Can blooming tulips be cut? What to do next with faded tulips

Tulips are very beautiful during flowering, but this period does not last long. In just a few days, the flowers begin to wither and do not look so attractive. Not all growers know how to care for tulips after flowering, and make annoying mistakes when trying to immediately cut or dig up the bulbs.

What to do after tulips bloom

Caring for tulips after flowering is pretty simple. The main rule is that flowers cannot be cut or dug out immediately. It is recommended to water and feed the plant well for several weeks. This feature is due to the fact that when the flower fades, tulip bulbs continue to accumulate nutrients for about three weeks. Digging up prematurely deprives them of this opportunity, so next year the tulip bloom may be less abundant.

After the final wilting, the peduncle is carefully removed. This will allow the plant not to waste energy on the need for seed ripening. It is impossible to cut the leaves immediately, since when they are removed immediately after flowering, the development of the bulbs lags behind. It is necessary to ensure that the tulips are adequately watered and fertilized.

Many gardeners at this time have a desire to remove yellow leaves, but this should not be done. Experienced gardeners recommend simply pressing them to the ground or planting perennial plants with tulips to give the flowerbed an aesthetic appearance during this period. You can decorate the flower garden during this period, having previously planted daffodils or phloxes with tulips.

Within a few weeks, the tulip leaves will dry out naturally and can be cut off. In order not to lose the place of planting flowers after the leaves have dried, it is recommended that you first make guide marks by which you can easily find it.

Tulips: care after flowering

Tulips belong to the bulbous species and do not require particularly careful maintenance, but they impose special requirements on the issue of watering. The irrigation rate is 10-40 liters per square meter, but it directly depends on the weather. The drier the weather, the more abundant watering should be..

Fertilizing tulips after flowering should be done without fail. This procedure will allow the flower bulbs to gain the maximum amount of nutrients. The choice of fertilizers must be approached with caution, since feeding tulips with fertilizer complexes with nitrogen and chlorine is unacceptable.

It is beneficial for the storage of bulbs to be used as a top dressing. potassium and phosphorus... Such a complex is applied in an amount of 30-40 grams per square meter of soil. It is enough to fertilize the plant once.

Crystallin and aquarine are considered good feeding. The top dressing contains phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. On the market for garden preparations today you can buy various brands, the composition of which may differ slightly. These products do not contain chlorine, so they are considered completely safe for tulips. Their use allows you to: provide the onions with a sufficient amount of nutrients. As a result of introducing a complex composition into the soil, a significant increase in high-quality planting material can be obtained.

Why you need to dig

Digging tulips is imperative. Bulbs should not be left in the ground, because when this rule is not followed, then the plant degenerates and the peduncles become very shallow... Many novice flower growers face such a situation, when, several years after planting expensive tulip varieties, instead of double, fringed, multi-colored flowers, you can see weak flowers with small inflorescences. In exceptional cases, flowers simply do not sprout, and an empty space appears in the place of a once blooming flower bed.

To explain this situation, it is enough to know about the characteristics of bulbous plants. Over time, many small baby onions form around the parent's head. Over time, they grow, which leads to the drowning of the mother's head down. Weak onions are not capable of producing a full-fledged, luxuriantly flowering plant.

Red tulip varieties are considered the most persistent and can maintain abundant flowering for several years.

Tulips have faded: what to do next

After the leaves of the plant have completely wilted, you can start digging out the flowers. It is recommended to dig the bulbs from the end of June to the second decade of July. Digging can be done with a shovel or with a bayonet shovel. To avoid the possibility of damage to the heads, it is recommended to focus on the remains of dry stems. It is preliminarily recommended to assess the readiness of the planting material for this procedure. For this, one onion is dug out and its visual inspection is carried out. Healthy tulip bulb dense, smooth and has a slight sheen... You can start digging flowers if the following signs are present:

the onions have good roots;
brown spots are visible on the scales;
the ends of the stem are easily wrapped around the finger.

Most tulip varieties are recommended to be dug up annually. Disease-resistant varieties can be dug up once every 2 years... Removing the onions from the soil is best done on a sunny day, as this will produce dry, clean onions. When digging, the following rules should be observed:

you need to bury the shovel carefully, otherwise you can damage the roots;
digging begins with early varieties;
defective bulbs must be discarded.

Before work, it is worth preparing cardboard boxes in advance and making inscriptions which of the varieties or flowers of tulips are in it. In the future, such simple actions will avoid confusion with planting varieties and errors in the combination of colors.

After digging, all planting material is washed under running water and thoroughly dried. Recommended to do pickling onions with 5% manganese solution... If the planting material has high humidity, then later during storage it will rot and crack.

For good drying, it is enough to keep the heads in a dry room for 14 days at a temperature of 22-25 C 0... During this period, the formation of a bud and a flower stem occurs. If at this time the temperature is low, then this formation does not occur and the next year the bulb may not bloom.

Care and storage rules after digging

After completing the drying phase, you can start sorting the planting material. Each onion is peeled from the scales. Children are separated from each adult bulb and placed in a separate container. At the same time, the patient is rejected, defective material and the bulbs are sorted by size.

All planting material is folded into boxes, which are stored in a dry, dark room. It is recommended to use containers with a mesh bottom. The onions should be laid out in no more than two layers. For the first 4 weeks, the bulbs are stored at a temperature of 23-25 \u200b\u200bC 0. The temperature is gradually reduced to 17 C 0.

Proper care of tulips and adherence to storage rules will allow the bulbs to rest and next year you can expect abundant flowering from them.

