Tulip bulbs

[zxcvbob]

Madgardener's post is a good lead-in to my question. :-)

I bought a huge bag of fancyish tulip bulbs on clearance in late November because the weather had been warmer than usual and the ground was still soft. Well, the very night that I bought them the temperature plunged and the ground froze. The bulbs are still in the bag in my basement. The weather has been unseasonably warm the whole month of January, but still below freezing.

Is it worth refrigerating the bulbs and then planting them at the first thaw in spring? Or should I plant them now in a huge pot and sit it out in the garage (where it will take a *long* time to freeze if the weather holds.) Or should I throw them away? I only paid a couple of dollars for 70 bulbs, but I hate to throw *anything* out. (you should see my basement)

Thanks, Bob

[Vox Humana]

I have planted tulips as late as New Years Day here in zone 6 and they did just fine. I always buy my bulbs when they go on deep discount. I wouldn't throw them away. Put them in the ground or in pots. I'm sure they will be fine.

[John McGaw]

I would definitely plant them outside right now being sure to maintain the full required depth and then adding a few inches of mulch on top. I routinely plant bulbs (zone 6-ish) between Christmas and New Years after having bought what I could find at the last "everything must go" clearance sales. My success rate has been very good so far and tulip bulbs, while not as bulletproof as daffodils, are still mighty tough.

[zxcvbob]

I don't have a big jackhammer with a wide chisel point. (ground is probably frozen for at least a meter.)

Bob, zone 4

[simy1]

I vote for first thaw. They will not bloom, but they will make food for next year.

[madgardener]

Madgardener's post is a good lead-in to my question. :-)

I bought a huge bag of fancyish tulip bulbs on clearance in late November because the weather had been warmer than usual and the ground was still soft. Well, the very night that I bought them the temperature plunged and the ground froze. The bulbs are still in the bag in my basement. The weather has been unseasonably warm the whole month of January, but still below freezing. Is it worth refrigerating the bulbs and then planting them at the first thaw in spring?

