Daffodils are lovely flowers that many people love caring for. These are popular flowers that add a lot of charm wherever you decide to plant them.
People usually plant daffodils outside, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t care for them indoors. You can easily take daffodils indoors so long as you know how to care for them properly.
Read on to learn everything that you need to know about indoor daffodil care. This will help you to care for your daffodils properly and you’ll be able to watch them thrive in your home.
These are lovely flowers that will definitely be pleasing to the eye. They aren’t necessarily super hard to take care of indoors, but you will need to know how to approach things to get the best results.
Light Requirements
You’re going to want to take the time to find a good spot for your daffodils when caring for them indoors. Typically, daffodils do best when planted in full sun, but you’ll just need to do the best that you can when caring for daffodils indoors.
Most daffodil enthusiasts find that placing a daffodil close to a sunny window is best. You’ll likely get the best results if you give the daffodils filtered light because full sunlight could cause the foliage to burn a bit.
Another reason to filter the light is that it can make the blooms fade faster. If you want the daffodil’s blooms to remain vibrant for as long as possible, then filtered light is the way to go.
You should be able to find a perfect place near a window where your daffodils will get the light that they need. Just try not to put them in a spot that is too shady or you might not get the results that you’re hoping for.
The Best Soil for Daffodils
Soil is another thing that you must pay attention to no matter what plant you’re caring for. When you’re taking care of daffodils indoors, it’s going to be important to pot them using well-draining soil.
The drainage matters so much because daffodils don’t do well when they get soggy. If you have soil that drains well, then you won’t have to worry quite so much about the daffodils getting waterlogged.
This means that you should avoid using soil that is way too dense. It shouldn’t be hard to find a well-draining soil that will be perfect for daffodils, but it’s just something that you must keep in mind to avoid making mistakes.
You’re also going to want to pay attention to the acidity of the soil. Daffodils prefer to be planted in soil that has a pH balance between 6.0 and 7.0
It’s also going to be good to use nutrient-rich soil that will help the daffodils to thrive. If you can find or mix soil that has the right mix of nutrients, then you’re going to have a good time caring for daffodils indoors.
Proper Temperature
Keeping daffodils indoors will allow you to enjoy them during the winter months. If you grow daffodils outdoors, then you’re only going to be able to enjoy them during the warm months of the year.
To get the right results, it’s going to be necessary to keep your daffodils in a room that maintains temperatures between 50 degrees Fahrenheit and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This will help you to prolong daffodil blooms as much as possible so that you can keep enjoying the aesthetic appeal that they bring to the table.
When you plant daffodils outdoors, they’re going to do fine in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 9. It’s also notable that daffodils do require a “cold” period so that they can set their roots.
Essentially, during the autumn, it’s cold enough to trigger daffodils to set roots. You might need to artificially induce this cold period so that your daffodils will set their roots and you can force them to bulb.
Cold Treatment
Cold treatment is something that needs to last about 8 to 10 weeks, but some people will just buy pre-chilled bulbs. To start the cold treatment process, you’re going to be placing the daffodil pot in a room that is dark and has a temperature between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Basements are a really good spot to do cold treatment for daffodils. People have also had good experiences cold-treating daffodils in refrigerators.
If you do decide to use a refrigerator for the process, then avoid placing them near ripening fruits. The ethylene gas that is given off by the fruit can cause damage to the bulb.
You only need to keep the daffodils slightly moist during the cold treatment process. This isn’t hard to do, but remember that you can buy pre-chilled daffodils if this seems like a hassle.
Once the daffodil shoots have become two inches tall, it’s going to be time to take the pot out of the cold storage spot. You can move your daffodils to a slightly warmer location and try to keep the temperature at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Give the daffodils low light at this point and then start gradually moving the plant closer to a sunny window over the next several days. Turning the pot each day is also a recommended thing since it will help you to enjoy even growth.
When the daffodils are in full bloom, you’ll be able to keep them in bright filtered light as recommended. This isn’t a hard process, but you do want to try to get things right without trying to go too fast to get the optimal results.
Watering Recommendations
Watering your flowers and plants properly will always be important. When it comes to caring for daffodils indoors, your best bet is going to be to check the soil in the pot every week or possibly twice per week.
You want to water your daffodils only when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch. Water the daffodils thoroughly when the soil is dry like this, but remember to empty the tray after a bit of time has passed.
If you don’t empty the tray that the daffodils are sitting in, then everything is going to get soggy. Daffodils don’t tolerate this as well as some plants do, and you don’t want the soil to absorb too much water and get soggier than it should.
Ideally, you should empty the tray about 30 minutes after watering. This should give the daffodils plenty of time to get the amount of water that they need.
What to Do When Blooms Fades
Eventually, the daffodil blooms are going to fade. When this happens, you should take the time to snip the blooms just beneath the swollen base of the flower.
You want to leave the stems intact since they can keep on gathering nutrients and energy to send to the bulb. Doing this is just part of the process that you go through when caring for these plants.
Fertilizing Daffodils Indoors
You can give your indoor daffodils some fertilizer to help them along as well once your last flower fades. It’s recommended to fertilize the soil using a soluble-balanced fertilizer.
This can be done every two weeks to get good results. It’s recommended to play it safe by using half of the recommended fertilizer so that you don’t cause the daffodils any problems.
Remember That Daffodils Are Toxic
Keeping daffodils indoors can be a great experience, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea for everyone. You see, daffodils are actually toxic, and that means that they could present a danger to your pets.
Most people who have cats know that they will get curious sometimes and might try to nibble on plants. Your cat might take an interest in your daffodils, and if it happens to eat some of the daffodils, then it’s going to get sick.
If your cat or dog eats daffodils, then you’re going to need to contact a veterinarian right away. This could be a very serious problem that will need attention for the sake of your pet’s health.
Of course, if you’re going to care for daffodils indoors, you’re going to want to take steps to keep them out of harm’s way. Try to put them in a spot where your pets won’t be able to get to them.
Conversely, you could just choose to not care for daffodils indoors if you find the risk to be too high. It’s even bad for pets to drink water that has been exposed to daffodils, and that means that you’ll need to be careful when disposing of water from the tray when watering your daffodils.
Daffodils are even toxic to animals as big as horses. They’re lovely flowers that you can definitely enjoy, but you also need to be careful about the danger that they present to animals that you might be caring for.
Final Thoughts
Caring for daffodils indoors won’t be all that hard when you know how to approach things. You can force daffodils to bloom indoors so that you can enjoy flowers during the winter months if you need to cheer yourself up.
You’ll have a good time caring for these flowers and they aren’t that tough to handle overall. Just follow the advice above and you’ll surely have a good experience.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.