Spring resounding marches rang out in the garden beds, bulbous crops, which so delighted flower growers after a long winter with bright flowers, completed their procession. The flowerbeds of faded tulips with drooping leaves look depressingly sad. Many try to plant annual seedlings in place of faded bulbous flowers as soon as possible.

But annual crops require frequent watering, which harms the bulbs that mature in the soil. It is too early to dig up the bulbs, not to dig them up is harmful to their development. This article is all about how to care for tulips after they bloom.

June: what to do with tulips

After flowering, handsome men, droop and look untidy. But at this time, a replacement bulb and baby are formed in the ground. If during this period it is wrong to take care of the plantings, you can lose many varieties.

After the final wilting of flowers, it is necessary to remove all peduncles on the plants. They do not stop watering the plants for another 10-15 days. The top of the plants withers most quickly at high temperatures. Watering should not be stopped at this time, especially if the plants are with green leaves. You can not carry out frequent abundant watering, it is enough to keep the soil in a slightly moist state.

At this time, it is useful to carry out the last dressing, make phosphorus-potassium compounds at the rate of 30 g per 1 m2. It is strictly forbidden to use preparations with a high content of nitrogen and chlorine for feeding mature tulips.

How to increase the decorativeness of a flower bed

When the aboveground part of the tulips withers, the process of growing bulbs continues underground, it is not recommended to water such beds abundantly. I would like to quickly bring the flower garden into proper form, increase the decorativeness of the flower beds, for which they often use portable containers with planted summer houses. It is not recommended to prune yellow leaves if they have not completely wilted, otherwise the process of the formation of the baby may completely stop. It is best to bend the leaves to the ground and cover them with decorative materials.

The soil around the pots can be mulched with colored bark or peat, which will not be difficult to remove when digging up tulips in the middle of summer.

In the period from late spring to the digging of the bulbs, the flower beds will regain their finished decorative appearance. Decorative garden figures can be placed on the mulch, which can be easily removed if necessary.

Looks great in a flowerpot on a leg geranium, petunia, lobelia, nasturtium, tuberous, arabis, ampelous forms of snapdragons, levkoi.

When watering containers, water from the drainage holes does not spread over the flower bed where tulips form the bulbs, so you can not be afraid of rotting of young bulbs and children.

How not to lose your baby

If tulip bulbs are not dug out for several years, they go deep into the ground, are lost, deprived of the opportunity to germinate through a huge layer of soil. In order for the varietal baby not to be lost and the bulbs not to be buried, some measures must be taken since autumn.

In autumn, when planting tulips in the ground, you can use special containers with bottom holes that limit the growth of the baby. In the summer, you just need to dig up the container, not a single onion will be lost.

If many tulip bulbs are planted in the autumn months, the top layer of soil is chosen on the flower bed, a pit is dug (up to 20 cm deep), the bottom is lined with plastic window netting, bringing its ends to the surface. A layer of fertile soil is poured over the mesh and the tulip bulbs are laid out with an interval of 5 cm. After the tulips have bloomed and a dormant period, the mesh is pulled out of the ground, lifting all four corners at the same time. All tulips and the baby will remain in the mesh bag, not lost or injured by sharp instruments.

When to start digging up the bulbs

You can start digging the bulbs only after the aerial part of the plants has thoroughly wilted, but it is best to carry out a trial operation by digging out several bulbs from different parts of the flower bed.

The scales of the bulb should be covered with dark brown spots and the baby should be fully developed. Mature bulbs show mature roots.

The basic rules should be followed:

They start work on a sunny day, if it starts raining at the scheduled time for work, the work can be completed, but the bulbs are immediately washed and laid out for airing.
You need to dig the ground carefully - remember that the nest with the baby can be at a considerable distance from the central stem.
Particular attention should be paid to sick, rotten and mummified bulbs, such material is immediately disposed of and burned.
Healthy bulbs are treated in a solution of potassium permanganate and dried. If there is a fear that the tulip bulbs are affected by rot, it is worth rejecting diseased bulbs and treating the planting material with preparations for rot and fungal infections.
To preserve the varietal characteristics of tulips, it is worth digging them up annually.

How to store bulbs until fall

After digging, the tulip bulbs are sorted according to varieties and parses, after which they are dried in partial shade in the air. To ensure that the tulip planting material is well preserved until the autumn planting, the bulbs are laid out in boxes with ventilation holes.

For about a month, the bulbs are dried at a temperature of 23-25 \u200b\u200b° C, humidity up to 70% in rooms with good ventilation. Gradually, the storage temperature of the planting material is reduced:

August- set the temperature regime up to 20 ° C.
September - the temperature is lowered to 15-17 ° C.

Compliance with the temperature regime is fundamental for the development of tulips for the next year, because flower buds and the formation of peduncles occur just in the last summer months.

Do not neglect the visual inspection of the bulbs, so you can immediately notice rotten and diseased specimens that must be immediately destroyed.

Already in September-October, tulips and the baby are again planted in the flower beds in the garden to enjoy the bright carpet of charming spring flowers grown from their own bulbs in early spring.

Tulips are good for everyone - a bright riot of colors, early flowering, decorative properties. One thing is bad - their age is too short. April, May have flown by, tulips have faded, what to do next? Do I need to continue caring for faded plants? How to use the vacant space in your garden design? When to dig up and plant the bulbs? We will discuss these and other issues in more detail.

Post-flowering care

To understand the biological characteristics of a tulip, one must look at the natural conditions in which its genetics was formed. And these are steppe and semi-desert regions of Asia with early spring and summer heat, warming the soil to great depths. Hence the development cycle of bulbous flowers:

spring vegetation;
bloom;
division and ripening of the bulb;
summer dormancy period (warming up);
autumn planting;
the period of winter dormancy (cooling);
spring vegetation.

