It is impossible to imagine a garden in which amazing flowers would not grow, striking the eye with its various colors, - tulips. In our country, this flower is especially popular. It is customary to give it to women and girls on International Women's Day. In this article, we’ll talk about how to grow tulips, about some agricultural techniques, and caring for them at home.
About Tulips
It is believed that the word tulip came from the east - turban. They say that a bouquet of tulips means a declaration of love. A lot of legends are made about him all over the world. One of them tells the story of the fate of the Persian prince Farhad. Having learned about the death of his beloved girl, in deep despair, riding on his faithful horse, he rushes to the rocks and dies, not knowing that envious persons lied about the death of his beloved. In the place where the blood of the young prince spilled, the first flowers appeared. After some time, tulips were grown in the gardens of Persia. Merchants from the East, they were brought to Byzantium, after which they came to Europe, and then went on a victorious march around the world.
Culture Description
Tulip refers to herbaceous plants, characterized by a short growing season. Tulip bulbs have a pear-shaped shape, topped with hiding scales. With a visual inspection, you can easily see a flattened bottom and a slightly pointed tip. Such parameters as the size of the bulb, the color of the tulip and the shape of the scales differ from belonging to one or another species. The root of the tulip is located on the bottom of the bulb. In the period when the plant is in the stage of a young seedling, it has one main stem, which, by the way, immediately dies at the end of the first vegetation period .
In subsequent vegetative periods, the tulip develops a new root system. Stolon is called a kind of underground root of the plant, with the help of which the annual reproduction of the bulbs of this culture takes place. The stem of a tulip is always cylindrical in shape, most often from 1 to 12 leaves. The height of the stem can be from 15 to 70 cm, it depends on the variety and type of plants. The leaves of a tulip are elongated-oval in shape, elongated and pointed, located on the stem. Inflorescences consist of three internal and the same number of external petals; hybrid varieties have more of them. The shape of the flower can be star-shaped, goblet-shaped, oval, cupped, terry. Coloring is monophonic, but can also be two-tone or mixed.
How to grow tulips at home
It should be said that tulips, despite their unpretentiousness, to grow at home is not too simple an activity. It is necessary to observe a number of certain rules when planting bulbs, as well as to ensure full-fledged care for plants throughout the entire growing season.
Grade selection
Before you grow tulips at home, you need to find out which varieties of this culture are suitable for this method. Most often, exotic crops are rather capricious when growing, so it is recommended to use the following time-tested varieties:
- Aristocrat;
- Oxford;
- Parade;
- Apricot Beauty;
- Diamond Star;
- Fringit Elegans;
- Diplomat;
- Negrita
- Lustigue of the Battle;
- Confux;
- Scarborough
- London;
- Apeldoorn.
Experienced gardeners recommend giving preference to low-growing varieties, they are characterized by resistance to a number of diseases (especially variegation), they are unpretentious to growing conditions, can endure some disturbances when leaving.
Planting Material Requirements
Most often, the seeds of bulbous plants are sold ready to plant, the bulbs have been processed and rejected. We learn what you need in order to grow tulips at home and how to prepare your seeds. In order to obtain high-quality seed material, first of all, plants growing on the bed provide full-fledged care for the entire growing season. And this means feeding timely, providing watering, timely loosening the soil and removing weeds. As soon as yellow stems appear on the plants, you need to dig them up.
Growing bulbs from seeds
Let us dwell on how to grow a tulip bulb. It can be grown by sowing seeds. For this, the seed box is cut off in early August and sent to ripen in a dry, warm room. In the first decade of October, the area selected for sowing seeds must be dug up. Loam is considered the best soil; humus is added to it when digging. Seeds are abundantly sown in the prepared land and sprinkled with sand. No more events are being held. In the first spring, the tulip grows in the form of a small narrow leaf, which is folded into a thin tube and has one root. By mid-June, the leaf fades, and a small onion-baby grows from the spine, which usually has a size of no more than 2-3 mm.
A year later, with the onset of spring, leaves appear again, the plant already has two roots. When the leaves dry, the small bulb dies, and instead a larger one appears, with a diameter of up to 1 cm. All this time the bulbs are not dug up, and in the winter season the bed is covered with soil with a layer of 5-6 cm. When growing a tulip for the third year, the seedling sprout grows larger. And the diameter of the bulb increases significantly and reaches a diameter of 2.5 centimeters. In addition, a couple of children appear on it. In the middle of summer, the bulbs are dug up and stored for storage in a cool and dry room. In October, an adult bulb and children are again planted in the soil 12-15 cm deep. Before planting, the holes are covered with sand and watered with slightly salted water. The bed is mulched and sprinkled with rotted manure.
The cultivation process continues for 5-6 years. But due to the fact that the bulbs of varietal tulips are quite expensive, you can resort to such growing bulbs. From the grown bulbs, select the largest and place in a dry room for drying. It is necessary to ensure their proper temperature conditions. The first week it should be maintained up to +34 ° C heat, the next couple of months +23 ° C, and in the last +17 ° C. Further, planting material should be placed on cooling by wrapping it in a gauze bag or put in any box and refrigerated on the lower shelf (you can in the basement), where it will be stored at a temperature of +5 ° C until planting.
