Tulips in the country are more beautiful from year to year, because I properly care for them after flowering. How? Sharing secrets ✅
Fiery fireworks, fellow flower growers!
Do you want to admire tulips every spring? Do not forget to take care of the bulbs after flowering: now replacement bulbs and rudiments of peduncles are being formed for next year. In the article, you will learn about auxiliary pruning, the important nuances of watering and feeding, as well as the main thing - when to dig up tulips.
I got carried away with growing tulips from simple, "grandmother's" varieties. They got to me along with the plot. And gradually I got a taste: how many unusual and beautiful species are offered by autumn catalogs.
Over the years of my tulip life in the garden, I've drawn up the perfect post-flowering routine. I am publishing it for your attention!
What to cut - and what not
After flowering, a tulip has 2 options for where to direct its propagation work. And this, I dare to remind, is the purpose of the existence of any plants. The tulip will direct all its forces either to the ripening of the seed pods or to the development of the bulb.
Let the breeders be engaged in collecting seeds, and we are interested in a strong bulb. So that your tulip does not decide to put all the food on the seed method of reproduction and focus on the underground part, cut off all the peduncles. But not leaves! They still need to phytosynthesize and feed the tulip bulb.
Security issue
And here is the time to remember tulip diseases. Cutting off all the peduncles with one blade, the gardener runs the risk of transferring the infection from one plant to another. And there - write wasted.
Especially dangerous variegated virus. Some growers rejoice when they see color changes. But I hasten to warn you, comrades: a tulip that has changed its color from monochromatic to variegated, tear it out and burn it as soon as possible. Until he re-infected all the neighbors.
Watering and feeding
In some sources you can read that after flowering tulips must be watered regularly and without fail. No! Only if the drought has lasted for 5-7 days, and the soil in the flowerbed has turned to dust.
From the author: Tulips cannot tolerate chlorine. For this reason, I never water them with tap water. Better to put a barrel to collect rain.
Any tulips will do potash-phosphorus feeding:
- Potassium salt + superphosphate or similar fertilizers;
- Potassium monophosphate solution;
- Complex mineral fertilizer "Autumn".
I additionally feed my tulips with fertilizer with microelements. For example, "Agricola" in a bag and even a liquid fertilizer for indoor plants. This is how my bulbs get the vital iron, copper, molybdenum, magnesium, and sulfur.
From the author: When feeding garden flowers with indoor fertilizer, do the dosage 2 times more than in the instructions.
Digging or not? And if so, when?
All tulips must be dug up. Otherwise, the bulb goes deep into the ground and only the leaves, but not the peduncle, can break through to the surface. Another question is how often.
They write on the Internet that retro varieties can grow in one place for decades, while modern fantasy varieties need to be replanted every year. But I dig up all my tulips every 3 years. And they are beautiful every season!
An equally important point: digging time. Immediately after flowering, it is impossible, because the annual life cycle of the bulb has not yet ended. It's stupid to be guided by the calendar, because the weather is different every season.
For example, this year everything blooms later. And, I feel that if before digging tulips was about the end of June, this year I will do it in mid-July.
But seriously, you just have to wait until the foliage turns yellow by half. We carefully dig out, examine / treat, dry and... for storage until autumn!
Do you like tulips and was the article interesting? Please click "Thumbs up" in response, my dears. Thank you. I also recommend reading: How to extend the flowering of peonies in the country for 1-2 weeks: I will write the tricks that I use myself