How to Grow Narcissus? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Cultivation Methods

Chinese narcissus is one of the important varieties of the widely cultivated French narcissus (Narcissus tazetta), mainly concentrated along the southeastern coast of China. Narcissus prefers warmth and moisture, yet also requires good drainage. Narcissus originated in Jiangling, Hubei. It has been cultivated in China for over a thousand years and is one of China's traditional famous flowers.

Selecting Bulbs

The quality of the narcissus bulb determines how many flowers will bloom and whether the fragrance will be rich. To grow a good pot of narcissus, you must start by choosing good narcissus bulbs. When selecting narcissus bulbs, you can do so from four aspects: examining the shape, observing the color, pressing, and asking about the pack size.

1. Examining the shape: High-quality narcissus bulbs are generally large, flat, and hard, with relatively wide spacing between the longitudinal vein stripes on the surface, a tightly stretched middle membrane, glossy skin color, a broad and thick root plate, and symmetrical small bulbs growing beside the main bulb.

2. Observing the color: From the outside, bulbs that are dark brown, with intact outer membranes, bright luster, and no traces of rot or pest damage are considered top grade.

3. Pressing: Pressing is the main method for selecting and identifying how many flower scapes a narcissus has. You can pinch the bulb between your thumb and index finger and press with slight force. If the outline feels columnar, elastic, and relatively firm, it is a flower scape; if it feels soft, with a flat outline and slightly poorer elasticity, it is mostly a leaf bud.

4. Asking about the pack size: Narcissus is generally packaged in bamboo baskets of the same size, with four packaging specifications of 20, 30, 40, and 50 bulbs per basket, commonly known as 20-pack, 30-pack, 40-pack, and 50-pack. The fewer the number packed per basket, the larger the individual bulbs. For example, with the 20-pack containing 20 bulbs each, each bulb can reach a diameter of 12 cm, making it first-grade; with the 30-pack, the individual bulbs are slightly smaller than those of the 20-pack. These two types of narcissus bulbs generally can produce 4-7 or more scapes of flowers per bulb, making them top grade. The bulbs of the 40-pack and 50-pack are much smaller, and generally can only produce 1-3 scapes of flowers.

Sprouting Dormant Bulbs

1. Peeling: That is, peeling off the outer layer of brown skin from the bulb.

2. Cutting the bulb: At the left and right 1/3 positions of the upper half of the bulb, cut horizontally downward, then cut horizontally upward to remove 2-3 layers of scales. At the same time, make a vertical cut downward at the exact center on both the left and right sides of the bud, deep to the middle of the bulb. During operation, avoid injuring the tender buds, and carefully remove the old roots and soil at the bottom.

3. Soaking the bulb: Soak the cut bulb in clean water for 1-2 days, then rinse off the sticky fluid that flows out from inside the bulb.

4. Sprouting: The soaked bulb should be placed in sunlight to expose it, preferably placed in a container and covered with a layer of rice husk. Water once a day to keep the rice husk at the right temperature and humidity. At this time, pay attention to protection from cold and excessive light, and it can be properly covered. After one week, new buds emerge, and then they can be fully exposed to sunlight. After about 50 days, when the flower heads emerge, the narcissus bulb can be taken out, rinsed clean, and transplanted into a water basin for cultivation.

Cultivation Methods

Narcissus prefers sunlight and warmth, requires high air humidity, is not very cold-tolerant, and fears heat. During the vegetative growth period, it needs moist but not waterlogged sandy soil. Unlike other perennial herbaceous flowers, narcissus has the characteristics of beginning growth in autumn, blooming in winter, storing nutrients in spring, and going dormant in summer. There are two methods for cultivating narcissus: water culture and soil culture.

1. Water culture method for narcissus

The water culture method involves cultivating with a shallow basin of water. Place the sprout-treated narcissus upright in a shallow narcissus basin, and add water to submerge one third of the bulb. Quartz sand, pebbles, and the like can be used in the basin to fix the bulb in place.

① During the day, the narcissus basin should be placed in a place with sufficient sunlight, and at night it should be moved indoors, and the water in the basin should be poured out to control excessive leaf growth. The next morning, add clean water again, and be careful not to change the direction of the bulb. When first potted, the narcissus can have its water changed once a day, then once every 2-3 days afterward, and once a week after the flower buds form. Narcissus grows well at 10-15 degrees, and can bloom in about 45 days, with the flowering period lasting over a month.

② During the water cultivation period, narcissus especially needs to be given sufficient light. During the day, it should be placed in a sunny spot, and at night it can be placed under lamplight. This can prevent the stems and leaves of the narcissus from growing excessively, making the narcissus leaves short, wide, and thick, sturdy, with deep green leaf color and rich floral fragrance. Water-cultured narcissus generally does not need fertilizing. If conditions permit, applying a little quick-acting phosphorus fertilizer during the flowering period can make the flowers bloom better.

③ Growing narcissus requires no flower fertilizer at all; clean water alone is enough. To make the narcissus grow robustly, it should be taken to the balcony to sunbathe during the day. If you want to delay the flowering period, you can adopt the method of lowering the water temperature, or pour out all the water in the basin in the evening and add clean water again the next morning. In addition, if full flower buds cannot be seen 10 days before the festival, you can use the method of warming the water to force flowering, with the water temperature preferably close to body temperature.

As long as you master the conditions for narcissus care, you can make “flowers bloom as one wishes”; otherwise, flowering will be delayed, or it may even grow only leaves without blooming.

2. Soil culture method for narcissus

① The soil culture method is rarely used in households, that is, cultivating narcissus using the cultivation method for most moisture-loving flowers. In mid-to-late October, use fertile sandy soil to plant large bulbs into a small flowerpot with holes, planting half and leaving half exposed, with a little fine sand placed underneath the bulb in advance to facilitate drainage. Place the flowerpot in a room with sufficient sunlight and suitable temperature. 4 to 12°C is best; too low a temperature easily causes cold damage, while too high a temperature combined with insufficient light easily causes excessive growth, making the plant slender and weak, with a short flowering time, reducing ornamental value. During management, if the light and temperature requirements are met, the leaves will be thick and large and the flower stalks sturdy, thus enabling the flowers to bloom large and the fragrance to last. For soil-cultured narcissus, apply liquid fertilizer two to three times before flowering.

② Due to limited climatic conditions, narcissus cannot reproduce on its own. When cultivating narcissus, if there is no pest or disease damage, no pesticide spraying is needed. For water-cultured narcissus in winter, temperature, light, and water supply are the three key elements determining whether the narcissus can bloom. Narcissus growth requires sufficient sunlight; a suitable temperature of 12°C-15°C; and clean water.