Soil Requirements for Snowdrops

[Gerry Webster]

I am not a galanthophile but, like many people, I have G. nivalis in my garden. On my heavy clay soil they grow & increase like weeds. However, a friend of mine, whose garden is on light, chalky soil, finds them impossible to establish, even when planted ‘in the green’. I have promised to give her some  of mine & I would be interested to hear suggestions for soil improvement to improve her chances of establishing  plants on her type of soil. A suggestion for the best time to transplant would also be helpful.

[Martin Baxendale]

I'd recommend planting dormant bulbs in mid to late Summer, same as for any other dormant bulb or corm. Her soil is likely to dry out fast during Spring droughts like we've been having in recent years, making planting in the green risky. Add lots of compost, leafmould etc to bump up the organic content and make the soil more moisture-retentive. Snowdrops should enjoy a well-drained chalky soil, but only if there's plenty of vegetable matter in it. Watering druing dry spells (and liquid feeding) during the first season's growth would also help the bulbs to establish.

[Alan_b]

Much as I love snowdrops, I have had some difficulties establishing them in my garden.  My first foray into snowdrops was buying a bulk quantity of nivalis which grew well-enough in their first season but gradually disappeared over the next few years in all but one location.  I don't think it is the soil, which admittedly is light and on chalk in a very dry part of the country, because I have subsequently grown snowdrops successfully in pots without any summer watering and if they were going to die through drying out they would be worse-off in pots than in the ground. 

My problem is the quantity of predators, in my case swift moth larvae, that live in my garden.  There are a lot of these in my soil and they love snowdrop bulbs.  Occasionally these have found their way into my snowdrop pots and I have found larvae instead of the bulbs that were there previously.  Maybe the larvae, which live underground and feed on roots as well as bulbs, like my light chalky soil as an easy medium to get around in?  But I don't see that they are going to like it any less if I bump-up the moisture content.  I have by chance found one particularly vigorous snowdrop, which I think is a nivalis x plicatus hybrid, that seems to be able to outpace the rate of predation (or maybe it's just not so tasty) that is gradually becoming my "bulk" snowdrop but I am still working on combating the swift moth.

[Anthony Darby]

That's interesting that ghost moth larvae love your snowdrops Alan. They are quite catholic in their tastes but I've never heard of them eating bulbs, tending to feed on the roots of grasses and other plants of rough grazing land. The female moths scatter their tiny eggs as they fly. Are your snowdrops naturalised in grass?

[Brian Ellis]

Anthony, Olive Mason, an esteemed snowdrop grower, has also had a lot of trouble with Swift Moth larvae eating her bulbs.  Alan is not alone

[Anthony Darby]

It would be interesting to know which species it is. I would imagine the larvae would eat any plant available in the vicinity and only snowdrop growers would have a vested interest in what is destroying their bulbs.

[Gerry Webster]

Thanks to everyone for their  responses. Martin’s suggestion of lots of organic material  is more-or-less what I had in mind. As regards swift moth larvae, we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed. She already has some healthy clumps of bluebells, so at least some bulbs thrive.

[Alan_b]

Are your snowdrops naturalised in grass?

Not any more, they're not.  I do have two clumps left in some very sparse grass under a silver birch but all the others disappeared over a few years.

I also had a mystery bulb donation which turned out to be mixed snowdrops and snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) and which were planted together in a large clump.  The snowflakes come back every year but the snowdrops have disappeared - which is why I suggested that Swift Moth larvae may find them particularly tasty.   

[steve owen]

Hi Alan
I know many people don't like to put chemicals on their soil, but have you considered a fairly strong drench of something like Jeyes fluid or Provado vine-grub fluid? Or even nematodes?
Steve

[Alan_b]

Thanks for your suggestions, Steve, but it wasn't my intention to hijack this thread with my own problems.  I just wanted to point out that when snowdrops fail to thrive it isn't necessarily just because they don't like the soil they are growing in.