Spring flowering bulbs are ready to bloom
When it comes to bulbs, tulips and daffodils are the two most common spring flowering bulbs, and they are blooming or just about finished blooming.
Now it is time to allow the bulbs to restore the nutrients lost during the blooming process. Once the plants are finished blooming, the leaves are collecting energy and storing it in the bulb for next year’s flowers.
The plants should not be cut down or removed until the leaves turn yellow and easily pull off from the main stem, which is several months away. It is time to remove the dead flowers and the flower stalks. The flower is forming a fruit called a capsule. Making the capsule is taking away energy from next year’s bloom, so remove the flower stalk as soon as possible.
When most people think of iris, they believe they are bulbs, but they are actually underground stems called rhizomes.
Iris, tulips and daffodils, once they finish blooming, need a good fertilizer program. There are a million answers on how to fertilize your bulbs and a bunch of fertilizers saying there are for flowers or bulbs.
I do not want to talk you out of any fertilizer that you have had good luck with using in the past. Generally, the soils of Antelope Valley tend to be low in nitrogen, sulfur and metals such as iron, zinc and copper, and very high in calcium. If you are growing in containers with any brand of potting soil, then almost all nutrients required are low.
I like to use a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 1515-15, which can be either slow-release or a fast-release formula, once a month, with a once to twice a month Miracle-Gro application to furnish the metals not found in the other fertilizers.
If you are an organic gardener, then find a fertilizer that has the letters “OMRI” printed somewhere on the container. OMRI is the Organic Material Research Institute, which certifies products as organic, including potting soils, soil amendments and fertilizers. Most organic fertilizers are usually slower-release fertilizers and just follow the instructions on the container.
I believe it is better to be slightly deficient in plant nutrients than to apply too much. Too much can be bad for the plants and the soil. If a plant is healthy, it will better tolerate stress, such a drought.
I do not recommend fertilizing your landscape now, because it feels like summer one day and winter the next day. I do not fertilize may garden or landscape until May. Organic fertilizer can be used now; they release nutrients as the temperatures rise. In May, just go easy on the nitrogen; too much can cause too much growth, which causes the plant to require more water.