How to Cut Back and Divide Daffodils

Dividing your daffodil bulbs every three to five years is an easy way to expand your daffodil garden while preventing the bloom loss that often accompanies bulb overcrowding. New bulbs grow from tiny bulblets that form on the side of the main bulb. You can easily pry apart the daffodil bulb cluster with your hands. Don't try to cut the bulbs apart or you may damage the bulbs. Daffodils rely on their foliage to feed the bulbs before they enter their long dormancy. Cut the daffodil foliage back only after you have completed the bulb division.

Garden spade or shovel

Instructions

- 1
  Wait until 10 to 12 weeks after your daffodil blooms fade before dividing bulbs. Allow the foliage to turn yellow and lie limp on the ground. This gives the plants time to store food from their foliage to use to form flowers on next year's plants.
- 2
  Dig in a broad circle around the clump of daffodils to be divided. Avoid nicking or slicing the bulbs. Don't remove the languid foliage.
- 3
  Insert your spade or shovel under the clump. Gently lift the clump out of the dirt. Shake the dirt off the bulbs.
- 4
  Examine the bulb cluster for soft, damaged or partial bulbs. Remove those and discard them.
- 5
  Separate the remaining bulbs. Pry them apart with your hands, breaking the cluster in the creases that indicate a bulb connection.
- 6
  Replant your daffodil bulbs immediately in the same or a new location. Remove the spent foliage to a compost heap.

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Bulbs