Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Growing Narcissus in pebbles: An update

Notice the white roots vanishing into the depths of the pebbles 
Despite my very best efforts my second batch of narcissi are flowering with gay abandonment!  Only thats maybe a tad strong to describe one stalk of flowers from each bulb.  One.  Now I know there is a whole spray of dainty flower heads at the top of this one stalk, but there is also a whole bunch of leaves.  In the ratio of leaves to flowers, leaves are definitely winning out.  I planted the variety 'Ziva', which unfortunately appears to be exactly the same variety as I planted before to poor reviews from the masses, ie. my mother.  To read a full review of how they were a let down, click here.  Now this batch are all out in flower she has declared she wont be growing them again, which is ironic because I distinctly remember planting these...


Next year we will be having narcissi, but we will not be growing paperwhites.  I did a brief bit of research on the web and found other narcissi can be forced indoors with Tazetta varieties seemingly being popular.  I also found an interesting article by Alys Fowler in which she says that giving your narcissi a drop of vodka in the water after the shoots have got to a certain height prevents them getting too leggy and helps them stand tall rather than flopping everywhere as is their current want.  How vodka can possibly have that effect I don't know, I certainly can't say I have found vodka to have that effect on me, but she is the expert.  Also she said that you could plant a bulb in any glass container as long as it was twice the depth of the bulb, so I will be on the scrounge for the rest of the year for interesting large glass jars.  It would be good to have maybe just a single bulb on my windowsill to brighten my room up.



Anyway this was supposed to be a method update, not another moan about tiny daffodils.  Its not that I expect the method to fail exactly, but I was very surprised to find how securely the bulbs had anchored themselves in when they came back from a brief spell in the garage.  Not that I had really thought about it, but I guess I thought there would be an element of movability to the bulbs.  Not so.  Those babies will not be budging.  A whole host of white roots has evidently interlaced their way amongst the pebbles.  Is it wrong that I almost want the flowers to be over so I can dig in there and see what they have been doing?  I expect a veritable knot of roots to enjoy unpicking at some point.
The solid pots were indeed floored in that knowing when and by how much to water was difficult.  I resorted to tipping the pots to one side to see if any water ran clear of the pebbles, and then splashing some in regardless usually.  They seem happy enough, every one is flowering and nothing is yellow so I can't have got it too wrong.
Thats a lot of leaves for the number of flowers, and a lot of height
As great as having narcissi is over this bleak winter period, I am beginning to find the scent no longer the pleasant joy in my life it once was while Im trying to chill on the sofa.  But, they will be over soon and I will be back with a great rooty mess hopefully!  The things that get me going in life! Its a worry.

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