Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/4/2007

Question
I purchased some indoor tulips at Costco this year which have bloomed and are currently dying back.   The tulip bulbs were in a large vase sitting on a plastic tray that allowed the roots to go below into the water.   I am wondering what to do with them now -- can I replace them in the vase next year?   Do I put them in a paper bag once the plant itself has died back?   Any information you can give would be helpful.   Thank you for your help.

Answer
Who can blame you for wanting to save those Tulips for another spring?

People can spend a small fortune on those pre-planted 'indoor' Tulips and Daffodils.  They are just plain irresistable.

Well, I have bad news.

And that is:  Unless you live in Holland, or somewhere that cold ocean water is being pumped nearby for crops and to keep the land from flooding, it is almost impossible to get those bulbs to bloom again.  ESPECIALLY THE ONES GROWN IN WATER.

Even planted in the ground, only species or Emperor tulips are usually cooperative enough to create new flowers and bloom again in the future.

You may still be able to order bulbs on the internet for a song right now, because it's at the end of the bulb planting season.  Some places will even pre-chill them for you and send them when they're ready to force.

You need cool conditions to get that to happen; if a bulb is too hot, instead of flowering, it will stick up out of the ground and sit there as if it didn't know what to do next.  That's called blasting.  And it happens even in Northeastern gardens all the time.

If you have that kind of energy and interest, write back, and I will give you the steps to take.  It would after all be a shame to waste such a useful plastic tray.

Thanks for writing.  Let me know.