How divide tulip bulbs?
LenS
from folks who left us with flower and vegetable gardens.
They left a lot of tulips, some planted fairly recently (three or four
years ago), and some apparently older. About half of the tulips have
bloomed; the rest have produced leaves but haven't bloomed yet. We think
these might be older.
A friend suggested that we should divide the tulip bulbs this coming
Fall, after they'd gone dormant, but didn't really know how that's done.
Can anyone give us some advice on how to divide the bulbs? Or even if we
should?
We live in a suburb of Chicago, Zone 5.
Thanks,
-Len
Nick La Rocca
Tulips generally only put on a good show for one year. The second year is
noticably less significant. After that you can generally discard them.
The better displays are replaced every year. If that is too expensive, you
can plant varieties that usually carry over to some extent (e.g., Darwin
Hybrids), and only replace half every year. The second-year bulbs won't
look as good but the will be OK.
Any bulbs that are not sending up a flower stem can just be pulled up and
thrown away.
--
Nick - NJ - Zone 7a
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Mary Elizabeth
Hm, this contradicts my entire experience of tulips. My mother's have
lasted for decades, and we just moved into a house with a very neglected
yard, and tulips are fighting their way through the periwinkle to
bloom. I find it hard to believe everyone who has tulips digs them up
every year.
Speaking of tulips, can I move them after they finish blooming? Or
should I wait for next spring?
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Mary "There is no St. Beth" Elizabeth |
Who is going to consolidate them under |
the little red dogwood |
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Tom Burkhard
<38F091FE...@orph.org>:
This is my second spring in my house. Last spring, about half of the
tulips from the previous owner bloomed. I sprinkled some fertilizer on
them last year and almost all of them bloomed this year. I tried digging
some of them out last year but had problems because of the drought. I'm
glad I wasn't successful in yanking them out. I expect next year will be
even better.
Based on my my parent's experience moving from Wisconsin to Georgia,
climate has a great effect on tulips. They grew great in Wisconsin but
died out in a couple of years in Georgia.
Tom Burkhard
Columbus Ohio USA
Jennifer Marrone
>>> year is noticably less significant. After that you can generally
>>> discard them.
Here in Michigan, this doesn't seem to be the case. We have had the same
tulips (at least 300-400 bulbs) for 4-5 years now, and they still put on a good
show. The only time they didn't look fantastic was the second year because we
made the mistake of cutting them down too early the first year.
As far as dividing goes, after they bloom and the foliage turns yellow, dig the
bulbs up. You should see several "offsets" or "babies" as I call them.
Carefully separate these from the parents and replant all of them. We try to
plant ours about 6 inches apart, but I've seen lots of different opinions on
spacing. The babies probably won't bloom for a couple of seasons, so take that
into consideration when you replant. They shouldn't be planted quite as deep
as the parents either. Plus, if you're like us and have problems with
squirrels eating your bulbs, you might want to take some precautions. Spraying
the bulbs with a hot pepper spray before planting will help, but we've found
the most effective thing to do is to spread a bunch of crushed oyster shells in
the dirt above the bulbs. Apparently the squirrels don't like to dig through
the crushed shells. Hope this helps.