Potted Tulips???

[Karbar932]

:X*HELP! What do you do with potted tulips once they die? My daughter gave me the most beautiful tulips for Valentine's Day that have now died in about 3-5 days. Do I plant them in the ground now? Will they flower again if I do plant them? Do I pull them out of the pot and try to dry*out the bulbs*for another tulip growing season? What exactly is the process to be followed for reserving the bulbs for next year? Please help by replying! Completely Confused in Florida, Karbar932

[backyardgardener]

[align=left]I don't know what will happen with tulips in Florida... The bulb must go through a stratification process to re bloom.* If you freeze, then you can just plant them outdoors and mother nature will do the work.* If you don't freeze, then let the plant die out and trun brown,* Take the blubs out and let them dry for several weeks.* Place the bulbs in a paper bag an place them in the frig until fall.* Replant the bulbs and see what happens.** You may want to dust them for bugs.[/align]

[Newt]

Hi Karbar,

As Backyardgardener said, without knowing your hardiness zone it's difficult to say exactly what to do.* Most tulips won't rebloom in zones warmer then zone 8.* Here's a zip code zone finder.
http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

With bulbs that are prechilled and forced, especially tulips, they are usually treated as annuals and disposed of after bloom.* From this University Extension site:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardand...fterBloom.html

"Spring flowering bulbs that are considered good naturalizers, like daffodils, crocuses, grape hyacinths and other minor bulbs, may do well when planted outdoors after forcing. On the other hand, tulips are hard to rebloom even when grown solely in the garden. It is probably not worth your garden space to plant forced tulips into your beds. Forced hyacinths may rebloom in the garden, but don't expect those wonderful full flowers they had initially."

"Saving Forced Bulbs

Potted daffodils, received during the winter as gift plants, may be kept and planted in the garden in spring. However, it often takes 2 to 3 years for bulbs to come back into bloom after they have been "forced" for indoor use. It isn't worth your while to even try tulips.

While indoors, keep your bulb plants actively growing. Remove the flowers after blooming, to prevent seeds from forming. Place the plants in a cool, very sunny location. Keep the soil slightly moist to the touch, until the leaves mature or die down naturally. Fertilize about once a month with a water soluble house plant fertilizer. The longer the leaves stay green and healthy, the stronger the bulb, and the better its chances for blooming the following year.

Store the bulbs in a dark, dry location over the summer. Then plant them in October, the same as you would new ones. Discard any bulbs that have grown soft or diseased in storage.

Care for the bulbs outdoors as you would any others. With luck, they'll bloom again, eventually."

Newt