From the sequence of biological rhythms, we see that the care of tulips after flowering should be aimed at the formation and maturation of strong, healthy bulbs.

Continue watering regularly for 2 weeks after flowering. Make sure that the ground gets wet to a depth of 30–40 cm. The roots of a tulip are not adapted to extract water from the lower layers of the soil, therefore they are sensitive to surface moisture.

When flowering comes to an end, feed the plants with complex mineral fertilizers, which contain potassium and phosphorus. This portion of food will go into the formation of the scales of the replacement bulb, the growth of children. Dissolve 30–40 g of granular fertilizers in a bucket of water and pour 10 l / m².

Remove wilted flowers and seeds in time. The seed pod left on the stem draws off nutrition from the bulb, preventing it from fully forming.

As you can see, in order to care for tulips after flowering, a simple set of procedures is enough - not laborious and not time-consuming.

Important! Some gardeners unknowingly cut tulip leaves immediately after flowering. This cannot be done! Without the aerial part, the growth of the bulb stops. When cutting flowers, leave at least 2 bottom leaves.

Digging and storage

By the second half of June, the foliage and stems of tulips will turn yellow, dry up - it's time for digging. The question of how often to do this is debated by more than one generation of florists. It all depends on climatic conditions and varietal properties. Based on biological needs, in July-August, the bulb needs to be warmed up at a temperature of 23-25⁰С. In the steppe zone, in the subtropics, the soil warms up to such temperatures, but in central Russia? Definitely not. In addition, if the bulbs are not dug out for a number of years, degeneration occurs - the flowers become smaller, varietal characteristics disappear, and the reproductive rate decreases.

Transplanting tulips after flowering is a necessary element of flower culture farming. The dug out bulbs are thoroughly dried for a week in a warm, shaded, ventilated place. After that, the planting material is cleaned from roots, old scales, sorted by size, diseased and damaged specimens are discarded.

This is how ripe bulbs look like during harvest.

Store tulips before planting - for 2–2.5 months. At this time, a flower bud is being laid for the next year, so it is important to create optimal conditions. The temperature regime in the initial storage period should be higher (23–25 ⁰С), after 1–1, 5 months it is reduced to 15–18 С, at the time of disembarkation it is brought closer to natural conditions (10–12 ⁰С). To make the bulbs "breathe", pour them in 1-2 layers, do not allow the cover scales to dry out.

How to plant a flower bed after tulips?

The unsightly appearance of faded tulips and withered leaves spoils the view of the garden. When decorating tulip beds after flowering, gardeners use several proven methods.

Growing in baskets

Planting bulbs in special perforated containers is gaining popularity among flower growers. This is convenient when digging out planting material - the bulbs "do not creep". But, most importantly, immediately after flowering, the basket, along with the soil and bulbs, can be removed from the flower bed and, having slightly dug in, left to ripen in an inconspicuous corner of the garden. This method completely solves the problem of when to transplant tulips after flowering in order to have time to arrange flower beds with summer flowers.

Planting seedlings of annuals

If you plant tulips in dense groups, then, having dug up the bulbs in mid-June, you will have time to plant the vacated beds with late-flowering summer plants. To do this, grow seedlings in individual containers. Salvia, zinnia, petunia, begonia, marigolds take root well, do not get sick and grow rapidly. You can plant annual dahlias, antirrinum, chrysanthemums - they will delight you with flowering until late autumn.

Selection of decorative neighbors

The design technique of "decorative neighborhood" is widely used, which allows you to disguise the unsightly appearance of faded plants. Plants with different growing and flowering periods are selected, but so that they actively move into growth no earlier than the second half of May. The generally recognized "neighbors" of tulips are perennial hosts, astilbe, ferns. If you do not plan to dig up tulips, ground covers are ideal - sedum, phlox, periwinkle, purslane.

Note! If ripening tulip bulbs are adjacent to other plants, be careful with watering. Excessive waterlogging can lead to decay of the planting material.

What to do after tulips bloom

Do daffodils need a haircut?

Diversified in shape, size of flowers, color and, moreover, resistant to adverse conditions, unpretentious daffodils inhabit many gardens near Moscow. Lush May bloom pleases summer residents, but what to do with the leaves after it ends? Cut or not?

We proceed from the nature of the plant. The root system of the daffodil is perennial. The roots live off the bulb, which grows from the inside and on which, in turn, babies appear, giving life to a new plant. The more nutrient reserves the bulb retains, the more energy the plant will have for flowering next year. And this process of food accumulation is directly related to the leaves. As long as the leaves remain green (sometimes even until August), there is an accumulation of nutrients in the scales of the bulbs.

Hence the conclusion: you cannot cut the leaves of daffodils immediately after flowering. For a better future, you will have to endure a not-too-pretty present. Moreover, try to maintain soil moisture both during bud formation and during flowering, up to the wilting of the leaves.

So that drying leaves do not spoil the harmony of your flower garden, consider this feature of bulbous plants even when planting and combine daffodils with other perennials: daylilies, hosts, heucheras, astilbe and brunners, which, growing by the summer season, will cover the withered foliage with their green "wings".

There is an interesting and very effective design technique: slightly drooping daffodil leaves that have fallen to the sides are collected, like hair, in a bun and braided "braids", which are then laid on the ground. And the beauty of the garden, and the benefits of the plant.

When to prune daffodils after flowering for the winter?

