digging up tulip bulbs, preparing and storing them during the winter

mark akimoff via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Mon, 21 Dec 2020 08:47:18 PST
Hi Randy,

I grow hundreds of different tulips to recreate a historic garden display
in Salem, Oregon every year. We have a pretty elaborate process for dealing
with the tulips in the garden, after they are finished blooming, usually
around May,  but before the leaves die back they are dug up, dipped in a
sulfur or copper solution to deal with fungal issues and bundled up by
variety, wrapped in burlap and then healed in a dry bed until the leaves
die back in mid summer. Here is a blog post with some visuals:
https://gaietyhollow.com/2020/05/…

 This is done because the summer beds that display the tulips are irrigated
for the summer perennial and annual display and most tulips don't want any
summer water, but you have to let the leaves die back attached to the bulbs
so they set flowers  for the next season. After the leaves have all died
back the bulbs are graded out with the largest and healthiest saved for
next years display, these are stored in paper bags, after a sulfur dusting,
and stored in a cool garage until the fall rains return. Here is a post
that illustrates this: https://gaietyhollow.com/2020/07/

In October or November the Tulips are planted back into the beds and the
whole process starts over, lot's of old timers advise to not plant tulips
until after a few hard frosts so the ground has cooled, but sometimes busy
fall gardening schedules say you plant when you can. I don't think you will
find any problem with winter hardiness in Idaho, but for good repetitive
success with tulips it's the summer water you have to avoid, which for us
means digging them up in the summer and storing them dry until fall
planting.

Happy Holidays!

Mark Akimoff

On Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 10:07 PM Robert Nold via pbs <
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:

> My name is Randy Miller and I just joined this society. I live in Boise,
> Idaho which is zone 7A and my phone number is 208-562-1110.
> I would enjoy hearing or reading any comments concerning the above subject.
>
>
> Hi. I can think of no reason, aside from just wanting to (which is fine),
> for digging up tulips to store for the winter in Idaho. They should be
> perfectly fine left in the ground.
>
> Bob Nold
> Denver, Colorado
> 7C at 11 p.m.
>
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