bigger hyacinth blooms

by Anthony
(Pleasant Valley, NY, USA)

It seems as though every year, my hyacinths get smaller ans smlaaer flowers, so they now look like big grape hyacinths.I love them, and I love the big blooms that I once got. Is there any way to help make the blooms bigger for next year? The bulbs are all still large, when I had to dig a few, and lots of leaves. I let them die back before pruning leaves, but it is hard not to water them, as I plant annuals around them. I hope you can help. Anthony

Doug says, smaller blooms are really coming about because the bulb is stressed and not producing a large enough bud. So, if you're feeding compost (and not too much nitrogen) you'll be fine. Too much nitrogen is going to give you huge leaves and bulbs at the expense of flowers. Chemical fertilization of annuals over top of the bulb crop will do this as most of the nitrogen leaches down out of the root zone of the annual plants. Too much water isn't as large a problem with these as it is with tulips but still... :-)

So, I'd be inclined to wonder about the feeding because if those bulbs are large and good foliage size (assuming the foliage is long and stretched because of low light levels) then you're looking at a feeding or watering issue.