Growing in pots

A goodly number of varieties in the collection are shorter plants hybridized growing in pots, either in the house or in the greenhouse/conservatory. By the turn of the 20th century, nurserymen were selling "fiber" for forcing bulbs indoors. Some preferred coconut husk fibers. Others produced a custom blend, such as James Veitch and Sons of London which sold a blend of moss fiber, shell and charcoal. Today, these short varieties can be grown out of doors in pots or soil bags, making it possible to bring them into a protected location during hard freezes in Zone 7.

Three daffodilians have kindly shared their methods for growing tazettas in containers. 

A grower in upstate South Carolina, Zone 7a/b,  has begun trialing tazettas in pots. The winter of 2024-2025, he planted 'Miss Linda' in a large terra cotta pot in his unconditioned (unheated and no air conditioning) solarium room. He started watering in September, never let the pot get bone dry, and stopped when the foliage started to turn yellow. My potting mix was a good commercial potting mix, cactus mix and perlite. Tazettas are heavy feeders, particularly the large ones, so an annual fertilizer regimen is definitely needed. My recommendation to him for fertilizer is a light dusting of wood ash, and 5-10-15 bag fertilizer.

A grower in central Alabama, Zone 8a,  uses clay pots and chooses the pot size based on the size and number of bulbs, but tries to use pots nine inches or taller. He uses whatever general potting soil is on hand, usually one with peat, perlite, and sometimes pine bark. He adds wollastonite when mixing. For cold protection he huddle the pots together next to his raised bed and cover with frost cloth if it’s getting into the upper mid 20s. He has brought them all inside temporarily when it got into the teens. In summer he just leaves them outside. Some he huddles in shade and some he's left in full sun, but hasn't seen much difference. The yellow tazettas sometimes rot and he is more careful about drainage and keeping the bulbs dry in the summer. In pots he grows 'Astrid's Rose Water, 'Dainty Doll', 'Hattie's Delight', 'Icebox Pie' and 'Miss Lindsay'. [Note: wollansonite makes the soil pH more alkaline and adds trace nutrients]

A grower in north-central Florida, Zone 9a-b, plants his bulbs in growbags, primarily in 10-gallon and secondarily 20-gallon sizes. He primarily use a mixture of ProMix and other organic potting mix. He does add in organic fertilizers like plant tone and stuffs, and water soluble organic fertilizers throughout the growing season. He hasn’t had a chance to try out ashes as amendments yet. He has used bio fungicides like RootShield when planting, and will re-apply them this year. He didn’t get to covering them last year, and they were fine - maybe as I don’t have that consistency with extremely cold temperatures. For storage, I tried just leaving them in their grow bags for all summer long, and didn’t even dig them up, but relocated them under shelter where they are generally protected from rain. It appears the majority of them have made it through the summer. He grows 'Atelier', 'Hattie's Delight', ...