Tulips: Preparing For Planting In September

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In September, tulip fans are busy planting flower bulbs in their gardens, so that with the arrival of spring they will be among the first to decorate the site with bright flowering. In order for this work to be successful and the work did not go down the drain, you need to know which bulbs to select for planting and how to choose a site for tulips. They are extremely demanding on the soil, but can you expect less from a symbol of love, great happiness and glory? After all, it was not for nothing that this particular flower served as a sign of the Ottoman Empire, and its bulbs were sold for their weight in gold centuries ago

Secrets of the tulip bulb

Tulips are called perennials. But this is a controversial statement. The fact is that the life cycle of the bulb is about 2.5 years, so the flower is also considered biennial. The bulb itself is nothing more than a modified shoot. The bottom is a very short stem. And here accrete scales are concentrated, where the required nutrients are accumulated, covered with a leathery top layer.

Daughter bulbs are located in the axils between the mother bulb and the covering scales. And the replacement bulb is the smallest and is hidden in the center of storing fleshy scales. With the arrival of spring heat, it begins to develop and increase in size the fastest, and becomes the largest. And the third generation grandchild bulbs, meanwhile, lay buds in the daughter bulbs along the periphery. And by the time the tulip's flowering period comes to an end, there is practically no trace of the mother bulb - it dries up completely, giving way to a nest of young bulbs.

You should not leave such a nest in the ground. This leads to thickening, and in the future - to slower plant development, lack of nutrients. Therefore, in the summer, the bulbs are dug up and stored until planting in September.

Preparing the bulbs for planting

During storage, flower diseases hidden in them can appear on the bulbs. To protect your site from their spread, it is necessary to carefully examine the planting material before placing it on the flower beds.

Tulips are the least resistant to such misfortunes:

• gray mold. It can be recognized by its rounded yellow-brown spots. They look as if they are depressed under the leathery scales.

• dry rot. The disease betrays itself as small light brown specks, tending to merge as it spreads into large spots occupying a large area. They may have a sticky discharge that exudes a characteristic sour smell of putrefaction.

• white rot. The disease is also known as sclerocial rot. It is insidious in that at the initial stage of development, it cannot be recognized by the appearance of the bulb. Suspecting the presence of a disease, you can be sure of the defeat of the bulb by the gray-colored scales on the cut.

Only healthy planting material should be used for planting. Moreover, before this, the bulbs are disinfected with fungicides.

Choosing a site for a flower bed

Due to the peculiarity of the bulb to enter the phase of active development with the arrival of heat, it needs a soil rich in nutrients. The most suitable soil types are sandy loam and light loamy. If your site has heavy soil, clean river sand and peat are brought into the area under the flower bed. The optimum acidity of the soil is 6, 5. When the reaction to pH shows a level below 5, 7, liming should be carried out.

Tulips are demanding on the level of occurrence of groundwater - it should not be higher than 60 cm. Flowers do not tolerate stagnation of moisture and from this they begin to hurt, degenerate. The soil where the placement of the flower bed is planned must be well cultivated. But tulips are not always grown in the same place. The site should rest from its bulbs for 5-6 years. This is a good prevention against infection with both fungal and bacterial diseases.