You don't have to refrigerate them if they've been in the basement. I would think the basement is cool. Go down there and sort thru them, feeling them to check for softness and dry, dead ones. No moldy ones allowed either. then...................(see bottom)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or should I plant them now in a huge pot and sit it out in the garage (where it will take a *long* time to freeze if the weather holds.) Or should I throw them away? I only paid a couple of dollars for 70 bulbs, but I hate to throw *anything* out. (you should see my basement) Bob

~~~~~~~~~~~

I vote that you go to the local Lowes or Home Despot and get some good bagged soil and pot them babies up. Make sure they're seven inches deep, which means a good size pot of course. If you have any bulb food leftover, sprinkle it around the bulbs before you topdress them, and firm the soil good. Water it really well until it's all drained and set them in the garage and let them discover that they're really in SOIL!!woo hoo!!!!! and you might start seeing little green tongues poking up when the weather finally starts acting like Spring in yer neck of the woods.

The neat thing about potted tulips is that you can bring a few into the house where it's warm and force them to enjoy when you're going nuts for color, and the rest you can just let them grow as they discover it's truely spring. You will then have a choice. Either leave them in the pots and put them around your yard and porch and what not, or gently tip them into holes and plug them into the garden to finish out their time in the real ground.

You don't HAVE to do that, but it would be instant pockets of tulips. What kind of fancy tulips? Parrots and Peony tulips will do wonderfully the first year, fair the second year and compost the third. Lily tulips on the other hand might actually return for you if you feed them granulated bulb food in the fall. I have a Marilyn tulip that returns for me from a container she lives in at the end of the sidewalk, but I think that it's two reasons......she's a tender "perennial" tulip, and I feed her and all the other bulbs in the fall with granulated food. (and she's seven inches deep in the pot!) Let us know what colors and kinds and how they do. You'll have a blast potting up those bulbs.

by the way, in pots, you can plant them "cheek to jowl" and they won't mind. If you decide to plug some of the pots in once the ground is soft enough to dig that hole for them, the closeness won't matter either. It will depend on what kinds of tulips you got that will tell wheather they'll return. For a sale and some smiles, you did great!!.

madgardener

[sockiescat]

I bought a huge bag of fancyish tulip bulbs on clearance in lat November because the weather had been warmer than usual and the ground wa still soft. Well, the very night that I bought them the temperature plunge and the ground froze. The bulbs are still in the bag in my basement. The weather has been unseasonably warm the whole month of January, bu still below freezing.

Is it worth refrigerating the bulbs and then planting them at th first thaw in spring? Or should I plant them now in a huge pot and sit i out in the garage (where it will take a *long* time to freeze if th weather holds.) Or should I throw them away? I only paid a couple of dollar for

70 bulbs, but I hate to throw *anything* out. (you should see my basement)

I have planted tulips as late as New Years Day here in zone 6 and the did just fine. I always buy my bulbs when they go on deep discount. wouldn't throw them away. Put them in the ground or in pots. I'm sure the will be fine.

maddie here is something that u might try if u have a section o flowerbed that is heavily mulched the ground might not be totall frozen if not then open a section and just put the bulbs in there fo now they need to be in the ground i think anyways. the other option u have is to put your bulbs in pots then take them t the flowerbeds and plant down as far as u can then cover them with mulch to help keep the pots from heaving. what u do if the ground is frozen is pour boiling water on the groun enough to get it to thaw some dig it then sink your pots in. hope this helps u some. good luck, sockiescat

-- sockiescat

[presley]

it's unlikely to freeze hard enough in your garage to damage the bulbs if they are in pots in damp soil. Usually the interior of a structure rarely goes more than a few degrees below freezing, and that only in the coldest weather.

[Tom Randy]

If the ground is workable plant them now.

[KB2SMS]

I start my weed plants indoors.

[zxcvbob]

The are bicolored. There's not much info on the package, but the variety names are "Blue Beauty" (they don't look blue in the picture) and "Claudia".

Best regards, Bob

[paghat]

My first tulips of the season are already blooming! They're T. kaufmanniana 'Early Harvest' -- as their name implies they're SUPPOSED to be among the earliest tulips possible, but last year they didn't bloom until March, so they're about five or six weeks ahead of themselves this year. There'll be some other kaufmannianas following soon.

Since December I've had early-blooming crocuses up, including C. korolowii 'Mountain Glory' bloomed (they appeared mid-January last year, by late December this year); C. sieberi atticus 'Firefly' blooming now, a week or two earlier than usual. White "tommies" have been blooming for over a week (they waited until February last year, always ahead of the regular purple tommies). Crocus ancyrensis 'Golden Bunch' is always notoriously early, it's been in huge yellow bud for three weeks but because it wants brightest bright sun & we've had only overcast days the buds refuse to open (when they finally do open, they could well get beaten to pieces in one day if it rains, so I like having them as long-lasting yellow buds). C. laevigatus var fontenayi also bloomed in December, but they're a true winter crocus so that wasn't unexpected; the 'Mountain Glory' blooming in December ahead of even 'Golden Bunch' was a big suprise.

Iris reticulata 'Purple Gem' has been blooming for over a week while Iris x histroides 'Katherine Hodgkin' is in big fat bud that might open later today. These two irises bloomed February last year so are two or three weeks earlier than expected. If a lot of stuff seems a mite early this year, the winter-flowering hepaticas are by contrast a mite late, I guess they feel it just hasn't been cold enough to really be winter.

Winter cyclamens (C. coum) are still in full bloom all over the place. Narcissus grass is up all over the place, but only a few buds, no blooms this early.

Just about every year there's SOMEthing blooming much earlier than I expect & just about every year someone says "It's global warming" but I suspect most people just forget when blooms started appearing the previous year & are surprised each year when spring flowers appear before spring.

-paghat the ratgirl