Contents
Every flower grower, no matter what kind of flowers he breeds: indoor or garden, knows perfectly well that each plant requires care and attention. And every minute spent is returned a hundredfold, delighting the owner of rare flowers with lush flowering. Therefore, they spare no time, no effort, and sometimes money to purchase valuable varieties and care for their pets. And how sometimes it is a shame, having spent a considerable amount on the purchase of seed, not to see the desired beautiful flowers in the spring in the flower bed. And sometimes many blame the sellers, they say, they sold low-quality goods.
In fact, the reason can be much simpler – just a failure to meet the deadlines for digging, storing and planting bulbs. To avoid such unpleasant moments, it is important to know how to store tulip bulbs from the moment they are dug up to the moment they are planted. This process is not burdensome, and does not require financial costs. But the gratitude of plants for the attention and time spent will return to you with lush tender buds in early spring.
Why dig up tulip bulbs every year
Is it really necessary to dig up tulip bulbs every year? Many will tell you “No”. In fact, there is no single answer. And this circumstance depends only on the variety of tulips.
Simple, garden flowers are transplanted every five or even seven years, believing that there is no need to waste time and effort, they already bloom beautifully every autumn. Some varieties require more careful care and are very picky about the timing of digging and planting. And there are those that cannot be dug up and replanted within two to three years. In any case, information about the terms and rules of storage will not be superfluous.
Here are just a few reasons why you should dig up tulip bulbs after flowering and store them for a short time:
- For lush flowering in the spring, it is necessary to create a certain storage regime for tulip bulbs. At this moment, the foundation for the future flower is laid in them – a flower arrow is formed. Mature onions should be stored strictly at a temperature of + 25˚С, no more, no less. Being deep underground, the bulb does not receive the necessary heat.
- All flowers of the bulbous family have one feature – every year they go into the ground to an ever greater depth. The deeper they go into the ground, the more difficult it is for weak and tender shoots to break through the thickness of the earth in spring. After all, over time, this land layer only increases. As a result, tulip bulbs simply rot in the ground, not even leaving children for subsequent reproduction. An empty flower bed is a rather sad sight. Especially in spring, when you really want to see the first colorful flowers.
- Earth. Even the most picky flowers take from the ground everything they need to grow and bloom. Therefore, over time, the soil becomes poorer, compacted and becomes unsuitable for plants. This circumstance affects the appearance of flowers, their resistance to diseases and the preservation of varietal characteristics. In the process of digging and planting tubers, you can not only loosen the compacted soil, but fertilize it with organic and inorganic additives, adding the necessary vitamins to the flowers’ diet.
- If you want to preserve the varietal characteristics of tulips, as well as get a large number of children from them, then it is simply necessary to dig up tulips after flowering and plant them in the fall. Within a couple of months after flowering, it will be difficult to select high-quality seed for subsequent plantings. And if the process of digging up tulip bulbs is excluded, the children will become smaller. And it will be very difficult to collect small onions.
- Humidity during storage is an important factor. For example, if tulips grow in a flower bed next to other flowers, you will inevitably water them. This way you can ruin the tulip bulbs. After all, during the dormant period, moisture for them is tantamount to a death sentence. Not only do the bulbs begin to rot, they are affected by various diseases, passing them on to each other in the ground. Having dug up and sorted the seed in a timely manner, you can avoid such consequences and rejoice in the spring, looking at tulips that are ideal in shape and color.
- By not separating extra small bulbs from mature bulbs during the process of digging and sorting, you create an acute shortage of minerals and nutrients necessary for normal growth and flowering of plants.
As you can see, there are many reasons for digging and storing tulip bulbs at the right time.
Why dig up tulips and how to do it correctly is described in the following video:
When to dig up tulip bulbs
And when does this “right time” come? Experienced flower growers are guided by the color and condition of the leaves. As soon as the leaves of tulips begin to wither, you need to prepare for the digging process: prepare a container and a storage room. And when the foliage has turned two-thirds yellow, it’s time to dig up the bulbs. It was at this moment that the tulip bulbs were ripe, but the babies have not yet fallen off. Thus, in addition to the natural preservation of the bulbs, we also get an excellent seed material that we have grown ourselves. The approximate ideal time for digging and drying in central Our Country is the period from the second decade of June to mid-July. In Siberia, the right time comes a little later – from the beginning to the end of July.
Due to the fact that different regions have different climatic conditions, there is no exact date for starting to dig up these spring flowers. Avid flower growers pay great attention not only to the condition of the foliage, but also to the belonging of tulips to a certain variety, flowering time and climate features.
Even a slight delay is fraught with the following consequences:
- There is a high probability that the bulbs will simply rot in the ground due to excess moisture or become infected.
