Narcissus and Daffodil

92 G.R. Hanks
Figure 4.7 Changes in plant dry weight and leaf area index during the growing season
Data for narcissus ‘Golden Harvest’ from Rees (1972), with permission of
Academic Press Ltd.
Foliage removal
Where bulbs are lifted early, the green foliage is usually removed using acid or
mechanically. Sulphuric acid (77%) can be applied as a crop spray by contractors,
working to strict protocols. Crop foliage and weeds are desiccated quickly. There
are no known harmful effects on subsequent crop performance. Suitable contact
herbicides for desiccating narcissus, such as dinoseb, are no longer available.
Mechanical methods of leaf removal (‘flailing’ or ‘top bashing’) remove the foliage
at a greater or lesser distance above the bulb neck, cutting either above soil level or
into the soil of the ridge tops (in which case less soil is lifted when harvesting), and
depositing the excised foliage on the ground. Chain harrows may be used to
remove foliage from the ridge tops, and this also help break clods before lifting.
Linfield (1990) surveyed crop husbandry practices in relation to neck rot: the
main correlation was that neck rot increased when foliage removal involved
cutting into the ridge, close to the bulb neck, rather than cutting above the ridge,
and when there was an interval of several days between flailing and lifting. Clearly,
the presence of damaged shoot tissue contaminated with soil and debris might be
expected to result in infection of the bulbs. It is common to remove foliage
immediately in advance of the bulb lifter.
Bulb lifting
Bulbs may be harvested in two stages – in which case they are elevated to the surface
and picked up manually later – or in one stage, using a ‘complete harvester’.