Why Bulbs Sometimes do not Bloom 
SOME FACTS ABOUT CORMS AND BULBS—HOW THEY SHOULD BE TREATED IN ORDER TO 
INSURE THEIR HEALTHY GROWTH 
BY E. D. WILLIAMS 
A BULB can only develop the flower which has been 
formed within it, during the growth of the previous 
year. If that growth has been stunted or prevented in 
any way before the ripening of that bulb the year before, 
no amount of care will produce a bloom. 
Although for convenience we call them all bulbs, there 
is a difference between the root stocks of the various most 
common kinds. A crocus, for instance, has for its root- 
stock a corm, a daffodil a bulb. 
The chief difference between a corm and a bulb is in the 
covering or husk, and in the method of storing food for the 
next year’s growth. The husk of the corm is thin, dry and 
scaly and covers the solid root stock within, but the husk 
of the bulb is made up of many scales or coverings. In 
both cases these coverings are composed of the bases of 
dead leaves, which, in a bulb after they ripen and die down, 
form thickened scales and hold the nourishment for the 
next year until it is required. In the corm, however, the 
nourishment is stored in the stem, whose thickened base 
forms the root-stock and new growth. 
In the bulb new buds form at the axils of the leaves or 
scales, which gradually split off, and form a new generation; 
and in the corm these buds sprout from the parent bulb, 
accomplishing the same end in both cases at the expense 
of the parent which finally crumbles away. This, however, 
takes several years to accomplish, and if the conditions 
are right there is no reason why the bloom should not be 
continuous in the meanwhile. 
But bulbs and corms will not bloom if their leaves are 
cut off before they fully ripen and die down of themselves, 
because these leaves are perfecting the new flower within 
for the next year’s blossoming, making their bases into 
little reserves of food and strength. Therefore the foliage 
should never be cut down, and if it seems too unsightly, 
annuals may be planted to cover the yellowing leaves. 
For this reason also, the treatment of bulbs after flowering 
is such an important factor in the next season’s bloom that 
it cannot be too carefully attended to. If it is impossible 
to leave the bulbs undisturbed where they have bloomed 
until the foliage has died down, they should be carefully 
taken up with a spade, disturbing the roots as little as 
possible and taking care not to cut or crush the leaves. 
Then heel in the plants in a shallow trench in some half 
shady out-of-the-way place until ripe. 
Bulbs will not bloom if they have been out of the ground 
too long and allowed to lose their vitality. The sooner 
they can be put in the ground when ripe, the better, for if 
they once lose their vitality they probably will never 
regain it, no matter how much they are fertilized and 
watered, and though there is a slight chance that after two 
or three years they may regain their life and strength, it 
would hardly pay most of us to give them care and garden 
room while waiting. 
I shall not go into the methods of proper storage for 
bulbs, as different kinds require different treatments, but 
the manner of storage would greatly affect the chances of 
bloom. If tender bulbs are kept in too low a temperature 
they are as surely ruined as others would be if kept in too 
hot a place. Bulbs will not bloom well if they have been 
forced in a hothouse the year before, though care and good 
nourishment will restore them after a year or two, by which 
time the small new bulbs will be available. 
House bulbs sometimes do not produce blooms if they are 
brought too soon into a high temperature, or if they are 
kept in too hot a place. 
In the case of bulbs and corms which have flowered 
profusely one year and refuse to bloom the next, if the 
foliage has not been injured, the soil may have been so 
poor as to affect them, or, if the summer has been very hot 
and dry, and they have been exposed to a thorough baking 
from the sun, they are practically ruined. 
One of the members of our Garden Club reported a 
dearth of snow-drop blossoms this year and having cut 
the blossoms liberally last spring, thought that might have 
affected them. Having written to an authority on the 
subject, his answer was that with both snow-drops and 
crocuses the only sure way of summering them successfully 
is to put a heavy leaf mulch over them. 
Cutting the blooms cannot affect hardy bulbs and they 
do better and last longer if the flowers are cut, as an effort 
to form seeds weakens the bulbs. A hyacinth bulb that 
matures seeds is virtually destroyed. In the case of the 
snow-drops the explanation of their failure is strengthened 
by the fact that they prefer partial shade, are naturally 
found in northern exposures and do better under similar 
garden conditions. 
Of course bulbs often disappear entirely from the border 
and are destroyed by various causes—field mice, mildew, 
too much manure, etc. 
Daffodils will not bloom very well the year after they 
have been too thinly separated unless all the bulbs are 
mature; therefore, for the sake of immediate effect, it is 
well to transplant two or three together. 
To sum up the subject: 
1. Bulbs will not bloom if their leaves are cut off before 
they have ripened. 
2. They will not bloom if they have been out of the 
ground too long and allowed to dry up and lose their 
vitality. 
3. They will not bloom if forced the year before. 
4. They will not bloom if the season has been a dry one, 
and they have dried up where they were planted. 
5. They will not bloom the following year if the soil has 
been too poor to nourish them. 
6. They will not bloom if they are too young or have 
been dug up and transplanted before they are fully matured. 
7. They will not bloom if injured in storage. 
8. They will not bloom if cheap and second-rate bulbs 
are bought. The moral of which is, always go to a reliable 
seedsman and never buy “bargain bulbs.” 
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