Quote:
Originally Posted by Tollerowner
I was looking here to see how hardy they are (as it got down to 30 last night with 4" of snow and they are in flower) and found an article that says to snap rather then cut them. I didn't know that; what difference does it make?
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Because they produce toxic calcium oxalate crystals which can kill certain other kinds of flowers in an arrangement, (and can cause some pretty bad skin irritation) it kind of depends on what kind of arrangement you'll be using the flowers for. Determine the arrangement first as the deciding factor on whether to snap off the solid more woody part of the stem near the bulb, or to cut the hollow part of the stem higher up on the stem with knife or scissors. When you cut rather than snap you will be releasing more of the toxic sap from the cut.
Here is a good explanation from Gardening Grannies of why, and what to do and what not to do, and what kinds of safe guards to take:
https://www.wmdt.com/2015/04/do-you-...ck-a-daffodil/
If you're going to either cut or snap, make sure you are wearing protective eye wear and rubber gloves for handling them so you don't get any of the sticky goo from the stems on your skin or in your eyes.
I usually don't use them for arrangements just because I like them better doing their natural thing outside, but if I do want to put a few of them in a vase I will cut them off at the lengths I want and will only put the daffs alone in the vase of water with no other types of flowers. I don't snap them off from the bulb as I don't want to risk damaging the bulb. But that's just my preference because I'm a bit of a klutz sometimes, it's not a suggestion.
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