Our conversation will be about when to dig up tulips after flowering, whether it should be done every year. I know that there is an opinion that you can plant tulips and not touch them for several years. But this is not so.
Why dig tulips after flowering
In the conditions of our flower beds, tulip bulbs (even for one season) tend to penetrate and, if we do not select them from the ground, then each year they will go deeper and deeper. From the depths, it will be difficult for the sprouts to break through to the top - as a result, the bulbs simply rot in the ground, not even leaving the kids. The spring flowerbed is empty ...
There is another reason that tulips need to be dug up. After flowering, the bulbs should form a new flower arrow in the dormant period. The main requirement is that at this time they should be at a temperature not lower than 25ºС. But the deeper, the lower the temperature of the soil. The farther north tulips grow, the more difficult it is to provide them with the desired temperature in depth.
Thus, there are at least two reasons why tulips should be selected from the soil after flowering:
- avoid the natural deepening of the bulbs;
- to provide storage temperature not lower than 25ºС for formation of a full-fledged flower arrow.
If you want to admire the large flowers of tulips - it is recommended to extract bulbs from the ground every year.
This is one of the main techniques of agricultural technology for growing tulips.
Leaving the bulbs intact in the ground, we deliberately contribute to the shredding of flowers, since next to one bulb several children are formed, which will also sprout in the spring. We get a bunch of tulip sprouts, which will prevent each other from growing and developing, they will also not have enough nutrition. As a result, we will get smaller and smaller flowers every year on the flowerbed. In addition, remaining in the ground, tulip bulbs accumulate disease, and bloom the next year will be later than usual.
For better formation of a flower arrow after flowering, immediately cut off all the peduncles, do not let the seed box ripen.
People often ask me if tulips that were planted in special bulbs for bulbs should be removed from the ground. Indeed, in this case, the bulbs will not allow the bottom to deepen in a plastic form.
That's right, deepening will not happen, but if you do not choose bulbs from the ground that grow with children over time, you run the risk of losing plentiful blooms - the flowers will become smaller, their number will decrease, not grow.
By planting tulips and other bulbs in plastic baskets for bulbs, you make it much easier, speed up the work of digging. All bulbs - large, medium, small - are in one place, it is impossible to miss them, leave them in the ground.
Digging Dates
The exact date when the time comes to dig up tulips after flowering, no one will tell you. Usually I answer such a question - at the beginning of summer. But this is true for the Kuban, although not specifically. You can dig out tulip bulbs from us in the first half of June, in the middle zone of Russia - a month later.
The main guideline is the state and color of tulip leaves after flowering. That is, yellowed, wilted leaves let us know that the bulb has formed. As soon as you notice that the leaves began to turn yellow, faded - it's time to remove the tulip bulbs from the soil.
There is another landmark - the color of the integumentary scales of the bulbs. In ripe tulip bulbs, the upper scales should be brown.
Digging must be done very carefully. I use forks for this purpose, as a shovel can damage the bulbs. Then I go through the excavated area with a trident manual cultivator, since it is undesirable to leave children in the ground - small bulbs - this will simply clog the future flowerbed, making it not very beautiful.
It should be noted that if you grow tulips of early, middle and late flowering, it is better to dig them out at different times. Putting this work aside until later, until all varieties have flowered, you run the risk of not finding the place where the early flowers grew. Sorting bulbs by grades will also be easier. Digging a flowerbed with early tulips too late increases the risk of damaging the bulbs.
How to properly store tulip bulbs before planting
Dug bulbs are dried outdoors in the shade. The timing of the preliminary drying depends on which land you dug from. If the earth was dry, then 2-5 days are enough, and if it is wet, then the drying time increases - sometimes up to 2 weeks.
Then tulips, or rather, bulbs should be:
- clear of the earth;
- remove the topscale, the one that easily separates itself;
- tear off old dried roots;
- sort the bulbs by size.
Sorting into small, medium, large is required, since the depth of planting in the fall and the place of planting will depend on the size of the bulb.
Small and medium-sized bulbs, most likely, will not bloom next year - they can be planted for growing in a more modest, but sunny place, out of sight. And for planting large bulbs, we will choose the most honorable place.
Sorted, peeled bulbs should be placed in a ventilated, dry, warm room - an attic, a barn, a country house. They will be stored there until autumn planting at a temperature of 25-28ºС.