Your tulips have done their “work” and delighted you with bright colors and lush flowers for weeks, but now unfortunately that time has also come to an end. The flowers are no longer particularly beautiful to look at and you may be wondering whether you can remove them or whether it makes sense to leave them there and rot completely. We will explain to you whether you should cut off spent tulips in the garden or not and what further care for the flowers should look like.
How do you handle tulips after they bloom?
Especially in a lush tulip bed, where the tulips were the highlight and no other flowers take over, the faded tulip bulbs don't look particularly attractive. It's tempting to remove them - better an empty space than one that looks unkempt, right? But is that really optimal?
Yes, you can cut wilted tulips, but only if you do it correctly. What does that mean? Cutting spring bloomers is done in two steps:
- The dead flower heads are removed,not but the leaves are still green.
- As soon as the leaves have wilted and turned yellow, you can cut them off too. They continue to serve as green decorations in the garden.
Cut off spent tulips in the garden: Why the flowers are removed
It is not primarily for aesthetic reasons that you should cut off spent tulips in the garden. Rather, the step serves to redirect the plant's power and concentrate it on more important processes. The flowers are pollinated by insects. The flower's natural next step is to develop seeds from the pollinated flower. Since you don't need them, it's an unnecessary effort that you can easily prevent by removing the flowers. This allows the plant to concentrate on getting the bulb in and out of itto develop daughter bulbs. This way you can propagate your tulip much easier than with seeds.
Why should you leave the leaves standing?
If you cut spent tulips, leave the leaves alone for now. This is necessary to help the flower bulbs get and store enough energy for the new season. They get these from the leaves and the stem. For this reason, first remove only the flower head. This means that the nutrients are not wasted on seed formation, but all end up in the onion. The flower bulb can then use this collected energy in the coming year to produce strong, lush flowers and healthy greenery.
You can learn how to cut and care for potted tulipsread here.
Now that you know how to cut tulips after flowering, the question of further care remains. Of course, the flowering phase is the climax of the entire growth phase and now the plant is getting closer and closer to the end of the season. But of course that doesn't mean it's dying. It just goes into hibernation, for which you have to prepare the onion to get through the winter wellin the springto be able to start again with full force. Last but not least, the mother bulb can only produce daughter bulbs if you care for tulips properly after they bloom.
If you want to leave the bulbs in the ground
So if the tulips in the garden have faded, you should continue to care for them with everything the plant needs. If the flower bulbs are to overwinter in the garden soil, this means:
- Fertilize them regularly. It is best to use organic fertilizer such as compost for this. Horn fertilizer is also well suited, with horn meal providing a wonderful instant fertilizer, while shavings decompose more slowly. The nutrients that faded tulips in the garden receive in this way ultimately reach the bulb.
- Water regularly. As soon as the soil becomes dry, you should provide irrigation so that the tulip bulbs do not dry out but survive until the next season.
Dig up tulip bulbs after flowering and store them indoors
With appropriate care in the ground, the onions will survive summer and winter well. However, you still have the option of digging them out of the bed and then storing them in storage. Tulips are one of those plants that need new locations every three to four years because over time the soil can no longer provide them with what they need and needs to recover. A change of location is therefore necessary so that the flowers do not lack strength.
To do this, you also need to store them correctly, otherwise they will dry out or, conversely, rot. You not only need an optimal storage space, but also some materials for proper storage:
- A place that is dark and cool. Cellars, for example, are very suitable.
- Prepare a box to store the onions. Line these with sand. Alternatively, chips or peat moss are also suitable.
- Wrap each onion individually in newspaper.
In autumn the tulip bulbs come back into the garden.Find out herehow you go about it.
