Dividing and Increasing Bulbs

A few years after planting, you may begin notice that your bulbs begin to flower less freely. This is because most bulbs and corms produce offsets (daughter bulbs) around their base called bulblets or cormlets. If these are left to develop they start to compete with the parent plant for water and nutrients, which then begins to suffer visibly with a dramatic reduction of flowering.

As a result, most bulbs and corms should be lifted and their offsets divided every two to three years to prevent overcrowding and to maintain their vitality; this also has the added benefit of increasing your bulb stocks for no extra cost. In general, division is best carried out whilst the plant is dormant, although some bulbs respond better if they are lifted when they are in full leaf, or 'in the green'. These include: bluebell (Hyacinthoides), hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen), snowdrop (Galanthus), summer snowflake (Leucojum), winter aconite (Eranthis) and wood anemone (Anemone nemerosa).

Although division of offsets may be used to propagate many bulbs, some do not divide freely and may be increased by cutting them into sections (chipping), scaling or scooping. In this section we take a look at all four techniques, with step-by-step advice to guide you through each process.