- Even in two weeks, the children will grow up pretty much and separate from the main bulb. It will be very difficult to collect them, and the precious seed will be lost in the soil.
- A month and a half after flowering, the tulip bulbs begin to go deeper. At this time, you can easily damage them or not find them at all.
- In late spring and early summer, as you know, all insects are activated. Actively breeding, they pose a great danger to tulips. For example, the larvae of the cockchafer are very fond of bulbs, but as food, causing irreparable harm to flowers.
Too early digging also does not bode well. The bulbs will not have time to ripen and the next year’s flowers are likely to be small and weak.
If you are a happy owner of rare, exclusive varieties, then this process must be approached more scrupulously and not rely on chance.
A ripe onion dug out in time should have golden brown integumentary scales.
How to properly dig tulip bulbs
Digging tulip bulbs is necessary only in dry weather. It is desirable that the soil is also dry and crumbly.
If you have grown tulips in trellis baskets designed specifically for planting bulbs, then the digging process will be effortless. It is enough to dig a basket out of the ground, shake off excess soil.
If the tulips were planted in a flower bed or flower arrangements, then the digging process should be approached more carefully. In order not to damage the bulbs, you need to dig them out exclusively with a pitchfork, retreating 15 – 20 cm from the ground part of the plant. Then you will definitely not damage the bulbs.
From the excavated plants, it is necessary to carefully shake off the remnants of the soil. Carefully sort the bulbs by variety, size, and appearance. The following seed should be removed:
- sick or injured;
- too small seed (less than 1 cm in diameter);
- with traces of rot or mold.
Cutting the ground part of tulips immediately after digging is not recommended. It is best to do this after the bulbs have dried.
Lay the tulip bulbs in a single layer in a container to dry. Plastic fruit crates are ideal for this. They provide sufficient air access.
It is necessary to dry the seed in dry weather from 2 to 5 days, with high humidity this period can last up to two weeks. The most important thing is to choose the right place for drying tulip bulbs. It is important to place the container with onions in the shade, eliminating the possibility of direct sunlight.
What to do with tulip bulbs immediately after drying
After the tulip bulbs have completely dried out, you need to prepare them for storage before planting in the fall. At this stage, special attention should be paid to the appearance of the seed.
- Cut off the above ground part of the plant, but not too close to the bulb itself.
- Easily detachable covering scales should be removed. There is no need to forcefully remove them from the bulbs.
- Soak tulip bulbs in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (light pink solution of potassium permanganate) for 30 minutes to disinfect the seed. If desired, you can use specialized preparations for the treatment of bulbous. Fungicide “Maxim” proved to be excellent. It will help both preserve the bulbs and protect them from fungi and diseases.
- Once again, carefully inspect the bulbs, discarding material unsuitable for storage. Perhaps when the bulbs were dirty, you didn’t notice any scratches or wormholes.
- Carefully calibrate seed for size and variety.
Dry the bulbs and now they can be placed in containers prepared in advance for storage.
Storage container
For long-term storage of tulip bulbs at home, the container must be selected in accordance with the size and source material. It is important that the bulbs have free access to air during the entire storage period. Ideal for this case are plastic fruit boxes, wooden boxes 10-12 cm high.
They need to lay the bulbs in one layer. It is desirable that the tulip bulbs do not touch each other. You can shift them with dry sawdust or shavings. This material allows you to protect the precious seed from decay, absorbing excess moisture.
It is strictly forbidden to store tulip bulbs at home in cardboard boxes, plastic and metal buckets and basins, plastic bags. Cardboard is an excellent environment for the development of pathogenic bacteria, and in a closed container, the bulbs will quickly become damp and begin to rot.
Storage room
The room for storing the bulbs before planting in the fall must be chosen with great care. After all, for these delicate spring flowers during storage, indicators of humidity and ambient temperature are very important. By creating a favorable microclimate for the bulbs, you can be 100% sure that after a certain time you will get excellent material for planting tulips from storage.
Storage requirements:
- The storage area must be dark. It is important to exclude even short-term exposure to sunlight.
- The ability to check and regulate the temperature and humidity of the air. For varietal tulips, these parameters are of exceptional importance. Sometimes a temperature deviation of only 3˚С or 4˚С in one direction or another threatens not only with the degeneration of the variety, but also with the absence of flowers in the spring flower bed.
- The absence of rodents that can cause irreparable damage to the bulbs. If a basement is chosen to store the bulbs until spring, it can be pretreated to eliminate any possibility of pest penetration.
