Tulips

[Dave Evans]

I read the newsbot post about tulips. Tulips are indeed perenials which are supposed to come back every spring. However, some do not because of various issues. Some bulbs are from of species or hybrids not winter hardy in your area, so in some winters they may do fine, colder winters may kill them. Some bulbs are not given a decent rest before they are sold, they are call "forced" and these may not go dormant correctly and thus not survive the next winter either. So if you have had tulips fail to return, there are at least a couple of good reasons why that is the case--not that tulips will not grow in your area--maybe it is just those particular tulips that will not grow well in your area.

[Guest paul y]

everything dave said and, plant bulbs at least twice there own depth, spaced no less than 3 inches apart, dig planting hole twice as deep as you need for the bulb and use plenty of bulb fiber or very free draining compost under the bulbs, like dahlias it is excessive wet conditions coupled with freeze thaw cycles that rupture and kill the bulbs, most of the traditional dutch cultivars are fine in temperate areas, be wary of hardiness with patio and dwarf cultivars, the key to good blooms is in the food, feed with high pk (hesi pk booster is ideal) prior to blooming, and a good balanced npk after blooming, allow leaves to die back naturally as they are working hard storing energy in the bulb ready for next year, like dahlias you can protect bulbs from excessive wet by polythene sheeting the planting area then cover the sheet with mulch until the spring, this also works with canna lillies, and numerous "you cant leave that out in the winter" supposed non hardy plants.

[FredG]

Plant with pointy end up.

[mantrid]

Anyone dig their tulips up for their dormancy. I used to do this and it was sucessful. However it is time consuming so I just leave them there now. What I have found is that gradually I lost the more interesting cultivars while the hardier less interesting ones have flourished and multiplied

Edited January 18, 2014 by mantrid

[Guest paul y]

ive only ever lifted mine to divide off new bulb sets and replant the best remaining bulbs, the offsets go into little pots for a season or 2 where they get some tlc until big enough to go to sale

[Marcel van den Broek]

The sell little plastic dishes with holes in them that you can plant the bulbs in. Put the dish in the hole, place the bulbs on it and cover. Before winter dig up the whole dish (bright green) with all the bulbs in it in one effort.

[Dave Evans]

Anyone dig their tulips up for their dormancy. I used to do this and it was sucessful. However it is time consuming so I just leave them there now. What I have found is that gradually I lost the more interesting cultivars while the hardier less interesting ones have flourished and multiplied

That is a very good idea for less hardy bulbs. But with tulips, I think most can be taken care by making adjustments to the garden soil. You can make a bed and replace or amend dense clay types soils so they hold more air and don't rot the bulbs, which is just as much a problem for senstive species/hybrids as is freezing. Some bulbs can be placed 10 - 20 cm deep and winter temps are not much of an issue for these kinds.