Would I be wasting my time.

[cheops]

Hi Everyone,
I layered lots of tulips in pots last autumn and enjoyed a great show earlier this spring. After flowering I put the pots in a secluded corner and allowed the foliage to die back in it's own time. As we approach autumn I thought I would dig out the bulbs and let them dry and be ready for planting out into the garden come October. I didn't feel they could be kept a second year in the pots as the compost would probably be near exhausted.
I found that every bulb had produced bulblets some small as peas, some medium the size of crocus bulbs and many others almost half the size of a mature tulip bulb. My query is do I keep these young immature bulbs? As a gardener I don,t like to throw a living bulb or plant away, but I'm not a person who is happy to wait a few years for a plant to mature. What I mean is I would never for example sow pansy seeds - rather I would always buy the plant. I expect in time these bulblets would mature but when. By next year, in two years or when? And should they be planted along with the mature bulbs or planted in a 'nursery' somewhere obscure. I really dont want years of just foliage. Anyone's advice would be greatly appreciated.

[roitelet]

Obviously the largest bulbs stand a better chance of flowering than the smaller ones. I would replant the bigger bulbs and if you have a patch put the small bulbs there in rows and in the autumn next year dig them up to see what you have. Very small bulbs can take several years to reach flowering size.

[cheops]

Thanks roitelet,
I'm gonna scrap the smallest ones then, and out of interest I'll do as you suggest and plant out the bigger ones just to see if it only takes one year to become flowering size bulbs. As a matter of interest the original bulbs are smaller now than when first bought and planted last autumn. Which surprises me.

[Jungle Jane]

With tulips it's best to lift them & separate them every year isn't it? If you leave them for two years,even in the ground,the second year they're smaller,or is that just certain varieties? I moved a load of bulbs when I was making space for my beans once,just piled them at the bottom of the garden,covered with soil to keep them darkened & had a great display of flowers with my forgotten about bulbs.

[cheops]

That must have been a very pleasant surprise Jane. I really like tulips but there is an awful lot of greenery to put up with after flowering. They are always producing new colours and varieties - wish they would spend a bit of time producing a variety with little or no leaves. [Wishful thinking I know]

[bend1pa]

One of the problems with tulips is that if they are not planted deeply enough, eg 5-6" they then produce these small bulblets rather than spending the energy producing a bigger bulb with more flowers for next year. Narcissi do better in containers year to year than tulips do. Usually I throw away container grown tulips after 1 year rather than keep them going as in the 2nd year the performance is usually disappointing. But if you have them in the ground planted deep enough some varieties fare a lot better and multiply each year.