Moving tulips in flower

Thought I'd post this in the Beginner's Garden section, because I'm a beginner at this. I've got a load of tulips in containers. I'd like to move them out of the containers and into the ground now, while they are in flower. I know I should really let them die down, but I really want to move them while I know what colour they are (although i am tying bits of coloured cotton on the stems so I remember if the petals drop off), and I want to reuse the compost in the pots to earth up my potatoes in bags (just being a bit tight and not wanting to buy more compost just for this).

Can it be done? Has anyone moved tulips in flower?

Jo

 

Yes many times over the years , give them a good water leave overnight and then just be careful with them when you plant them in and handle gently and you they will be fine.

Spruce

 

I take it then that you propose to remove the flowering tulips from the compost and are hoping for them to continue flowering after you've done so?

I don't want to contradict Spruce, because I think he is more knowledgeable than me on the subject, but I wonder if this point has been missed. If you were taking going to simply remove the pot and plant, ie so that the roots remain intact in the compost which gets planted along with the plant (ie the usual procedure) then I'd guess it would be fine, but if you're planning to save the compost, it is inevitable that you will upset the roots, and then I'd bet the tulips will promptly give up on their flowers in order to conserve energy.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not too fussed about the flowers staying on, to be honest Clueless. They'll be staying in the ground for longer than they'll be in the containers, so I want to put them in nice colour combinations. They are in quite large containers though, so I will be able to dig them out with a fair rootball around them and still have plenty of compost left to use in the potato bags. This was the thing. There's loads of compost and only about 3 tulips per pot. I wasn't sure what the bulbs were when I planted them up because they came in a mixed bag, so it was really to see what colours they came out and which ones were tulips and which ones were daffs.

So I'll give it a go, and follow Spruce's instructions, and hopefully they'll survive. With or without flowers.

Jo

 

Good plan. I'd missed the point about not worrying about the flowers. I understand now you just want to remember which ones are which colour so you can arrange your permanent planting

That being the case, I'd just do it.

 

You did not miss the point, he did not post it :-)

We all thought he wanted to move the "flowers" into a bed and keep them going as a nice border
With compost available at £5 for 150Ltrs, Council roudabouts or dig it yourself horse manure at £2 per 150Ltrs would be a cheap crop anyway for what you get back

Jack McHammocklashing

 

As much as that?

Last time I got a load of horse manure it was as much as I could load into my dad's trailer. For free.

The lady that runs the riding school was ecstatic. She told me herself, she was laughing about the fact that I was doing a chore for her so she could put her feet up for a bit instead of the usual graft. Mind it was too fresh to use except for spuds, but that was no problem, I stuck it on my compost heap on my land. The lady told me to come back as often as I liked because it saved her a load of effort, and she even offered to send one of her minions across the field on a quad to retrieve some of the well rotted stuff they had in an old heap. I declined that kind offer because at the time the weather was awful and I didn't want to make some reluctant minion go out in it unnecessarily.

 

Quote clueless
"Last time I got a load of horse manure it was as much as I could load into my dad's trailer. For free"
UnQuote

How long ago though ?
Home base is £12 for 150Ltrs of mature horse manure
Sounds like you were mucking out the stables and getting to keep the results
Thus saving her time and labour

Mine they have already done that, and I have to go to the back of the ten year pile to get the well rotted stuff
Or I can pay £3 and the young stable girls bag it up for you
(Actually I pay the £3 as I do not want young girls doing what I can easily do, but I do want them to get their extra £1 a bag pin money) the tight jodphurs and boots are enough compensense

So I do not have to labour mucking out the stables, just fill the bags, and I do not have to wait a year for it to mature

Jack McH

 

At the one I went to, they were quite clear about this point. Boots is ok, but no tight joddies.



So I just wore my usual jeans instead.