Fertilizing and watering tulips after flowering
After the tulips wilted, it is required to remove the wilted peduncles. This is necessary so that the plant does not waste energy on seed ripening. In this case, it is important to worry about the bulb - if it receives the required amount of nutrients and ripens enough, then next year it will give a large and lush flowering.
Remove the tulip flower before shedding the petals completely. Depending on the tulip variety, this usually occurs 5-8 days after blooming. Only trim off the flower heads, not the leaves and stems. If you remove them, the bulb will not ripen well.
After the buds have faded, the plant needs more watering for the next 2 weeks. During this period, intensive processes of accumulation of nutrients occur, therefore it is recommended to feed the plant with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. Fertilizers containing chlorine or nitrogen cannot be used at this stage.
Do I need to cut
Pruning tulips is necessary, but only after their aerial part has completely wilted. Somewhere in 2-3 weeks after flowering, you can remove the peduncles with arrows so that seeds do not form, which can negatively affect the development of the underground part of the plant. But if you want to propagate the variety you like and grow large bulbs, you need to cut off the flower heads a week after they began to bloom, avoiding shedding.
Important! It is imperative to mark with sticks or branches the places where the tulip bulbs are located so that they are not lost or damaged when digging up.
It is better not to touch the leaves, because they still help the plant to form the bulb, providing it with the necessary nutrition. It is advisable to bend them to the ground and wait until they fall off on their own. And only after that they can be removed. Different varieties bloom at different times, from March to the end of June, and therefore they bloom in different ways.
It is better not to rush with cutting and take into account the peculiarities of each individual flower.
Tulips have faded - do you need to cut the foliage?
Experts advise not even to cut, but to tear off the tulip leaves with your hands after complete yellowing. This occurs 5-6 weeks after the end of flowering. If the leaf does not come off well, then the bulb is not fully ripe yet, wait until the leaf can be easily pulled out of the ground.
If this is done prematurely, the bulb will stop developing and this will negatively affect the quality of flowering next year. To avoid losing the location of the bulb, leave the stem as a mark. If tulips are planted, alternating with other flowering plants such as irises, dry leaves and stems will not spoil the appearance of the flower bed.
What to do if presented with a tulip in a pot?
It is very pleasant to receive the symbol of spring in a pot at the end of winter. But what to do with the plant after wilting? Throw it away? Do not hurry. Timely caring for tulips after flowering in a pot will give the plant another chance. For this:
- water the flower all the time until it turns yellow completely;
- let the stems dry;
- when the bulb goes into a dormant period, it can be dug up;
- dry it and store it in a box until September;
- and in the fall, plant on the ridges along with the rest of the bulbs.
Flowers love care and appreciate attention. If you did everything right and were worried about them from early spring to late autumn, they will definitely dissolve their delicate petals towards the sun. And they will delight you with their beauty.
Do tulips need to be dug up after they bloom?
The assertion that tulips do not need to be dug up annually is quite common, but fundamentally wrong. Since the bulb sinks deeper into the ground over time, the distance to the surface gradually increases and can amount to more than 1.5 shovel bayonets. Accordingly, the plant needs more strength and nutrients for normal germination. In addition, the bulbs of one nest do not have the opportunity to develop normally, they crowd each other.
After 4-5 years of being in one place, the hybrid tulip loses the dignity and characteristics of the variety, its buds become small and weak. There is a great risk that the plant will die over time.
Digging out the bulbs is required for varietal tulips. If you have ordinary tulips, then in order to get larger and healthier flowers without an annual transplant, plant them on a net - an ordinary net from under potatoes. Or buy special pots for bulbs with holes. This will prevent the bulb from sinking into the soil. Because These pots are usually quite expensive, you can easily make them from a regular plastic basket.
Care after digging
The tulip bulbs are dug up until the end of July, when they begin to dry. For this you need to get a few pieces out of the ground and check if a brown dry husk has appeared on them.
If they are ready, you can dig up all the bulbs of that variety. After that, they are cleaned of the remnants of soil and organic debris, damaged and spoiled parts are removed.
Next, the bulbs must be treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, dipped in it for 20 minutes, and then dried well. This must be done to destroy the larvae of pests that can stay on them for the winter, as well as to prevent diseases.
You need to separate the bulbs from each other. The smallest ones can be thrown away immediately, because they are unlikely to have enough strength to germinate. If you feel sorry for throwing them away, you can try planting them in a pot: perhaps by spring it will be possible to grow a strong plant, ready to be transplanted to a flower bed.
They need to be stored until spring, depending on the variety, but most often - until the soil warms up above + 10 ° C. You can plant the bulbs directly on the garden bed, however, in order not to subject them to possible frosts, you can plant them like seedlings, wait until they germinate, and then transfer them to a permanent place.
See also how tulips reproduce.