In a private house, the best rooms for storing bulbs at home are considered to be a basement, a barn or an attic. In an apartment, unfortunately, it is more difficult to choose the ideal place for the preservation of bulbs. But even here, flower lovers get out of the situation by placing boxes with bulbs under the bed, or on the balcony.
There are, of course, special heat chambers that help preserve the seed. The microclimate in them is saved automatically, it is only necessary to set the parameters correctly on the scoreboard. But such devices are not affordable for every grower.
There is an opinion that onions can be perfectly stored in an ordinary refrigerator, on the bottom shelf. Such a place is completely unsuitable for storing seed. According to the storage rules, for the first two months, the bulbs must be provided with an elevated temperature (+25˚С, +15˚С). At home, in refrigerators there is no way to create the appropriate conditions and gradually reduce the temperature. Therefore, you should not experiment, but it is better to make an effort and choose another place for storage.
Microclimate storages
An important condition for the safety of the seed is to ensure the temperature and humidity in the storage. These factors affect not only the safety of the bulbs before planting, but also the flowering and preservation of varietal characteristics. For example, if the temperature is too high or the humidity is insufficient, the bulbs will dry out.
But with high humidity there is a risk of development and spread of fungal diseases. There is also a risk that the bulbs will begin to germinate prematurely. In both cases, all seed material will inevitably perish. Therefore, the creation of a microclimate in a room for storing tulip bulbs, both in summer and winter, should be approached with all care.
In the first month of storage, the bulbs should be stored at +24˚С +25˚С. However, in August the temperature should be lowered by 5˚С, and in September by another 5˚С. Thus, by the autumn planting, the seed should be stored at + 15 ° C.
Humidity in the room must be maintained at 65 – 70%. The bulbs immediately signal you about insufficient moisture: they will become soft and begin to lose elasticity. Therefore, as soon as you notice that the humidity is low, you can put a small container of water in the room or not far from the seed container.
Under these conditions, you will keep all the bulbs safe and sound until the autumn planting work. If you carried out all the procedures in accordance with the above rules, then before planting you will see the results of your work – the bulb should be dry, clean and without the slightest sign of germination.
How to create ideal storage conditions for the bulbs, you will see in the following video:
Regular check of seed
The fact that you put tulip bulbs in storage until autumn does not mean at all that they do not need any care now. On the contrary, it is necessary to regularly, at least once a week, check the microclimate of the store and at least once a month to carry out a cursory analysis of the seed. Bulbs that show signs of disease or rot spots should be immediately removed from the container. They are to be destroyed. This procedure is done in order to prevent the spread of the disease and the general infection of all tulip bulbs. This check does not take much time, but the result will only be positive.
Handling after storage
Despite the fact that you carefully sorted and processed all the seed in the summer and regularly monitored its safety until the fall, it is still worth duplicating a couple of steps before planting the bulbs. It is necessary to carry out a decisive calibration and re-disinfection from rot and fungi of tulip bulbs before planting them in the ground. These works will not take so much time, but you will be sure that you did everything right. And the result of your actions will be a violent flowering of tulips on the site.
How to store tulip bulbs until spring
At times, the surrounding reality dictates its conditions to us. If the seed is purchased too late, or it is not possible to plant tulip bulbs on time, then you can save them until spring.
But at the same time, several rules must be observed.
- In autumn, plant the bulbs in boxes with earth. Prepare the soil for bulbs should be in advance. The height of the soil must be at least 40 cm. The distance between the bulbs is 5 cm.
- Lower boxes with planted tulip bulbs into the basement. It should be noted that the air temperature in the basement should be 3˚С – 5˚С, no more. At elevated temperatures, the bulbs will germinate too quickly, at low temperatures they will freeze.
- Once a week, you need to briefly examine your future flowers. If the earth in the boxes is too dry, you need to slightly moisten it. In no case should you flood the plantings – the bulbs will simply rot.
- In late February – early March, the first shoots should appear.
- With the onset of spring, boxes with sprouted bulbs should be taken outside, and in a few weeks you will be able to admire the first spring flowers.
During the winter, the bulbs are well rooted, and the slightest disturbance of the root system will lead to disastrous results: if you have a good and developed aerial part of the plant, you will not see flowers this year in early spring.
Preserving tulip bulbs in winter is a troublesome business, and therefore experienced flower growers advise taking care of the seed in advance, that is, in summer and early autumn. It is necessary to plant the bulbs strictly in the autumn so that the tulips bloom profusely in the spring. In a later period, it is better not to buy seed and not plan planting work.
Subject to the above rules for digging and drying, as well as the storage conditions for tulip bulbs, you can not only admire the bright colors of the coming spring, but also be rightfully proud of the beautiful flowers grown by your own hands.