Propagating bulbs doesn’t just include lifting, culturing offsets and dividing roots. Some methods are suited to all bulbs, while others are unique to a specific species. They include removing and rooting cuttings from tuberous begonia and dahlia, harvesting and planting bulbils from lily and ornamental onion, removing cormels from gladiolus, rearing bulblets from narcissus and tulip, scoring hyacinth bulbs to encourage new bulblets to grow and scaling lilies. In addition, there are technical methods such as meristem and tissue culture. The easiest of these specialized techniques to master are taking cuttings and rearing bulbils or bulblets to flowering size.
Scaling lilies to produce new plants is best done with a sharp eye and a steady hand. Each scale must be removed with a small portion of its basal plate attached. Carefully use a sharp knife to cut the scale away and tweezers to gently detach it.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Separating gladiolus cormels and rearing them should be done shortly after the parent plant’s foliage has dried. Lift the old, dried corm and separate the new corms. Store them where they’ll receive good air circulation, at a temperature of 45-50 degrees F, then plant them in the spring. The largest corms will flower the first season, but small ones may require two seasons or more to reach flowering size.
Scoring is a technique used to propagate hyacinths. Wearing rubber gloves to protect from skin irritation and using a sharp knife, carefully make a series of shallow cuts in a crisscross pattern into the bulb’s basal plate, then plant the bulb as usual. You’ll find small bulblets along the edge of the cuts after the foliage withers. Harvest and rear them as with other bulblets.
Scale lilies by carefully removing several outer scales containing a bit of the basal plate from the largest bulbs, then setting them in a mixture of half potting soil and half sand, leaving the top exposed. They will form bulblets along their bottom edge. Grow them as you would other bulblets. You should have mature plants after about three seasons.
Propagating bulbs from cuttings or by growing small offsets and bulbils to flowering size are popular ways to increase the number of your plants inexpensively. Understanding and mastering these processes require time, patience and practice. To root dahlia and tuberous begonia cuttings, you’ll need loose, moist soil in a deep container and a sharp budding knife. To plant bulbils and bulblets, you’ll need a hand trowel. Experiment with these advanced techniques by taking the steps shown in the following pictures for each technique and described in the captions.
