Tulips ? What tulips ?

[Terry Coombs]

In the fall of 2014 I planted tulips every 6 inches around the rose garden . Last spring we had almost every one come up and bloom - they all came up , 3 or4 didn't bloom . I'm still waiting for them to come up this year ... and it's way late . So today I dug up where I know i planted two of them - and there's no bulb , nothing . No tunnels like maybe the ground squirrel or moles or something got them , just nothing there . I've never noticed any digging like squirrels got them , no tunnel bumps like moles/voles/ ground squirrels often leave but they're gone . Anybody have any theories on where they went ?

[Brooklyn1]

Without knowing what zone you're in, your topography, and what critters habituate your property it's not really possible to say, all one can do is guess... I'd guess rabbits... deer will suck up bulbs too... really only daffs are safe. I fence my tulips but I don't have many because voles will eat them, only thing saving my tulips are the feral cats I care for.

[David E. Ross]

Where are you? That is, what is your climate?

[Terry Coombs]

We're in north central Arkansas on the southern edge of the Ozark Plateau . Here's a link to a wiki map , we're about 10 miles south of Mountain View .

[songbird]

was it a mix of various kinds or were they all the same?

some are more condition sensitive than others.

i have about 50 different kinds here... maybe more or less now, i haven't inventoried.

songbird

[John McGaw]

Well, sometimes bulbs and tubers and corms simply fail to survive and rot away. If the conditions are right there won't be much to see after they do.

[Brooklyn1]

Most times it's some hungry critter that will help themself to your bulbs,and by spring you'll find no signs of digging, it's not like squirrels and rabbits arrive with an excavator. Even crows will steal bulbs... naturally to crows it's not stealing, it's finders keepers...

[David E. Ross]

In your area, winter chill should be sufficient for tulips; so that is NOT the problem.

I know that "Dutch" tulips in my area first have to be stored in the refrigerator for about 6 weeks before planting and then must be treated as annuals. That is, they are ripped out after blooming. Because of that, I have no experience with tulips with one exception. I do have lady tulips (Tulipa clausiana), which do not require winter chill. They repeat every year and are blooming right now.

[Terry Coombs]

The rose garden is right outside the living room window ... we seldom get any snow ... and I often look out that window at my bee hives . I'm pretty sure if any critter was getting at them from the surface I'd have seen signs . I suspect , as david Ross suggested , that these were a variety that needed to be dug up after blooming . I bought them on ebay , and have zero info about them . This fall I'll be getting some bulbs from my nursery gal . Known quality , local support - she's got a horticulture degree - and always willing to help and make suggestions , whether you bought it from her or somewhere else .

[Boron Elgar]

I treat tulips as annuals and pick up 75-100 at Costco or one of the Big Box stores. I don't think I ever spend more than $20 or so. We put them into a bed up front in the fall, then after bloom, I pull the bulbs and put tomatoes there. I am notorious in the neighborhood.

Sometimes I give away the bulbs I have pulled or replant a few here and there.

Tulips are odd and fun. I have lived in this house 23 years and each spring I wind up with unknown tulips popping up in places I know I never planted any.

[Terry Coombs]

I'm not so much interested in annual plantings . Those annuals I have planted are mostly heirloom varieties that are expected to self-seed . Spring around here can get pretty hectic , between the garden and the bees .

[Brooklyn1]

Most foraging critters are nocternal, trust me, you'd not see them. I planted over a thousand assorted bulbs along my creek but for years all I've ever seen were the daffs. Now that I've been encouraging feral cats to live here for the past two years lo and behold plants I had forgotten about have been blooming. I've not seen a squirrel, rabbit, chipmonk or any rodent, no vole or mole mounds either... a half dozen feral cats easily de-rodent forty acres. They more than earn their keep. They eat very little cat food as they prefer to eat what they hunt. I supply heated shelters and heated water bowls in winter, low wattage, only pennies a day. They were born in my barn so they mostly live in my barn. I have heated shelters and water bowls on my deck and I put out food but nights they prefer the heated shelters and water bowls I set up in my barn. I can gaurantee you have critters stealing your bulbs. I've no idea what size property you're on but for a typical surburban lot 1-2 feral cats will protect your plants... house cats won't help.

[Terry Coombs]

I might not see the perps , but I think I would have seen some evidence . It really doesn't matter ... oh , and there is a feral cat around , I think the neighbor missed one when he moved . I see it occasionally , leave meat scraps out for it sometimes . We're on 12 heavily wooded acres in north central Arkansas , the clearing we live in is about a quarter acre .

[Brooklyn1]

If you're surrounded by all those acres of thick woods then it's a no brainer, critters are stealing your bulbs. One feral cat can't clear all those acres of rodents, and by your saying your neighbor moved and missed one cat then you've not a clue what's a feral cat... in this farming community it's illegal to move a feral cat. Feral cats here are chipped and have an ear notched... get caught moving one the fine is $10,000.

[Boron Elgar]

That is the advantage of tulips as annuals - they can go in as late as November, when things are quite calm in the garden.

Boron