How to care for tulips?

How should you care for tulips? We have tips. Because they have flowered beautifully, in all the colors of the rainbow! But now some of the flowers are starting to wilt. Will you leave this one? Do you take the bulbs, stem and all, out of the ground? What is the best advice for caring for tulip bulbs? You can read that in this article.

What should I do with the planted tulip bulbs before they bloom?

It is important to water the bed where the tulip bulbs are planted well. During autumn it often rains, additional watering is not necessary. If we have a dry autumn, don't forget your flower bulbs and water them once or twice a week. Also later in March, from the moment you see the first green shoots coming up, it is important to water regularly in dry weather. Then sprinkle a little fertilizer.

My tulip bulbs have finished blooming, now what?

Tulip bulbs should be treated as annuals. You can't just leave them where they come back (bigger) every year. When the flowers have finished blooming, it is important that you remove the faded flower from the stem. We call this 'headings'. As a result, all nutrition goes to the bulb, which is important if you want the bulb to bloom again next year. Leave the stems and leaves for a while. You only remove these when they have died completely and you can actually remove the brown withered remains from the ground without much effort.
Now you can do several things. Remove the bulbs and buy new ones next year, leave the bulbs in the ground or remove the bulbs from the ground and plant them again next year.

If you leave the bulbs in the ground after you have cut them, you have a chance that they will bloom again the following year. The soil the bulb is in is actually just a little too cold. As a result, the bulb does not receive the correct temperature treatment and the flowers often become smaller and thinner. There is also a chance that only leaves will appear or nothing will come up. In general, the flowers get smaller every year when you leave your tulips in the ground. Botanical tulips are an exception, they naturalize and come back every year. It is also often said of the Darwin tulips that they can come back every year. However, we do not recommend leaving the bulbs in the ground. When you leave tulips in the ground, there is a chance that fungi and diseases will develop.

Don't want to take care of the bulbs to reuse next year because you still want new varieties and colours? Then you can remove the bulbs, stem and all, from the ground immediately after flowering. You can now use the piece of land again for nice bedding plants.

Do you want the bulbs to bloom again in full glory next year?

Then follow the step-by-step plan below. Please note that there is no guarantee that a tulip bulb will bloom a second time. The tulip bulb needs certain temperatures to develop itself for re-flowering. These temperatures do not occur naturally in the Netherlands, but we can try to imitate the ideal conditions.

• Dead head the flowers after they have finished blooming: remove the faded flowers;
• Leave the leaves and stems until they are completely brown (withered). Have they withered? Then you can remove everything and take the bulbs out of the ground (often possible in June-July);
• Dry the bulbs. You can do this by, for example, placing them in the sun;
• When the bulbs are dry you can 'peel' away the old remnants and skins. Just make sure you don't take the new sheets with you. This skin provides protection and against dehydration of the bulb. You also separate the sphere from the new little spheres that are sometimes attached to the large sphere;
• Now put the peeled tulip bulbs in an airy bag and hang it somewhere in a shed or garage. In about 20 degrees celcius. You can also use old pantyhose for this if you don't have a bag. The bags are hung so that they are kept airy and no mice can reach them. Now the bulbs hang, in an airy, dry place at room temperature, the formula for re-flowering your tulip bulbs.
• From September to December you can plant these bulbs in the ground again. They now receive the natural cold temperature treatment they need to shine again in the spring.

What to do if the tulip bulbs have just been planted?
Tulip bulbs love water. Provide sufficient water to the tulip bulbs during dry weather in autumn and in spring when the first green shoots appear. 

Can I cut the stem when the tulip has finished flowering?
No, you only cut off the faded flower. You leave the stem and the leaf in place. You can remove them in June/July when the leaves and stem are completely withered. The bulb is still in the ground. 

Do I have to remove the tulip bulbs from the ground after flowering?
If you want the same bulb to bloom again next year, you must remove the tulip bulbs from the ground. You do not do this immediately after the flower has finished flowering. You dead head the flower but leave the stem and leaves. In July you remove the bulb from the ground and store it in an airy place, for example in a shed. You can plant the bulbs again from September. However, we can never give a 100% flowering guarantee for tulips for the second year. 

What happens if I do leave the tulip bulbs in the ground for another year?
If you leave the tulip bulbs in the ground until the following spring after blooming, you have a chance that the bulbs will bloom again. However, many tulips are annuals. The second year there will be no or hardly a flower to be seen. The tulip bulb can also release certain acids, which are not good for a healthy soil life.