what is the shelf life of daffodil bulbs stored in the garage?

Question

I bought about 50 daffodil bulbs from a reputable internet site & left them in the garage in the orginal packaging for about 2 years in NJ in the cold of winter and heat of the summer. Are they still good? Can I tell from looking at them?

Answer 1

Chances are that they will not sprout. They have probably dried out to the point that they are ruined. You can plant them in an out of the way place and see if they come up in the spring and them replant them in the location of your choice at a later time. A Yahoo search for "daffodil care" (include the quotation marks in the search box) yields 787 results. If you do the same search, and are willing to spend a little time exploring, I'm sure that you will quickly find more information.

Good luck with your gardening.

Answer 2

Daffodil Bulbs Storage

Answer 3

Chances are they are not. The bulb is mostly stored food that is supposed to keep the plant alive during the winter when there are no leaves to make food. The embryonic plant has now been living off that stored food for 2 years--the normal length of time would be maybe 3 months in NJ.

Feel them. If they feel much lighter than a "normal" bulb I'd pitch them. Or bury them if you want, if you're lucky they'll come up--if not they become compost for other plants.

Answer 4

The best way to tell is feel them. If they are still firm I would go ahead and plant them. If you can smash them throw the away. If it was a cool place they might still be good but I doubt it very much.

Answer 5

Squeezing them should tell you the answer, but why not slice open one or two of the 'best' ones if you still have 50. I would not expect any of them to be good.

Answer 6

I think if they float in water they are dead, just like seeds. But if they sink it means they are o.k. Try doing this before tossing them out.