When the plants have faded, they need to be fertilized. Choose fertilizer with a high percentage of phosphorus and potassium. Now you need to wait until the leaves are completely dry, then remove them and loosen the soil. There is an opinion that daffodils are unpretentious and do just fine without covering before winter, but it is erroneous. In particular, plants need this if they were planted in the second half of September. This is a late planting, because, before the arrival of cold weather, the flowers do not have time to fully adapt and may not survive in the frosty, snowless winter.

The most vulnerable to frost are varieties of daffodils with large flowers. To protect them from freezing, cover the flowers with dry fallen leaves, peat, dry grass, wood ash or special materials for mulching (for example, agrofibre). The soil must be mulched before the frosts hit. How to properly mulch the soil, you can learn from the article: "Rules for mulching the soil." You can remove the mulch layer only in spring, when there will be no sudden changes in temperature and the risk of frost outside.

Florists are often interested in the question of what to do with tulips after flowering. After the tulips have faded, the hassle does not end with them. In order for them to please with colorful flowering in the new season, a number of actions will be required. It is necessary:

Water tulips abundantly after flowering;
Apply top dressing;
Dig up and store the bulbs correctly.

So the last petals fell from the tulips, but this does not mean that the planting can be abandoned without leaving. Good quality bulbs will require favorable conditions to form. However, caring for tulips after flowering in the garden is quite simple, even a schoolboy can handle it.

Do tulips need to be cut after flowering?

When to cut tulips after flowering photo

When to cut tulips after flowering? First of all, cut the flower stalk: cut the flower stalks after all the petals have crumbled. If you leave the flower stalks, the bulb will give nutrients for the formation and maturation of seeds. If you cut off the ground part completely, the bulb will also not receive the required amount of nutrients, so be sure to leave the leaves. When the leaf plates turn yellow and dry on their own, it means that the bulbs are ripe and can be dug out.

Watering tulips after flowering

Within 1-2 weeks after cutting the peduncles, it is necessary to water the plantings abundantly, loosen the soil and remove weeds.

How to feed

Immediately after flowering, feed tulips with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer to prepare for future wintering and flowering, nitrogen cannot be applied.

Tulips after flowering what to do video:

When to dig up tulips after flowering outdoors

Do you dig tulips after flowering?

You do not need to dig up tulip bulbs for several seasons in a row. Dug out the bulbs if it is necessary to plant less often when the lawn has become thickened. It also has to be dug in regions with harsh winters for storage indoors until spring.

When to dig up tulip bulbs after flowering?

When to dig out tulips after flowering in Siberia and the Moscow region? Dig the tulip bulbs when the leaves are completely yellow and dry. Stick to the following order:

To dig up the bulbs, it is better to choose a warm, sunny day so that the bulbs can dry out normally;
Work carefully with a shovel so as not to damage the roots and bulbs of tulips;
After digging, carefully examine the bulbs. Painful-looking, rotten throw away;
If you have to dig up the bulbs in rainy weather, rinse and dry them in a warm ventilated area;
If there are signs of disease (fungus, spots, dots), treat the bulbs with a fungicide, then store them separately from the bulk.

When to replant tulips after flowering

When to dig up and plant tulips after flowering? Transplanting tulip bulbs that have just faded is not worth it. It is necessary to wait until the ground part becomes yellow and dry (it is advisable to cut off the faded peduncles immediately after the leaves fall). By this time, all the nutrients have transferred to the bulb and it will be ready for the new growing season. Tulips are planted after flowering or in June, immediately after digging, or in mid-September to mid-October... In regions with harsh winters (for example, in the Urals), many growers plant tulips in the spring.

Transplanting tulips after flowering in June

The leaves should lie down and dry, then proceed with the transplant. This is quite simple: dig up the bulbs and plant them less often, keeping the same planting level. You do not need to dry the bulbs on purpose, but plant immediately after digging. You can cut dry tops after transplanting, so it is more convenient to control the planting depth. But if you're sure you can't go wrong, you can prune the leaves right away.

How to store tulips after flowering

How to store tulip bulbs after flowering? After the dug out tulip bulbs have been dug up, dried and sorted, proceed to storage. It is best to use mesh boxes, the bulbs can be laid in 1-2 layers, so they will not rot. In addition to sorting and unfolding properly, proper temperature control is an important part of proper storage of bulbs. So:

Store at 24-26 ° C in July;
In August, lower the mark to 20 ° C;
From September, a temperature of 17 ° C will be required if you are planning a spring planting;
In the following months (up to spring planting in open ground), store at a temperature of 12-15 ° C.

It is very important to observe the correct temperature regime when storing the bulbs, since during this time buds are formed, leaf plates and flower stalks are laid.

Store the bulbs in a dry, ventilated area. Periodically look at the bulbs, discard the spoiled (rotten) ones so as not to destroy all the planting material.

How to dig up and store tulips before planting in the fall, look at the video:

Dug up tulips can also be planted in autumn, in the middle to the second half of September, until mid-October. How to dig up and save tulips before planting in autumn, learn from the video.

To grow a large bulb or propagate a variety, on the 4-8th day of flowering, you must cut off the flowering head. This measure helps to increase the mass of the bulb.

Remove crumbled petals, yellowed leaves from the garden - they will rot, which contributes to the development of pathogens in the area.

To greatly facilitate the work of caring for tulips, plant them in plastic baskets (there are also special containers for this). After flowering, dig up the containers with the bulbs and move them to a secluded spot for the bulbs to ripen.

How do you know if a tulip bulb is ripe? Dig up one of them and examine carefully. The ripe bulb has superficial scales of a pleasant rich brown color, with a slight glossy sheen.

