Topic: tulips

[diggerrick]

hi,what do you do to tulips when they have flowered,cut em back,pullem up, or just leave them? mine are in planters and have lost all the petals. cheers rick.

[landimad]

If you want them to go another year then feed them. If not pull them and put them in the garden somewhere to grow again next season.
Mine are in tubs and wil get fed tomorrow.

[goodlife]

Yep..give them high potash feed..tomato food is fine if nothing else..and let them die back naturally. All the 'energy' from the leaves will return back feeding the bulb and it will flower again next year. But take off the seed head from the end of the flower stem..don't let that swell up and use up the energy...unless you are after seeds.
Once all the tops have died down..either lift the bulbs up and store them away in rodent free place, but keep the bulbs dry so they don't go mouldy or leave them where they are and they will come up again when time is right ;) If they are planted deep enough you could just leave them be and maybe plant summer stuff over.

[sbenney]

Don't forget to keep watering your tulips if the weather is dry and keep watering them as the foliage starts to go brown until it has completely withered. This is especially true with tulips in pots.

If they are growing in the lawn do not mow over the leaves but just mow around them until the leaves die down. http://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/april_lawns.html

Happy gardening

Steve

[Tonythegardener]

I am going to leave mine until the leaves die down and then dig them out.  I will separate the larger bulbs from the smaller ones and then put them into store round about August time.  The larger bulbs will be planted in flower beds in the autumn while the smaller ones are planted on the allotment to grow on into larger bulbs.  In this way you always get good large flowers.  If you leave the little ones then they seem to take nutrients away from the larger bulbs and you just get smaller and smaller bulbs together with smaller and smaller flowers.