We did a little landscaping today and dug up a couple dozen small tulip bulbs from the front garden. I’d like to re-plant them so they’ll grow in the spring, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to do that now, or keep them till the fall, because I know you usually plant new bulbs in the fall. If I have to keep them, how do I store them so they’ll survive?
>bump< because I’d like to know this, too. I have a couple of tulips blooming right now that I’d like to move. When do I dig them up? After the flowers fade? In the fall? If in the fall, when in the fall (I live on the south short of Lake Michigan, if it matters)
Wait till the foliage has almost died down then dig them up and lay them in a shallow tray for a few days for the soil to dry off, after which gently remove this soil. For storage use a net bag (the sort they sell onions in) and hang the bag in a cool and dark place such as a cellar or garage.
What if I don’t want to “store” them, but simply move them from one spot to another?
Broomstick, here in Tennessee tulips are sort of a disposable flower, they never come back anywhere near as pretty as they did the first year. I’d say enjoy that flower while it’s here this year and toss it away.
It might be different where you live. You could check with local master gardeners or your Extension office. If you really want to try and save it, wait until the bulb goes dormant, when the leaves wither and die, to move it.
Antigen, did your tulips bulbs bloom this year? Somehow I got from your post that the bulbs you are speaking of are currently dormant.
They did bloom, but digging them up also showed several tiny bulbs that I’m not sure produced any flowers, or even sprouted.
Um… it’s about the third year these have come up, and I really don’t like throwing these sorts of things away. It just seems… wasteful. So I have these odd tulips growing in a patch of sprouting spinach (OK, I’m a weird sort of gardener). Actually, I think the local squirrels stole the tulips out of someone else’s garden and buried them in mine.
OK… I keep getting told to contact those people, but neither the “extension office” nor the “local master gardnerers” have responded to my inquiries in their direction so you know I’m starting to regard them as more or less useless.
OK… does that mean move it mid-summer or move it in the fall?
You don’t disturb tulips until after the leaves yellow and are almost dead. You then make sure they have some days of air time to dry off the outside. You then plant time anytime before mid October. Digging up still green leaved tulip plants soon after flowering means you might as well toss them in the garbage.
I guess I recommended these people again because in my county they are embarassingly eager to help. I call about a soil test, and someone is at my door with a testing kit the next day. Thye offer to test my well while they are there and they tour my garden to make suggestions for plants to buy. Sorry yours are so unresponsive.
I’d move the tulips in mid-summer. I disn’t toss the last ones I planted either but 25 of them have dwindled down to 3 this spring. I won’t plant any more.
Antigen, maybe your tulips are making babies! Are they attached to the bigger bulbs? I’ve never had tulips make new bulbs, only daffodils.
Do you have long or short winters? Tulips need a fairly cold, fairly long winter to bloom again in the spring. That’s why they generally either don’t do very well in the South or they’re sort of the reverse of what dahlias are like here in the North (i.e., people dig them up in the fall and store them in the fridge till spring).
The little bulbs that someone found are probably splits. Tulip bulbs will have a tendency to split. You can plant the split bulbs separately and they will eventually grow to flowering size again (tulip bulbs need to be a certain size to flower).
Short winters, all the way, baby! Sometimes we don’t get enough chilling for the lilacs or peonies to bloom reliably. Just the price we pay for mild winters, I guess. On the other hand, I don’t have to dig up gladiolas for storage so it evens out.