For flower growers, the question of the timing of digging tulips is quite exciting, their future growth and flowering depends on it. For those who are not yet in the subject, I will explain: they dig up tulips when they bloom, for summer holidays, plant them in autumn, they winter in the garden.

The opinions of gardeners differ, there are those who do not dig the bulbs at all, believing that it is better not to disturb the flowers. But this is a very vague argument, in fact, without digging out the tulip bulbs become smaller, reluctantly multiply, the risk of disease and pest damage increases, and if you do not dig it for more than 2 years, it is very difficult to find the bulbs - they literally go to the depths.

Varietal tulips of Dutch selection (up to 90% of them in the world market), even acclimatized to our latitudes, are noticeably smaller without transplanting. Sometimes, due to a banal lack of time (vegetable garden, berries) and laziness, expensive and beautiful varietal tulips disappear. Although my grandmother annually dug out outbred simple red tulips, they bloomed every year for everyone to see! It is permissible to dig them out after 2, maximum 3 years, if this is not done, then the bulbs will gradually sink into the ground so that there is not enough strength to germinate.

There are varieties that completely lose varietal characteristics without drying and a warm dry period in the summer - in other words, in the second year, flowers of a different color and doubleness will bloom from the un-dug bulbs. Sometimes they do not bloom at all, unfold their leaves, vegetate their term and wither safely, not even delighting with a flower. Sometimes they wither and disappear completely. An angry grower can blame unscrupulous sellers and breeders, but in reality, you just need to find out in advance which variety you are purchasing.

In general, all tulips can be divided into three groups:

Requiring annual digging: lily-colored, fringed, parrot, green-colored, double late, Rembrandt tulips
Varieties that you don't have to dig for 2 years: Darwin's hybrids, Triumph tulips and simple ones are possible, but not desirable, i.e. ideally, it is best to dig it up annually.
Tulips that can grow without digging up to 5 years are varieties and hybrids of Kaufman, Foster, Greig.

Although there are tulips that lose varietal characteristics due to inconsistencies in conditions, our climatic zone does not help, neither proper planting nor care. This is due to the genetic dependence of the variety to clear climatic factors (temperature deviations of 3-4 ° C already cause deviations in the formation of color or doubleness). Particularly capricious are some varieties of Kaufman tulips Tulipa kaufmanniana, Greig tulips Tulipa greigii, some double varieties, for example, varieties "Stresa", "Miranda", "Princess Sharmant" and others).

There is no particular benefit for growers to strive to breed resistant varieties, their policy is simple - you buy new bulbs every year, and after flowering you throw them away and buy new ones.

By the way, there are also light, resistant varieties, among the fringed tulips: "Blue Heron", "Lambada". Of the simple - purple "Queen of the Night", Darwinian hybrid "Blushing Apeldoorn" and lily-colored "Claudia", from the Triumph group - "Yokohama" and "Arabian Mystery".

Why dig up tulips

Let's summarize why you still need to dig up tulip bulbs:

The need to divide the overgrown nest of bulbs, otherwise they will not have enough nutritional area.
Selection of healthy planting material and rejection of damaged and weak bulbs.
Adaptation to the local climate. Tulips are very thermophilic; during normal cultivation, they lack heating, because the temperature at the depth of the garden bed or flower bed is much lower than the ambient temperature. Even in the southern regions of Russia, the soil temperature at a depth of 15-20 cm in June-July is not always sufficient, for example, for growing parrot and fringed varieties (this leads to a loss of grade). And we can store the dug out bulbs in the most optimal conditions.
Preparing the soil for the next cycle: during the season, the soil becomes compacted, depleted, loses nutrients and porosity, having cleared the flower bed, it can be qualitatively prepared for fresh plantings.
Plant the bulbs to the desired depth, if you do not dig out the tulips, the bulbs gradually "go" into the ground.
Another reason for the need to dig out the Dutch is the tendency to decay. There are varieties, the bulbs of which need to be dug out earlier, immediately after flowering, when the leaves are just beginning to turn yellow, do not leave them even in dry ground - they rot.

How to determine the timing of digging tulips

There is a general rule: you can dig up tulip bulbs when one third of the leaf turns yellow. Digging at this stage will keep the entire nest of bulbs intact - they will not fall apart. In central Russia, this is approximately the end of June, beginning of July.

Tip for timing your tulip bulbs: If the end of the tulip stem can be easily wrapped around your finger, it's time to dig.

Even if the weather is dry and hot, do not leave tulips in the ground - if you are late with digging, when the leaves are completely dry and yellow, the nests of the bulbs easily disintegrate when digging, the bulbs are small, it is difficult to select them all, you have to sift the soil.

However, there are exceptions to the rule - if in the spring and early summer the weather turned out to be damp and cold - unfavorable for tulips. No need to wait for yellowing, the bulbs need to be dug up and dried well. You need to dig out, first of all, the earliest varieties that bloomed in April. Later varieties, immediately after the end of flowering, need to be fed and dug out after 2 weeks. These bulbs, dug out ahead of time, can be planted for ripening in containers, boxes. Those. sprinkle with dry earth without cutting off leaves and peduncles and place in a warm, dry place.

How to dig up bulbs

You need to dig the bulbous ones on dry soil, when it is crumbly and pliable. Dig with a pitchfork, grabbing a piece of land slightly retreating from the planting, if the leaves and peduncles are still strong, shake off the ground and do not cut off the aboveground part - the remaining tops still give nutrients to the bulbs.

If the soil is damp, rinse the bulbs with plenty of water. Then inspect.

A sign of ripening tulip bulbs: the scales are dense, acquire a golden brown color.

