecast any frost for the next few days, so I have popped them out on the garden table to see if getting some (even weak) winter daylight might help them green up a bit more and regain some strength and vitality. They are still very wonky in their growth due to having been squished on a shed floor and having had to quest for even the vaguest hint of daylight.
I am hoping that if I pot some of these up this weekend they might survive and give her the varieties she so diligently cared for and nurtured, rather than the grab bag of different bulbs that I managed to nab at the garden centre when I realised that I had accidentally lost the vast majority of her treasured bulbs. Is there anything that I can do to help these bulbs survive, or any compost or food type that might help them to catch up on their lost growing time? I think, because the shed was quite mild in comparison to the outdoors, they started growing quite early, but with a lack of light they have become very long and leggy with little vigour.
Any advice on how to revive these (in pots so that they can be given to the old lady in a manageable, preferably windowsill form - but patio outside the back door if not) would be great. There were some Rip Van Winkles, some other mixed narcissi/daffodils, and the miscellaneous bags that may or may not have been lost to the wet. I am honestly not sure what bulbs I have left to me at this point. I have planted some of my garden centre finds up in pots in case I can't revive her gifts, but I would rather give her the ones she chose if I can.
Thank you.
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Posts
The sick, pale ones you've popped on the table would be best potted up now rather than left until the weekend. Only time will tell if they come to anything.
If you know varieties - you mention Rip van Winkle - you may be able to pick some potted, in-growth ones at the garden centre. I can appreciate how bad you feel so perhaps make up a little spring arrangement, for her doorstep or place in her garden, with potted bulbs and pansies, possibly a few other little gems, that you can gift to her. As gardening is physically difficult for her a container of these heralds of spring will surely lift her spirits.
If you have any which are just a mixture, try and pot up bulbs that generally look the same. If, or when they flower, any that are different from the others in the same pot can be labelled, and then separated afterwards if you want them in different areas etc.
As @rachelQrtJHBjb says you can get ready prepped ones in GCs in early spring, so it's definitely worth getting a few for your neighbour if you're feeling guilty. These things happen though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...