When and how to dig tulips
The plants are excavated at the end of June or a little later, when the leaves are completely yellow and the stem is limp. The ready-to-remove bulb has brown spots on the scales and a well-formed root system.
When digging out the bulbs, follow the recommendations:
- separate by varieties, starting from the earliest;
- dig in good weather so that you can immediately dry the bulbs in the sun;
- if digging in damp weather, rinse the bulbs from the ground before drying;
- digging up the plant, insert the shovel as deep as possible into the soil so as not to injure the root;
- rinse the bulbs in a solution of potassium permanganate (5%)
Hold the resulting bulbs under the sun or a lamp until the scales dry. Throw away the sick and the weak, and place the healthy ones according to their varieties in previously prepared containers (in 1-2 layers).
Do I need to dig up the bulbs
It is advisable to dig tulip bulbs where winters are warm, and simply necessary where cold... If you leave them in the ground, they will sink deeper into it every year, hiding from the cold. If after the first and second wintering the flowers can germinate normally, then after the third they will become small and weak, and the next year they may disappear altogether.
And tulips, if they are not dug up for the winter, lose their varietal characteristics. Small ones grow around the main bulb, because of which it cannot germinate and sinks down, taking with it the characteristics of its variety, which are not inherent in its small "children".
Therefore, as soon as the tulip leaves completely wilt and fall off, the flowers must be dug out by immersing the shovel as deep as possible in the ground so as not to damage the roots.
How to store tulip bulbs
Boxes and other storage containers must have a well-ventilated bottom, otherwise rot may develop. During storage, it is important to observe the appropriate mode of humidity and air temperature, which will ensure the correct formation of buds, leaves and peduncles inside the bulb.
Storage conditions for tulip bulbs after digging up:
- by the end of July, within 3-4 weeks after digging, the air temperature should be 24-25 ° С, and the humidity should be about 70%;
- August - the temperature of the content drops to 20 ° C;
- September - the temperature of the content drops to 16-17 ° С.
Store the bulbs in a specially designed room, avoiding temperature extremes and increasing humidity, as this will lead to cracking of the scales and the appearance of rot. Inspect the bulbs from time to time for defects or pest damage.
What to do right after the buds have faded
In order to figure out which actions should be taken, it is important to familiarize yourself with the specifics of the plant and study a little the history of its origin.
The homeland of the tulip is the countries of Asia, where spring comes very early, and the summer period is hot and dry. The life cycle of a plant is associated with all periods, from vegetation in early spring to dormancy of bulbs and new vegetation after awakening.
In order for a tulip to delight with its beauty, it is important that all actions to support its life are carried out on time. After it blooms, the first thing to do is to wait until the petals have completely fallen off.
Then the stems should be cut. In no case should the seed boll be allowed to ripen, this will lead to the fact that the bulb will be spoiled. And not every florist likes a picture when, instead of beautiful buds, bare stems stick out. Therefore, if the tulips have faded, do not get confused about what to do with them next, but immediately remove the stems.
When to plant tulips?
In late September or early October, the dried bulbs should be planted in the soil. It is better to do this in sunny weather and an air temperature of 5-8 ° C. Re-treat the ready-for-planting bulbs with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Landing rules:
- choose a new place for the bulbs;
- plant to a depth equal to 4-5 times the size of the bulb itself;
- water the planting site with plenty of water;
- a week after planting the bulb, feed the soil with ash and ammonium nitrate;
- before the onset of frost, cover the soil with a thin layer of peat.
After the tulips have bloomed, it is important to take care of the normal maturation of the bulbs. This will ensure the safety of the variety, lush flowering and resistance of the plant to diseases next year.
What to do with the bulbs during storage
Dug onions in a brownish-yellow peel are laid out under a canopy for ventilation, where it is warm and there is no access to direct sunlight. After a few days, you can lightly cleanse the soil and loose skin (you don't need to tear it off specially). We leave it like this for another 20 days.
Then the storage temperature drops a little, well, this is what happens, because August is outside.During this time, and it is still far from planting, it is necessary to sort the planting material. We put large, medium and small onions in different containers. By varieties, they are already divided, probably. What is it for?
The fact is that when planting, we will plant bulbs of different sizes at different depths: large ones are lower, and small ones - superficially.
Advice! Planting bulbs of different sizes on separate rows will ennoble the beds, give them an aesthetic look, because the flowering of one-caliber material will occur at the same time.
By mixing large and small tulips, you will delay the flowering of the latter, if at all due to lack of lighting.
The bulbs are stored and dried in summer until planting, which is carried out in September-October.
The next step is cutting the leaves.
It must be produced after the flowers have completely turned yellow. If you cut the leaves on the green bushes, the development of the bulbs will stop and they may disappear altogether.
In order to find a tulip in the future, experienced gardeners recommend leaving one leaf with a label. If you are not going to remove the leaves, but do not want the yellow tulip bushes to spoil the view, then just press them to the ground.
