Do Crocuses Need Fertilizer?

Fertilizing

• Crocus does not need much fertilizer, and in fact, over-fertilizing may discourage blooming. If there is excess food available, the crocus pours its efforts into developing better foliage, since the foliage is what the plant uses to gather stores into the corm for the following year. Nitrogen, especially, can cause crocus to not flower in the spring.

Planting

• Bury the corms so that the top is two inches below ground level. Plant them in the autumn and space the corms out if you are planting a large number. With room to multiply, your bed will fill out nicely with time as the corms propagate. When planting, include a rich compost into the soil, as well as a generous amount of bulb fertilizer, which you can find in your nearest garden center or nursery. Add a thin layer of mulch over the top of the bed.

Annual Feeding

• Feed your crocuses annually in the spring with a commercially available, water-soluble fertilizer that is recommended for bulbs or flowering ornamentals. This annual feeding is all the crocus requires to give beautiful spring blooms. When fertilizing your lawn, leave a narrow buffer of lawn against the crocus bed unfertilized to keep excess fertilizer out of the bed.

Fun Fact

• The world's most expensive spice, saffron, is taken from the stamens of a type of crocus, the Crocus sativus, which blooms in the autumn instead of the spring. The stamens are hand-plucked from the white and violet flowers, and the yellow saffron is used as a flavoring and coloring in cooking. Beware of the highly toxic colchicum, which is similar in appearance. Count the stamens in the center of the flower to be certain you have found the edible variety. Crocus has three stamens, while the poisonous colchicum has six.