Tulips...

I have some tulips in a half barrel that have finished flowering a couple of weeks back and I want to use the tub for something else.

The leaves are still green and show no signs of going dormant. If I pull the bulbs out now, will I still be able to keep them for next year?

 

If they are still plump then give them a good feed and lift after a week or so regardless of their condition, they should store fine.

 

Hi Osbaldwick. Lollipop is right in thinking that the longer you can leave them the better - but I think you can lift them now.

I remember reading Christopher Lloyd's (Great Dixter) comments on this subject. He said that if you need to lift them when the leaves are still green, you should leave the foliage attached. You can then heel them in (ie temporarily plant shallowly) in a bit of unused bed or put them in a pot in direct sunlight, but out of the rain. I think that as long as they are getting the sunlight, and have their leaves, they will continue to store nutrients in the bulb.

I now grow my tulips in pots, as they used to die out when I left them in the flower bed. I have been lifting and keeping the bare bulbs and foliage in a pot in sunlight like this, and they have done very well - multiplying each year. Most of my bulbs have already broken into two or three new bulbs, and some have formed bulbils - ie a totally new bulb a couple of inches below the original bulb.

The reason for lifting Tulip bulbs, is that tulips come from the Middle East where they are used to long hot dry summers. In our country the summers are wet and consequently the bulbs tend to rot.

 

this is really handy - I had no idea and wondered why my tulips never seem to reappear!! thanks

 

Thanks mztrouble. One thing I didn't mention, as I didn't want the reply too long, is about size. Christopher Lloyd said that after lifting and drying the bulbs, he went through them. The larger ones which were capable of flowering the next year, he put into one pile to be planted in the border again. But the smaller ones that were unlikely to flower were planted in a nursery bed and allowed to grow on for a year, by which time they would be big enough to flower.

I did that one year, and it works. But now I can't be bothered to seperate them, so I plant them all together again. So what, it doesn't matter if there are a few leaves from non flowering bulbs in there as well.

 

Peter I took your earlier advice about lifting tulips as you describe here, and they have all dried nicely and I have loads of different sizes now,:ntwrth:

So I was planning to plant the tinys in "nursery" pots ,but again will take your advice and plant them with the grown ups.

 

Pam, thanks for your comments - and confidence. :luv:

I only pot the the tinies up with the big ones because I am lazy. That's not necessarily a recommendation. :D