Planting probably needs to be fertilized.

I guess we'll see next season. I did give the area some 'fertz last spring when I got some bud blast. Did not fert'z in fall but also applied some fert'z last month as well. Wasn't really expecting to see the bulbs @ the size they were yesterday. Just dug some out now as it's easier when it's green and leaves also help when they are firm to to the bulb to help -yank- them out as I use the trowel to loosed the soil around it.

Bulb formation and increase requires a certain minimum amount of minerals. Also large flowered garden varieties presumably have a greater basic need than more modestly proportioned parental species.

thx

Its been about 3 weeks since I posted this.

Is it possible they shrink as it blooms and post bloom, when they are focusing back on stored food (recharge), they bulk up.

I just -forked- out a 2 dozen or so and all the bulbs seem pretty dang healthy in size. Whatever daughter bulbs that were present, all of them larger than the ones I had dug up 3 weeks earlier.

I'm thinking maybe I don't need to dig this entire patch up and divide - thinking maybe too crowded. There is clear -spacing- between each stalk/leaf in the bed it is in when it's fully leafed out. It's dense but it's not in clumps.

The only reason I'm even messing with them was getting bud blast on one particular cultivar (so me thinking either they are too dense and I need to give them more room than they have) as a extra step to see if bud blast occurs for 3 years in a row...

Bud Blast Inquiry Here

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6105316/anyone-grow-flower-parade-bud-blast-or-something-else