How to Regrow your Tulip Bulbs
Why keep the bulb attached?
With the right growing conditions, tulips will rebloom up to three years from the time of first planting. However, the tulips will only produce a nice flower in future years if you keep the bulb and foliage intact for its entire life cycle. A bulb separated from it’s food source (the flower and foliage) too early results in an inferior bloom the following year. If you don’t care about re-using the bulb, no worries! Just snip of, toss in the compost, and arrange your bouquet as you would any other flower bouquet! If you want to reuse the bulb, read on.
It’s time to take your flowers home!
How do you enjoy tulips with bulbs?
Bulbs are the flowers natural food source, and your tulips will continue to grow tall the next few days. Here are a few options for enjoying your tulips with the bulbs still in tact:
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Replant outside immediately. A quick and easy option for enjoying blooms outside. However, if you choose to leave your bulbs in the ground all year, rodents are prone to digging them up and eating them.
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Replant in soil, in an indoor pot. A pretty option for enjoying the colors inside.
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Clean off soil and dirt on stems and bulb. Place cleaned off tulips in vase with water. The water level should be below the top of bulb, just above the root level. A small drop of bleach (one-quarter teaspoon to one quart/liter of water) can help decrease bacteria build up. When you see water discoloration, refresh the water.
Caring for your bulbs
Choose a method (above) to enjoy your flower tulips. Once your bulbs have finished flowering, clip the dead flower off the stem, and let the remaining foliage die off while maintaining water level in the glass vase. Allow the leaves to keep growing to make more food for the bulbs. Do not cut off the remaining lush greenery just yet. I like to put the vase in a pantry or somewhere close I can monitor but out of sight.
Once the foliage is completely dried out and yellow, then cut the foliage. Leave the roots. Your bulbs have gone through their full life-cycle and the bulbs are well-nourished for next year!
Dry out the bulbs. You can use boxes lined with newspaper to absorb excess moisture. Or, leave out on a paper towel or in front of a light fan if need be. Place the containers in a well-ventilated, dry location away from direct sunlight.
Now that your bulbs are dry, you can store them. Keep them in a dry cool place (like your basement) in a paper bag or box until early November.
In November, plant in your garden, using a good mix of soil and compost. We sprinkle the bulbs with kelp meal and mycorrhizal fungi (which can be
purchased at a greenhouse supply store) to promote root growth over winter. Water them thoroughly when first planting them.
Pro Tips
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Tulips bent? You may find that your tulips are bent over. To fix this, take a damp newspaper. Lay the tulips on the newspaper and roll up the paper so that the tulips are gently held together with the newspaper. Leave them for a couple hours. Remove paper and they should be standing up straight.
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Tulips opened too much when you first got them? If you came to the farm, and selected tulips when it was mid-day, the sun was out, and the
weather was warm, most likely the tulips will be open. Tulips tend to close at night or in cooler conditions. Once you bring your tulips home, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