Pay attention to mold and rot. Then the bulbs need to be washed in a pink solution of potassium permanganate or foundationol, you can use the drug maxim, copper oxychloride or medex. Soak in the solution for 30 minutes.

The bulbs are now ready for storage.

How to store tulip bulbs

The bulbs must be dried first. For this we use cardboard boxes. It is important to sort by varieties and be sure to sign right away. Lay out in one layer.

Put together only healthy, good, non-stained bulbs. All suspicious in the quarantine box, perhaps the alarms will be in vain and the bulbs will lie well, especially after treatment with fungicides.

You can dry the onions like onions in nylon vegetable nets, in which they are sold in the supermarket.

It is important that the drying place is well ventilated, not in the sun, light shading, best of all - the attic of a country house or in a shed.

In the first two days, the old covering scales will dry up from the bulbs, they can be removed like the husks from an onion. Remove remnants of dried roots and soil particles. Well-dried bulb nests fall apart easily, if you don't want to, carefully separate them.

After drying and removing the remaining leaves (dry they are easily separated), you need to calibrate the bulbs in order to decide what to do with them next. First of all, select the largest ones for planting, with this tulips everything is simple - the larger the bulb, the better. Ideal size - at least 4 cm in diameter, round shape. We plant small things as well as large ones, just remember that they may not bloom in the first year - they can be planted separately.

Storage temperature

The first month the temperature is needed around 24-25 ° С, not lower than 23 ° С, with humidity not higher than 70% and very good air movement. For example, it is unacceptable to store in a garage, any garage is an impermeable box where mold can easily grow, it is better to store it right on the street, under a canopy. If the weather fails, we take the bulbs home on the mezzanine or under the bed, the old proven method ...

Temperature is important for the flower bud to develop in the bulb. Sometimes flower “ABCs” warn us to raise the temperature, but in fact, the temperature depends on the needs of the varieties, for example, parrot and fringed tulips should be stored at about 30 ° C.

Since August, the temperature should be lowered, on average about 20 ° C, if the bulbs were in a warm house, transfer them to the shed or to the veranda. From the end of August to the beginning of September it is even cooler, about 15-16 ° C, these are the temperatures that are maintained in Dutch greenhouses, where everything is calibrated to a degree. But since the humidity rises, it is already unacceptable to store it outdoors under a canopy, look for a dry place.

Experts say that it is impossible to deviate from the rules and violate the cycle of ripening of tulip bulbs: in the first month after digging, flower rudiments are laid, the formation of replacement buds (the main young bulb) and daughter bulbs, leaf rudiments are laid. Two months later, the rudiments of stamens, ovary, pistil.

If there is a deviation of the temperature regime from the norm and the needs of the variety, after distillation or when grown in the open field, the formation of "blind" buds is observed (drying out not yet opened).

However, blind buds can form for a variety of reasons (insufficient cooling period before forcing, fusarium infection, etc.)

We store the dug out bulbs until the optimal planting time, approximately until mid-September - mid-October, when the soil temperature is + 9-12 ° C, it depends on the region and on the weather.

You've probably heard or read stories about how someone has the same parrot tulips growing without digging and blooming for everyone's joy. Indeed, sometimes not digging out the summer is not fatal, but experienced gardeners know that everything once in a while, if the summer is warm, it can do without, but a cold snap for a week can lead to rot and other diseases.

Olga Treukhina

Tulips grown in the garden delight the eye with their bright flowering in early spring, when all other plants are just awakening from hibernation. But their flowering does not last long, and after that the bulbs have a dormant period when they begin to prepare for the next season. The dormant period is a crucial moment in tulip cultivation. Their flowering next year depends on compliance with the rules for digging and storing the bulbs.

Is it necessary to dig up tulips after flowering

Tulips are frost-resistant flowers that are not afraid of even the most severe frosts. They hibernate in open ground without any problems and break out of the ground in spring at the onset of the first warmth. Tulips can be grown in the same place for more than one year, and this does not affect their vegetation. But this does not mean at all that the bulbs can be planted in the ground once and forgot about them at the end of flowering.

Tulip bulbs must be dug up every year.

Tulips require careful care not only during the growing season, but also after it. Caring for the bulbs after flowering is an important event on which the preservation of the size and brightness of the color of flowers depends. Inexperienced growers are often faced with a situation when purchased varietal bulbs that bloom gorgeous in the first year after planting next spring give small, nondescript flowers. And a year later, only leaves appear at the planting site of the bulbs, and not a single flower is formed.

Inexperienced growers conclude that they have been deceived by sellers. But this opinion is erroneous. In fact, the cause of poor flowering is due to improper bulb maintenance. Bulbs of varietal tulips must be dug out of the soil to care for them annually.

This must be done for the following reasons:

Therefore, there is no doubt about the need for annual digging and drying of tulip bulbs for their correct development. Therefore, after flowering in the open field, all the bulbs must be dug up, sorted and dried.

In general, all varieties of tulips can be divided into three subgroups:

Requiring excavation every year. these include fringed, lily-shaped, green-colored, terry late, Rembrandt.
Varieties that can be dug up every two years. These are Darwin hybrids, Triumph tulips and simple, non-varietal species.
Tulips that do not have to be dug up for 5 years. These include hybrids of Kaufman, Greig, Foster.

Timing and technology for digging tulips

The answer to the question of when to dig up tulips depends on several factors. The timing is influenced by climatic and weather conditions, the variety and age of the flowers. Most often, the timing of digging occurs in late June and early July. But for early varieties, the time may come in mid-June. Late varieties may complete their growing season by the end of July.

