When to lift Tulip bulbs?

[magz.mccarthy]

Hi,

I went a bit mad this year and planted tulips all over my plot. I got loads of them as a gift and wanted to use them all, but now I want to move them all to the same place so that I can have a tulip area, and them change the shape of the beds through the rest of the plot, instead of having unusable lines of bulbs everywhere.

They flowered in early April (while I was on holiday, the buggers) and i cut them to the grown a few weeks ago when they were well and truly past their prime. When can I dig them up and can I store them in the shed for use in november?

Margaret

[Flummery]

Sorry I couldn't really say - I leave mine in. I wouldn't have cut them to the ground myself, I'd have left the foliage to die down and lifted then.

[magz.mccarthy]

Yup my allotment neighbour nearly fainted when she saw me going at them with a secateurs. She was adamant that I leave them to die naturally. At home though my mom runs the lawnmower over the tulips when she's sick of the sight of them and they keep coming back every year so hopefully they'll be ok (fingers crossed). My mom though does have the green fingers of death, so I'm not sure I should take any lessons from her!

[kiwirach]

i'm kinda wondering the same as you as well.....i want to shift mine to a more permanent home, after bunging them in a corner of a bed last yr.
so i second the 'when to lift' question, and ask
is it ok to plant food crops in the bed the tulips have been in?
thanks.

[selfraising]

Hi, well I dug mine up about a week ago because I needed the space. Some of them were in a containers which I have now used for a cucumber and tomatoes. I did remove some of the old compost and topped up with manure and fresh compost.

[Flummery]

i'm kinda wondering the same as you as well.....i want to shift mine to a more permanent home, after bunging them in a corner of a bed last yr.
so i second the 'when to lift' question, and ask
is it ok to plant food crops in the bed the tulips have been in?
thanks.

I'd say so yes.

PS - and I wouldn't lift till the foliage has died down - you might need to put a winter crop in there - spring cabbage maybe?

[Lemon]

Sorry I couldn't really say - I leave mine in. I wouldn't have cut them to the ground myself, I'd have left the foliage to die down and lifted then.

I do the same as Flummery and leave to do its thing.

I understand that with bulbs, is that the leafy green foilage 'feeds' the bulb through the process of photosynthesis. The energy gained from the sunlight and green leaves is then stored in the bulb and gives it the strength to flower the following year.

When the bulb has finished flowering, you can remove the head as the plant will use energy to produce and mature a seed head (instead of feeding your bulb). You can water with fertiliser and when the foilage browns and dies down you can lift and store in a dark dry place and plant out in autumn/winter.