Narcissus Sprouting: How to Handle Non-Sprouting or Non-Flowering, and Delaying or Advancing Bloom
Narcissus is the tenth of China's top ten famous flowers. It also has beautiful names such as Flower in the Snow, Golden Cup and Silver Terrace, Fairy on the Waves, Fragrant Consort of the Fallen God, Li Lan, Elegant Guest, and Jade Exquisite. According to Huang Tingjian's "Rhyme-Matching Zhong Yu's Narcissus" from the Song Dynasty, the lines “Blooming by water alone is a wonder in itself, with water-agarwood as its bones and jade as its flesh” show that narcissus is very easy to grow; with just a spoonful of clear water it can take root, sprout, and burst into bloom. So, how do you sprout narcissus? What should you do if it does not sprout or does not flower? How can you delay or advance its blooming?
I. How do you sprout narcissus?
1. Peeling. The first step in sprouting narcissus is peeling: remove all of the outermost layer of skin from the bulb.
2. Cutting the bulb. The second step in sprouting narcissus is cutting the bulb: first wash the soil off the narcissus bulb with water, and remove the old roots at the same time. Then make a 1 cm cut on both the front and back sides between the side buds, and pry open the cuts to expose the buds inside.
3. Soaking the bulb. The third step in sprouting narcissus is soaking the bulb: place the cut bulb in clean water and soak for 1-2 days. If mucus secreted by the bulb appears in the water, change the water.
4. Sprouting. This is the last step in sprouting narcissus. Place the soaked bulb in a flowerpot, cover it with a layer of rice husks or similar, and move it into direct sunlight. During this period, water it a little every day, and after about 1 week it will sprout.
II. What should you do if narcissus does not sprout?
1. Lower the temperature. Failure to sprout may be caused by excessively high temperatures. When the temperature exceeds 25°C, narcissus stops growing and enters dormancy; this is why narcissus has difficulty sprouting in summer. At this point, you can cool it down appropriately.
2. Change the water. The water used to grow narcissus must be clean. If the water spoils, it causes contamination and root rot, so it cannot sprout. At this point, you should consider changing the water.
III. What should you do if narcissus does not flower?
1. Control the temperature. If the temperature is too high, the plant will grow leggy; if the temperature is too low, the plant will grow slowly, causing narcissus not to flower. If the temperature is too high, cool it slightly and keep the temperature between 15-25°C; if the temperature is too low, you can raise the temperature by methods such as sunlight warming, lamp warming, electric heater warming, and warm water warming.
2. Change the water in time. When growing narcissus in water, keep the water clean. Not changing the water for a long time will cause bacteria to breed, which in mild cases affects plant growth and in severe cases causes bulb rot. If bulb rot occurs, cut off the rotten part of the bulb, and disinfect and sterilize the water-growing container and the wound on the bulb.
3. Choose a good time for water growing. An unreasonable time for water growing can cause "dumb flowers" (buds that fail to open), so you can avoid the period after Qingming and before Shuangjiang.
4. Wait 2-3 years. Some narcissus sprout and grow leaves but simply do not flower. If there are no problems with care, then the cause is the bulb. A poor bulb is also one of the reasons narcissus is slow to bloom, but there is no need to worry; generally, after two to three years of care it can flower.
IV. How do you make narcissus bloom later or earlier?
Narcissus generally blooms in winter and spring, earlier than peach and plum but later than plum blossom. The specific blooming time can be controlled artificially. Under normal water growing, narcissus can bloom on schedule in 45-50 days. Adding an appropriate amount of cold water to the pot can delay blooming, while adding an appropriate amount of warm water can advance blooming.