The specific period for digging out the bulbs can be determined by the condition of the aerial part of the flower. Yellowing of the leaves is a signal that the roots have begun to die off, and the plant goes into a state of dormancy.

If the leaves of the tulip began to turn yellow, and the stem became more dry, then it’s time to dig up the plant.

You should not rush to the procedure before the leaves dry. If the bulbs are removed from the soil too early, they will be immature and will not overwinter well afterwards. It is also not worth delaying the process, since there is a risk of losing the bulbs in the garden. Babies from overripe bulbs easily fall off and are lost in the soil. In addition, keeping the bulbs in moist soil for a long time will lead to fungal and mildew damage.

Important. If the spring turned out to be cold and rainy, but the summer heat did not come. The bulbs need to be dug out without waiting for the foliage to turn yellow. In this case, the bulbs are planted for ripening in boxes filled with dry soil.

It is necessary to dig up the bulbs only in dry weather, when the soil is loosely crumbled. Plants are carefully removed from the soil along with the leaves and stems remaining on the bulbs. The remains of the aerial part and too long roots are cut off from the bulbs. The bulbs are washed in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate, after removing the covering scales from them.

After digging up, the tulip bulbs are carefully peeled from the ground and washed in manganese.

If you have to dig up the bulbs in damp weather, you must thoroughly rinse all the soil from them. It is recommended to treat raw bulbs with Fundazol or Maxim. In a solution of these preparations, the bulbs must be kept for 30 minutes.

Drying and sorting rules for bulbs

Before sorting, the bulbs are pre-dried and only after that they are sorted by type and size. Sorting is not recommended before drying, as the delicate surface of the bulbs can be accidentally damaged.

Dry the bulbs in a well-ventilated place, protected from the sun. It is best to lay them out in one layer on shelving in a barn or in the attic of a country house. In the first week after drying, the upper, rough scales and remnants of roots will fall off the bulbs.

After drying, the bulbs are placed in different boxes, sorted by size and grade. At the same time, specimens with injuries and signs of disease are discarded. A healthy bulb has a hard, smooth, creamy surface. The top of the bulb is covered with thin, golden brown scales.

Methods and conditions for storing bulbs before planting

The bulbs are sorted and placed in wooden boxes.

The question of how to store the bulbs before planting in the fall also causes difficulties for novice flower growers. The ideal place for bulbs is in wooden crates. This storage option is preferable to using cardboard boxes, which become soaked over time.

Large specimens are laid out in one layer, small change can be laid in 2-3 layers. To remove excess moisture and provide additional protection, some growers recommend sprinkling the bulbs with dry sawdust.

Bulb storage temperature

Boxes with tulips are installed in a dry, ventilated room. The optimum storage temperature for the first month is 24-25 degrees with a humidity level of no more than 70%. If weather conditions permit, the boxes can be installed under a canopy right outside. Do not leave bulbs outside in cold and damp weather. It is better to bring tulips into the house and place them under the bed or on the mezzanine.

In August, the storage temperature of the bulbs must be reduced to 19-20 degrees. If the bulbs have been kept at home up to this point, it is recommended to move them to a shed or veranda. In summer cottages, it is permissible to lower the bulbs into the basement. From the end of August, the temperature of the bulbs should not exceed 15-16 degrees.

Some growers store the bulbs for the entire period before planting in the refrigerator at a temperature of 8-9 degrees and claim that after such storage, tulips bloom beautifully and do not get sick.

Lighting and humidity requirements

During storage, the bulbs must be protected as much as possible from light access to them. In natural conditions, the bulbs are constantly in the ground, so extra light is unnatural for them. In order for the natural physiological processes in the bulbs not to be disturbed, they need complete darkness.

Do not store tulip bulbs in rooms with high humidity.

High humidity is absolutely contraindicated for bulbs. The humidity level in the room where tulips are stored should not exceed 70%. Otherwise, the bulbs will become damp and moldy.

At the same time, excessive dryness is also dangerous for the bulbs. When stored in a hot, dry room, the bulbs dry out completely and literally turn into dust.

Experts say that maintaining all cycles of bulb ripening guarantees the preservation of varietal characteristics of plants. In the first month after extraction from the soil, a flower rudiment is laid and the formation of buds of replacement and daughter bulbs is formed. In the second month, the leaf buds are laid. And in the last month, the stamens, ovary and pistil are laid. Violation of the recommended temperature regimes leads to the formation of "blind" buds during cultivation in the ground.

Compliance with the rules for digging out and storing bulbs is a guarantee that tulips will delight the summer resident with their luxurious flowering for more than one year. This procedure is not complicated, so you should not neglect it, so that in the spring the flower beds are decorated with graceful, large flowers.

This video will help you understand how to dig up tulips correctly and when to do it.

End of spring, beginning of summer. One of the first spring flowers - tulips - have faded. The florist begins other chores. It is necessary to dig up the bulbs in a timely manner, sort them, put them in storage and plant them in the fall at the optimal time.

Let's consider each type of work in more detail.

Why are tulip bulbs dug up?

There are several reasons. A feature of the growth of tulip bulbs is their constant striving inward. If the bulbs are not dug out after each flowering, then with each season the tulip babies go deeper and deeper into the soil. It is more difficult for them to germinate from great depths. Seedlings are getting smaller and smaller every year, flowering stops. Over time, tulips will stop sprouting. The flowers will disappear.

Another reason forcing growers to dig up bulbs every year is the rapid degeneration of varietal tulips. It has been noticed that if exotic varieties of tulips (parrot or fringed) are not dug out at the end of the season, then after a short time the tulips return to their original shape. Most often, tulips become ordinary, red.