Planting flowers
Consider how to grow tulips at home. First of all, plants are artificially created conditions that are most similar to natural. In this case, special attention should be paid to cooling the bulbs, since shoots and flowers are formed only after passing through the stage of winter recreation. Consider the whole process of planting bulbs in stages:
- the recommended landing time is the end of September;
- used pots must have a depth of at least 15 cm;
- fertile soil for plants is prepared from river sand, humus and sod land, or you can buy a ready-made mixture for this type of plant;
- Before planting, all the bulbs are once again subjected to visual inspection, they must be perfectly clean, and then immersed in a solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes;
- it is necessary to lay drainage on the bottom of the pot, then fill it with earth at such a level that a distance greater than 3 times the height of the bulb is observed to the edge of the container;
- on top of the ground at a distance of ten cm from each other, the planting material is laid out and covered with a substrate;
- planting must be well shed, if open bulbs appear, sprinkle with earth;
- containers with planting should be brought to a dark place where the air temperature is at least +9 ° C and humidity is about 80%.
- for a long landing time, it is not recommended to leave unattended, it is necessary to ensure that the earth does not dry out, and also is not too waterlogged and mold does not appear on it.
On how to grow tulips in a pot, we suggest watching a video.
Growing tulips to a specific date: March 8
It is impossible to imagine this holiday without flowers. In this case, the leading position is occupied by bouquets of tulips. A very popular activity among flower growers lately is the distillation of flowers. We will try to tell in more detail about how to grow tulips by March 8. Bulb flower crops can be grown on the windowsill, and on a larger scale in the greenhouse. Tulip is one of the most sought after flowers for this spring holiday. By the way, having built your own business on this, you can make good money growing flowers for holiday dates.
Which grade to choose
What needs to be done in order to grow tulips by March? How to treat the selection of varieties! The right variety is a guarantee of success. Particular attention should be paid to the following characteristics:
- petals coloring;
- flowering time;
- plant height;
- plant class;
- disease resistance.
Moreover, the last criterion is especially important, because the plant will not look so attractive because of a flower disease. In the varieties listed below, the petals have an amazing unusual color, the inflorescences are quite large, the stem has an average size. The most suitable varieties for this method of cultivation are:
In order to grow flowers at home, create an artificial light and heat regime for them, which encourages the buds to bloom ahead of time. However, it should be noted that cultivation in such conditions is not an easy task, which requires certain knowledge and efforts from the grower. Preparation of seed material is carried out identically to that which is observed for planting plants in pots.
Forcing tulips
Consider how to grow tulips by March 8, using distillation. In autumn and winter, extremely important processes take place in tulip bulbs in which substances are synthesized and accumulate, which subsequently activate the growth of the stem. Therefore, it is extremely important to observe the cooling period, the time when the long period of the bulb is in a dark room at a temperature of +5 .. + 9 ° C. If all conditions are met, the plants bloom well, and the stem has a high growth point.
As you know, in order to determine the start date for cooling the bulbs, it is necessary to count the number of weeks spent on cooling, add 3-4 more weeks for plant growth, and also count the time until the date when blooming is planned. When cooled at a temperature of +5 ° C, plants are planted 6-7 weeks before the expected flowering period. In this case, tulips bloom first. However, it should be noted that such an extreme method cannot be applied to all varieties.
The secrets of proper bulb cooling
It must be remembered that a violation of the temperature regime will primarily affect the quality of flowering tulips. In the event that the bulb cooled less than the prescribed time, this will affect the quality of the flower stalks - they can become shortened. If the cooling period lasted longer, the flower stalks will stretch very much, will be brittle, and the stem will begin to bend and lie on the ground. Storing the bulb at temperatures above +20 ° C during growth can cause the development of fungal diseases in plants.
Varieties for distillation
What parameters should be considered when choosing a variety? The color intensity, the ability of the buds to maintain their shape for a long time. The following tulip varieties, the so-called Darwin hybrids, are most suitable for cutting in March.
- Olympic flame;
- Eric Hofsyu;
- Oxford Elite;
- Forgotten Dreams.
Inflorescences of these tulips are characterized by the fact that they open slightly. Usually cut off 2-3 days after the start of flowering. It is at this time that the color becomes the most saturated, and the sizes are the maximum.
Growing in water
We suggest using an interesting way to grow tulips using water. This method involves cultivation without the use of soil.
You will need any container of the desired shape, you can use decorative pebbles, shells or beads as a decor. We offer instructions on how to grow tulips in water:
- First, soak the bulbs spine down in water (warm) with the addition of any growth stimulant.
- On the bottom of the container, lay the pebbles in an even layer.
- Carefully lay the bulbs and fix them with another layer of decorative elements.
- We pour so much water that it barely touches future roots.
- We remove the capacity away from sunlight.
- As soon as long white roots appear, we add more water.
- When green leaves appear, put the container on the windowsill.
- If the water stagnates, it should be drained and rinsed all with running water.