Do you lift your tulips?

[4390evans]

I've bought a load of bulbs that I am planting today but just looking up on if I need to do anything before I plant them and on the RHS website it says I should lift them every year 6 weeks after planting. Yet the guy 3 doors off me has loads in his garden that come every year and he doesn't lift his. We have loamy clay soil here but where I am putting mine the area has masses of tiny stones so I don't think drainage would be a problem.

I can't be bothered to lift them every year, there will be to many and that area of the garden I just wanna put something in that will come every year.

Do you lift your tulips?

Am I wasting my time?

[roitelet]

I think you mean flowering not planting. The botanical tulips can be left in the ground and will multiply if the mice let them! The large flowered tall ones can be left but you probably won't get as many flowers in subsequent years. They don't behave like daffodils and keep on multiplying and flowering until the clump gets too congested. They produce lots of small bulbs which if you have the time and patience can be grown on to flowering size.

I only grow the botanicals!!!!! Too much work with the others.

[veggiechicken]

on the RHS website it says I should lift them every year 6 weeks after planting.

Do you mean "6 weeks after Flowering?".
I don't "lift" anything in the ground. Too much to do!
If its in pots they're moved into the GH or somewhere sheltered.

[WendyC]

The deeper you can get the tall flowered ones, the better chance you have they'll come back. 6" or so is often recommended. I thought the planting time for tulips was November due to problems with the disease "tulip fire".

[PyreneesPlot]

I leave them in the ground as they feed the voles and then the owls eat the voles . I love tulips but rather like owls, too!

I buy every few years and just plant up a load of pots and then replant those bulbs into the ground after flowering where the survivors may flower for a couple of years. They do better than daffs which rarely make it through to flowering even once!

[mothhawk]

The deeper you can get the tall flowered ones, the better chance you have they'll come back. 6" or so is often recommended. I thought the planting time for tulips was November due to problems with the disease "tulip fire".

Put them 8" deep (from the TOP of the bulb), and they'll keep going for quite a few years. It's a heck of a long hole to dig, but once in deep, you can forget them, they won't dry out, the mice mostly can't reach them, and you can plant other stuff above them.

[4390evans]

Sounds fab, Ive planted them as deep as I can get them and put some hay on the top to stop the weed seeds getting in, but will prob shove some spent compost on them in January. Im glad I ont have to lift them couldnt be dealing with that every year ha.

Thanks guys. So glad I found this site Id be lost without you lot

[noviceveggrower]

I leave my bulbs in the ground or tubs. To tell you the truth I actually forget where I plant them. So its quite nice in spring when they appear.

[bend1pa]

13 Ways to Get Your Tulips to Come Back | tulipsinthewoods.com

Point 1 is of particular note.

[Nicos]

Nah- I don't bother lifting them either- the voles eat them here too.
I tend to put a few in pots though...but those get left to overwinter.

Mine do rot if left in a rainy spot as our mpc is peat based.
I read somewhere years ago ( so please correct me if I'm wrong!) but you need to put sand in the hole before planting to make it drain better- or grit- or something to keep the very wet soil off them.
Also plant deeper than you think you need to, and then they shouldn't need lifting.

Of course- I may be totally wrong but the dust just dislodged in my brain for some reason.