Flower Gardens

» Cottage_Garden - Eradicating Daffodils

Daffodils planted in the wrong place are weeds. Wow. This is kind of an interesting question for me since I am more often a daffodil planting proponent! This is not an easy question to answer because it is an unusual situation.

Repeated mowing -- meaning cut down the foliage very short and keeping it short in spring while it is actively growing -- would ultimately weaken the bulbs, but daffodils are so persistent that I suspect the more robust varieties would continue to try to grow for many years. The spring cuttings would also set back your haying.... if you cut the field for hay.

There are a few chemical herbicide controls you could conceivably try. I would suggest you check directly with your local county agriculture or cooperative extension agent for their recommendations, they should be able to suggest how to do this in the context of your overall pasture forage program.

In the meantime, here are some recommendations FWIW; scroll down to the bottom of the page where they talk about controlling bulbs in turf such as allium and star of Bethlehem as well as daffodils. I am not certain these would be safe to use in a pasture or hayfield -- unfortunately all I know about horses is that there are a lot of things that can potentially make them sick....

I hope this helps a little. Let us know what you end up doing!

-- posted by Cottage_Garden