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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Tulips
Planting
Tulips prefer a site with full or afternoon sun. In Zones 7 and 8, choose a shady site or one with morning sun only, as tulips don’t like a lot of heat.
The soil must be well-draining, neutral to slightly acidic, fertile, and dry or sandy. All tulips dislike areas with excessive moisture. Prepare the garden bed by using a garden fork or tiller to loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.
Tall varieties should be sheltered from strong winds.
When to Plant Tulips
- Plant tulip bulbs in the fall, 6 to 8 weeks before a hard, ground-freezing frost is expected. The bulbs need time to establish themselves. Planting too early leads to disease problems. See local frost dates.
- A good rule of thumb is to plant bulbs when the average nighttime temperatures in your area are in the 40s.
- In colder northern climates, plant in September or October. In warmer climates, plant bulbs in December (or even later).
- To find the best dates, consult our fall bulb planting chart.
- Nature never intended bulbs to loll about above ground, so don’t delay planting the bulbs after purchase.
- In southern climates with mild winters, plant bulbs in late November or December. The bulbs will need to be chilled in the refrigerator for about 12 weeks before planting. (Bulb suppliers often offer pre-chilled bulbs for sale, too.)
- If you miss planting your bulbs at the optimal time, don’t wait for spring or next fall. Bulbs aren’t like seeds. Even if you find an unplanted sack of tulips or daffodils in January or February, plant them and take your chances. See more about planting tulips in winter.
How to Plant Tulips
- Plant bulbs fairly deep—8 inches deep, or about three times the height of the bulb. Dig a hole deeper than that in order to loosen the soil and allow for drainage. In clay soils, plant 3 to 6 inches deep instead.
- Space bulbs 4 to 6 inches apart.
- Set the bulb in the hole with the pointy end up. Cover with soil and press soil firmly.
- Water bulbs right after planting. Although they can’t bear wet feet, bulbs need water to trigger growth.
- If you’re planning to raise perennial tulips, feed them a balanced fertilizer when you plant them in the fall. Bulbs are their own complete storage system and contain all of the nutrients they need for one year. Use organic material, compost, or a balanced time-release bulb food.
- To deter mice and moles—if they have been a problem—put holly or any other thorny leaves in the planting holes. Some gardeners use kitty litter or crushed gravel. If ravenous voles and rodents are a real problem, you may need to take stronger measures, such as planting bulbs in buried wire cages.
- Don’t lose hope if you’re planting your tulips later in the season—just follow these tips.
Growing
- If it rains weekly, do not water. However, if there is a dry spell and it does not rain, you should water the bulbs weekly until the ground freezes.
- Rainy summers, irrigation systems, and wet soil are death to tulips. Never deliberately water a bulb bed unless in a drought. Wet soil leads to fungus and disease and can rot bulbs. Add shredded pine bark, sand, or any other rough material to the soil to foster swift drainage.
- Apply compost annually to provide nutrients needed for future blooms.
- In the spring, when leaves emerge, feed your tulip the same bulb food or bone meal you used at planting time. Water well.
- Deadhead tulips as soon as they go by, but do not remove the leaves!
- Allow the leaves to remain on the plants for about 6 weeks after flowering. The tulips need their foliage to gather energy for next year’s blooms! After the foliage turns yellow and dies back, it can be pruned off.
- Large varieties may need replanting every few years; small types usually multiply and spread on their own.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Very informative article. After the tulips flowered, do you cut the stem? I see a seed like after the flower bloomed and fall.
Hi Judi,
You want to deadhead your tulips after they have bloomed so your plants do not waste energy producing unwanted seed heads. You do not have to cut the entire stem off, but can cut it down to the first leaves, which will give it a cleaner appearance. Just remember not to remove the foliage until it has browned and died back naturally because even though the flowers have come and gone, the leaves are how your tulip bulbs store energy for next year’s growing season.
I received a potted tulip for Easter, it has finished blooming, what do I do before planting in the garden?
beginning gardener, please be specfic with information.
Hi Mary,
Unfortunately potted tulips that are forced to bloom indoors don’t have a high success rate when replanted outdoors. And if they do, it typically takes 2 or 3 years to rebloom.
With that being said, if you’d like to try to save your tulip bulb, cut off spent flowers and place your potted tulip in a sunny window and water regularly until the foliage naturally dies back. Tulips gather energy for next year’s blooms through their leaves. Once the foliage has died back, dig up the bulb and store it in a cool, dark location until the fall when you can plant it in the garden.
Good luck!
I grew tulips for the first time in my life this year. So I have about zero experience and I was a bit disappointed, when digging up my bulbs, seeing that those were not just divided or multiplied but their size were much smaller (about the third) to the ones I planted. What’s the chance for these smaller new bulbs to bloom next year and what do I supposed to do to get them grow bigger? If it’s possible at all…
Hi Ana,
Those smaller bulblets, also known as daughter bulbs, form from the original (mother) bulb you planted. Those daughter bulbs will eventually produce flowers that will replace the blooms from the original bulb, which will lose its ability to flower. The smaller bulbs will increase in size thanks to energy reserves it receives from the mother bulb. It may take a couple growing seasons before the bulblets become large enough to flower on its own, but some do flower the next spring. Eventually the daughter bulbs will produce their own bulblets to continue the reproduction cycle.
I am a 5 yr gardener of small vegetable garden & 3 flower gardens & this is my first tulip planting from tulip received from son so your advice is so important & simple & I appreciate all your instructions I seek to succeed as a happy retired woman doing as my mother did but all for the beauty of color & fresh food-thank you so very much Almanac😁💐🌷
We can’t wait to hear about your soon-to-be-growing tulips!
I’ve recently planted 5 tulips in a tub and had a deer come in and eat the tops of 4 out of 5 plants, do they continue to grow or is that it for this year and do I just leave the bulbs in situ ?
