TulipsFinished Blooming
Finished Blooming Tulips - What to Do with Finished Blooming Tulips?
Throwing away finished blooming tulips isn't very sustainable and quite a waste! Do you want to make the most out of your finished blooming tulips? Do you want to contribute to a more sustainable world? Then we recommend preserving them and planting them again in the fall (yes, we're not giving you much choice... But we're saying this truly from our green hearts). Because if we handle finished blooming tulips in the right way and reuse them, they can last for many years. Isn't that nice! It's also great for your wallet. The fun part is that you'll have something to look forward to next year. Digging up (harvesting) finished blooming tulips and planting them again next year is a great way to start learning how to cultivate like a grower!
1. Finished Blooming Tulips Can Be Left to Wither
With finished blooming tulips, you have two options: leave the bulbs in the ground and do nothing, or... You can dig up your finished blooming tulips and prepare them for the next planting season. If you're a enthusiast, truly passionate about flower bulbs, and want to contribute to a more sustainable world, then we recommend the second option (you probably saw that coming). If you choose to preserve your finished blooming tulips, the tulip bulbs should be dug up (often at the end of May). But there's a step before that, namely tulip topping. Below, we explain how to top finished blooming tulips.
Topping Finished Blooming Tulips
You can 'top' (cut off) the finished blooming tulips. Topping tulips simply means cutting the withered flower off the stem. You might wonder, 'why'? Good question. When you 'top' a finished blooming tulip, you cut the stem just below the flower. This stops energy from going to the faded flower, but directs it to the bulb! And that's exactly what we want. Because the bulbs of your finished blooming tulips continue to grow underground. If your bulb can store more energy, then the chances are much higher that there will be another beautiful tulip in your garden next year. A gift to yourself! And those are often the best gifts.
TIP: Not really a tip. Just good to know. When tulips are in bloom, head straight to the flower fields. Growers start topping their finished blooming tulips quite early.
2. Leave your faded tulips until the leaves turn brown and the plant withers
After topping your faded tulips, they can remain in the ground. You can simply leave the leaves on the stem because the plant still draws nutrients from them. You can leave the bulbs of your faded tulips in the ground until the leaves turn brown and the plants wither, which is usually around late May. From that point onwards, you'll start digging up the bulbs of your faded tulips ('lifting' as the growers say). We'll explain that in step 3.
These steps lead to optimal bulb growth, resulting in truly beautiful flowers!
TIP: If you choose to let your faded tulips wither, you can still water them during dry spells until the soil is moist. This benefits bulb growth because the bulb continues to grow underground.
3. Dig up your faded tulips (harvesting)
Once your faded tulips have withered, you can start digging them up. This process is called 'bulb harvesting' as the growers say. Growers typically use large machines for this, but we can easily do it by hand. Carefully dig up the tulip bulbs without damaging them. If the roots get slightly damaged, it's okay because we'll remove them after drying.
TIP 1: After digging up your faded tulips, let them dry and rest for a day. This will be helpful when we clean them.
TIP 2: Once you've harvested your faded tulips, it's nice to immediately plant summer bloomers such as dahlias, gladioli, or calla lilies. You can find all the summer bloomers in our shop.
4. Prepare Bulbs for Storage: Remove Old Stem and Bulb Remnants, and Offsets (New Small Bulbs) from Your Spent Tulip Bulbs
Caution: Clean the bulbs of your spent tulips only with your hands and not with water. This can lead to bulb rot or even worse. Oh dear, that's not what we want. So, really pay attention!
Step 1: Remove the Offsets from Your Spent Tulip Bulbs
- We start with the offsets, sometimes called pearls. These are small flower bulbs that have grown underground from the main bulb (the tulip bulb you planted a few months ago). You can gently pluck the offsets off with your fingers.
Step 2: Remove the Root Remnants from Your Spent Tulip Bulbs
- Next, the root remnants. You can gently peel these off the bulb with your fingers. The old roots are no longer needed because the planted bulb will develop new roots in the fall.
Step 3: Remove the Soil from Your Spent Tulip Bulbs
- Finally, the soil. You can gently rub off the soil with your fingers. Try to remove as much as possible, but they don't need to shine.
TIP: You can also save the offsets from your spent tulips and plant them in the fall. There is a chance that your offsets may not perform very well in the first year or even produce flowers... That's okay because they still need to strengthen and grow into full-fledged bulbs. Everything is proceeding according to plan(t). We love it when a plan(t) comes together. Over a period of about a year and a half, you'll be growing your own bulbs just like the growers. How exciting is that! Now you're truly growing from bulb to bloom. AMAZING! (We think so ourselves). Because that's what it's all about. Teaching you to grow like a grower.
Once the bulbs from your spent tulips have been cleaned, there's not much else to do, just pack them up and store them in a cool, dark, and dry place. See the step below.
5. Wrap the bulbs of your spent tulips
After cleaning, wrap the bulbs of your spent tulips in newspaper or place them, for example, in a shoebox or an egg carton. Other materials are also fine, as long as they keep the bulbs dry and allow air to pass through so they can continue to breathe (remember, they're alive!). Ideally, the material should also be absorbent to extract any moisture from the bulbs. This little extra love makes a difference. Really!
TIP: If you can't find a suitable box or material for the bulbs, you can also consider using a net bag (like the ones used for mandarins).
6. Store bulbs from your faded tulips in a cool (+/- 15°C), dark, and dry place
Store the bulbs from your faded tulips in a cool (+/- 15°C), dark, and dry place. It's best if this space is also ventilated. Places you can consider include:
- The cellar
- The shed or garage
- A pantry or kitchen cabinet
TIP: Storing bulbs from your faded tulips at too warm or too cold temperatures can cause issues. It may endanger the flowering of the flowers or worse… they die. The worst nightmare of any bulb enthusiast! So, prevent this from happening.
7. Plant the bulbs of your faded tulips in the next planting season (September - December)
If everything went well, then we can plant the bulbs again in the fall (September-December). Yes, yay, whoohoo!
In this article, you learned how to dig up and harvest faded tulips, following the methods of the growers. If you want to make your green fingers even greener, dive into the articles at the bottom of this page.
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Meet the tulip growers who accompany you on your journey from bulb to flower.
Wilco
since 1982
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