Tulips require constant care, including regular fertilization. Experienced summer residents advise how and with what to feed tulips in spring and after flowering.
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How often do tulips need to be fed
Tulips need a lot of minerals. With a lack of nutrients, they grow poorly, shed their buds, or may die. Therefore, you need to feed them several times per season:
- The first top dressing should be at the beginning of spring, when the snow cover melts and the soil begins to warm up.
- The second time to fertilize these plants is necessary when the first buds appear.
- The next top dressing should be done during flowering. The brightness and size of flowers depend on it.
- The last time tulips need to receive nutrients after all the flowers have dried up, this will allow them to gain strength for the winter period.
It is important to consider how densely the plants are planted. With a dense planting, flowers need much more trace elements, so large flower beds can be fertilized 5-6 times per season.
Fertilizing tulips
For feeding, it is convenient to use complex mineral fertilizers, which can be purchased at a specialized store. They should be used strictly in accordance with the instructions and in the indicated amount: an excess of trace elements in the soil can negatively affect the condition of the plants.
Before fertilizing the soil, it should be watered with plenty of water, as the chemicals can burn the delicate bulbs and roots of tulips. In addition, it is advisable to feed the flowers either before sunrise or in the evening.
One of the best complex fertilizers for flowering plants is Kemira Universal. A popular and inexpensive fertilizer is nitrophoska, which contains the substances necessary for tulips. Granules must be diluted with water in a proportion of 4 tbsp. l. for 10 liters of liquid. Some experts recommend scattering dry fertilizer on moist soil at the rate of 30 g per 1 sq. m.
For the third time, superphosphate should be applied to the soil at the rate of 20 g per 1 sq. m.
When the buds appear, tulips no longer need an increased nitrogen content in the ground, so you need to use such complex fertilizers in which the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is 1: 2: 2.
One-component fertilizers can also be used to enrich the soil with nutrients. In this case, they must be introduced into the soil according to a certain scheme:
- For the first feeding, which must be done in early spring, you will need 20 g of ammonium nitrate per 1 sq. m. At the same time, ash water can be used as a source of potassium (add 1 cup of sifted wood ash to 1 bucket of water). Suspension consumption rate - no more than 10 liters per 1 sq. m.
- The second feeding must be done during the budding period, otherwise the tulips will bloom badly and for a short time. To do this, you need to add 20 g of ammonium nitrate, 10 g of urea and 10 g of superphosphate per 1 sq. m. During this period, plants also need boron. To prepare the solution, you need to take 1 g of pharmacy boric acid powder per 10 liters of water and fertilize the ground in a club with tulips. This must be done after the main watering.
- 3 and 4 times, feeding should be done during active flowering and 2 weeks after it ends. For fertilization, you should use 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium nitrate per 1 sq. m.
Some summer residents make a mistake when, during the first feeding, they scatter dry fertilizer granules over not yet melted snow, hoping that nutrients will be absorbed into the soil along with the thawed water. However, snow melts unevenly, and some of the soil may be without trace elements, while in another place an excess of minerals is formed. Therefore, it is better to wait until the snow has completely melted, and already during this period start fertilizing the earth.
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