When this year's perennial season starts in May, the curtain on the garden stage has already fallen again for tulips. If you dig up the tulip bulbs now to give them a little rest until planting time in autumn, you will be rewarded with a lavish bloom next year. Read here how to store the flower bulbs correctly.
Tulip bulbs should be stored in a dry and cool place
Proper preparation paves the way to summer camps
Tulip leaves perform a key function in plant physiology that is far from over when the flowering period is over. Rather, the nutrients it contains are of essential importance for maintaining the growth potential within a tulip bulb. Before you cut off the foliage, it should be completely retracted. Until then, the nutrients move inside the flower bulb to be stored there as a reserve for the next season. To prepare the plants for storage:
- When the leaves are completely dead, the tulip bulbs are dug up
- Carefully loosen the soil with a digging fork
- Using a hand shovel, lift the loosened bulbs out of the ground
- Finally, cut off the foliage with a sharp knife
The less the root strands are affected by this process, the better for healthy storage in the summer quarters. Therefore, use the hand shovel to reach at least 30 cm into the ground to grasp the tulip bulb and its roots.
Only clean and healthy onions go into storage
Preparation before moving into summer camp ends with careful cleaning and critical selection. To do this, please take a brush and remove the adhering soil completely. At this point, at the latest, any damage or rotten spots that make storage pointless will come to light. These flower bulbs are discarded.
Store professionally - the ideal framework
Cool temperatures and good air circulation create the ideal microclimate for storing tulip bulbs perfectly. The following suggestions for suitable storage space may serve as your inspiration:
- Line a wooden box with untreated paper and store the tulip bulbs in it
- Set up a grating and spread the flower bulbs on it
- Wrap each bulb in breathable fleece and place on the wooden shelf
- Store the bulbs in a box in dry sand or peat dust
It should be as dark as possible in the storage room, with temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius. If the mercury column rises above that, the flower bulbs could sprout prematurely.
Keep mice away
Tulip bulbs are high on the menu for mice. However you store the tubers; protection from the pests should be guaranteed. A close-meshed wire mesh denies the pests the hoped-for meal.
Check regularly
Take a closer look at tulip bulbs in summer storage every 8 to 14 days. Specimens with mold or rot are discarded immediately to prevent the damage from spreading.
tips
If you store a large number of tulip bulbs throughout the summer, it is easy to lose track. So that you can plant the spring flowers in the desired color combination in autumn, we recommend clearly labeling the shelves or containers before you store the flower bulbs.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself