Good day, dear readers! If you grow delicate tulips on your plot, this article is for you. Tulips need careful care not only at the flowering stage, but also after it.
Today I will tell you what care should be taken after flowering.
Pruning tulips after flowering
Pruning tulips that have faded is a must if you want to keep large and lush buds. During the growing season, the culture forms one or more young bulbs above the ground, inside which shoots and flowers of the next season are formed. In order for the bulbs to ripen better and not lose nutrients, flower stalks must be freed from old buds.
When is the best time to prune tulips?
Depending on the cultivar, tulips can delight in flowering from one to three weeks, and then fade. In order for pruning after flowering to provide the desired result, it is important to choose the right time for it. It is necessary to wait until the flower petals dry and easily move away from the stem. Then you need to first mark the places of the bulbs in the ground, so that when you dig them out you don’t have to look for them for a long time.
Important! Carefully approach the preparation of tools for pruning. They must be carefully disinfected so that the flowers do not become infected with diseases. Personally, I use an ordinary alcohol solution for processing.
Features of watering and fertilizing after flowering
With the end of flowering, watering does not end, it must be continued for another couple of weeks.
In order for tulips to please with rich flowering, in spring they should be fed with compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If you did not feed flowering tulips, after pruning, you must definitely add phosphorus and potassium to the soil.
It is also beneficial to use mineral compositions including manganese and zinc. The use of organic matter (especially fresh) should be abandoned. The introduction of manure can cause putrefactive processes in the bulbs. Chlorine is also categorically contraindicated for tulips.
When to start digging?
The time and duration of flowering depends on the variety and climatic features of the growing region. Most often, bulbs can be dug out of the ground by the end of June or early July. By this time, flowering is already over, and underground shoots are still easy to find.
To find the right time, focus on the appearance of the ground part of the plants: as soon as two-thirds of the leaves turn yellow, the bulbs can be dug up. If you act too early, the tulips will not have time to form a strong planting material. Digging late is also bad. If you miss the moment, the bulb will simply dry out and be unsuitable for planting.
As soon as you get the bulbs out of the ground, be sure to check them for mold, rot, and symptoms of common bulb diseases. Infected material should be disposed of immediately. Healthy bulbs should be dried for several days in the open air, protecting them from direct sunlight. The dried material should be divided by size, rid of excess roots and scales. The next step is the disinfection process. For these purposes, I use a manganese solution in which I keep the bulbs for about 30 minutes. After that, planting material can be sent for storage.
Bulb storage features
In order for planting material not to lose its positive qualities, it must be properly stored. The bulbs should be sent to a cool, dry and well-ventilated area. In such a microclimate, they will be perfectly preserved until autumn. It will be possible to start disembarking starting from mid-September. Do not forget, of course, to focus on the weather conditions.
Now you know how to care for beautiful bulbs after flowering. Follow these simple rules, and your flower bed will delight you with lush flowering season after season.
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