A simple method for stimulating and maintaining high in vitro multiplication of Narcissus shoot clump cultures was developed. Shoot clumps were subjected either to ‘normal cutting’ where leaves were trimmed to 20 mm in length at the beginning of each culture passage or to ‘severe cutting’ where shoot clumps were cut down to the basal plate region removing all green tissue. ‘Severe cutting’ at the beginning of each culture passage initially doubled the leaf multiplication, compared to ‘normal cutting’, but the difference between cutting treatments declined in successive passages. The improvement in leaf multiplication was maintained when shoot clumps were subjected to ‘severe cutting’ only at every other culture passage, with no cutting in the alternate ‘recovery’ passages. In vitro multiplication was increased by ‘severe cutting’ in all seven Narcissus cultivars which were tested.