Another reason why tulips are better for digging up is the need for a dormant period. During this time, a flower arrow forms in the bulb. For the successful course of this process, an elevated temperature is required - not less than 25 ° C, but not higher than 35. It is impossible to withstand such a temperature at the landing depth even in the southern regions.

Prolonged cultivation of any plant in one place leads to the accumulation of waste products and pathogens around it. Digging up the bulbs every year and replanting them will reduce the chances of contamination of the plantings and provide fresh soil for planting.

Nowadays, many tulip lovers are planting bulbs in planting baskets. Is it necessary to dig up the bulbs planted in this way, because they almost do not go deep into the soil? Yes, of course, the baby tulips will not go to great depths, but the small bulbs remaining in large quantities will interfere with flowering, taking food from the mother bulb. In addition, digging out tulips planted in a basket will not take much effort and time, and almost everything, including the smallest ones, will be dug out.

Sorting is another reason to dig up tulip bulbs. The bulbs are sorted by size. In autumn, it is better to plant large and small bulbs separately, rejecting diseased and weak plants.

There are exceptions to any rule. Species tulips and tulip bulbs of some varieties can be left in the growing area for several seasons.

When to dig up tulips, the optimal time?

Choosing the right time to dig up the bulbs is very important in order to obtain abundant flowering in the next season.

When tulips are planted in clumps among perennials, they can be dug out after two to three seasons. It is possible to decide whether to dig up the bulbs or not, given the intensity of the flowering. Plants that are lush blooming with healthy leaves do not need to be dug up annually.

It is impossible to tell in advance when to dig up the bulbs. This happens differently in each region. You can determine the required timeframe by external signs.

The main sign of the time to dig tulips is a change in the color of the leaves after the end of flowering. Withered and yellowed leaves are the first sign that bulb formation is complete.
Another sign showing that tulips need to be dug is the wilting of the peduncle. If the pedicel can be wound around the finger without breaking, it means that all the necessary substances from it have gone into the bulb and can be dug out.
Another sign of bulb maturation is the color of the onion covers. On sufficiently mature bulbs, the outer layer is deep brown and dried out.

But you shouldn't delay with this. In an optimally ripe bulb, babies hold on tightly and do not fall off with a light touch. Having missed the required dates, there is a danger that most of the small bulbs will remain in the soil and give small shoots the next year.

In central Russia, the optimal time for digging out tulip bulbs is in late June - early July. And of course, you need to dig up tulips, taking into account the timing of flowering. Early flowering varieties are dug up earlier, late flowering varieties - later. Waiting until all bloom is not the best solution. The bulbs of early-flowering tulips will overripe and lose the baby, while the bulbs of late-flowering tulips will not form yet.

How to properly dig up tulips to keep the bulbs well?

They begin to dig the bulbs on a clear day, when the soil is well dried. In this case, the dry and loose soil will fall off easily and painlessly.

It is better to use a pitchfork as a tool. Using a shovel increases the likelihood of damage to the bulbs. Having dug up the tulips, it is better to dig up the area again, removing the remaining bulbs.

It is better to keep a pitchfork or a shovel upright when digging up the bulbs - this is less likely to damage the bulbs.

It is not worth removing tulips from the ground by pulling them by the stem - the stem may remain in your hands, and the bulb is in the ground.

How to store the bulbs before planting?

You can get an abundant flowering of tulips in the next season if the bulbs are properly prepared for storage. It is better to cut the flowers before blooming, leaving at least two leaves on the plant. If the flowers are not cut, they try to avoid the formation of seeds by weakening the bulb.

Dug up bulbs need:

Dry. The dug out bulbs are dried in the shade at moderate temperatures for up to three weeks.
Choose optimal storage conditions. At the initial stage of storage, the temperature should be at least + 15 ° C, optimally + 25 ° C and air humidity 70%. Gradually, the temperature should be reduced and brought to + 13 ° C by the time of disembarkation. This completes the maturation and hardens the bulbs before planting. It is better to store planting material in trays, in a layer of no more than 3 rows, protecting it from rodents and insects. No lighting is required for stored tulips; weak, diffused light is allowed. Good ventilation will help protect tulip bulbs from diseases before planting.
Before laying for storage, the bulbs are cleaned of the ground, freed from the integumentary scales, dried roots are removed, and the bulbs are sorted by size. The planting depth depends on the size of the planting material.

How to dig up and store tulips: video

We plant tulips in autumn

Most often, tulips are planted in a flower bed in the fall. By this time, the dormant period ends and the bulbs begin to germinate. The time frame is practically unlimited. It can be planted in early autumn, or later, along with garlic, shortly before frost. Some growers plant tulips in early spring. In this case, they will bloom in mid-autumn. Such terms require a lot of labor - in the middle of summer, in the very heat, the flowers will need to be removed for a while in a cool place, in a basement or refrigerator. At the end of September, the plants are returned to the flower bed for flowering.

When planting tulip bulbs, you need to remember that:

Depending on the size of the bulb, the planting depth is chosen. It should be equal to three diameters of the bulb, but not more than 15 cm.
Larger bulbs look more harmonious in the center, smaller ones at the edges.
The distance between large bulbs is about 10 cm, for small ones 5-8 will be enough.
The space between tulips of different types and colors is left 20 cm - this will allow the bulbs to not get confused during growth.
A layer of sand is poured at the bottom of the hole, the bulbs are spread over the surface without pressing them into the sand.
The planting holes are covered with earth and leveled.
In dry weather in autumn, 10 days after planting, the flowers are watered.

Tulips will decorate and delight any site in the spring - plant and grow them correctly. And admire the flowers for years to come!