In order to ensure bright beautiful blooming of tulips next spring, it is necessary to plant bulbs on time. Tulips are planted in autumn at soil temperatures from +5 to +10 degrees. In late September, the temperature just drops to this level. But in different climatic zones, there are deadlines.
Too early planted bulbs quickly take root in warm soil and begin to actively release leaves in early spring, because of which they fall under spring frosts. To avoid this, you should follow the timing of planting tulips. In the climatic conditions of Central and Central Russia, this is the end of September, October or the beginning of November. The main condition is that the soil layer where the bulbs are placed does not have time to freeze.
It is allowed to plant tulips in autumn at a later time - on the eve of December or even at its beginning. In this case, the soil needs to be prepared in advance, and the bulbs should be planted under cover material. By the beginning of February, they will take root well, and in the middle of spring they will bloom beautifully.
Soil preparation is made two weeks before planting. They dig the earth, add humus, add sand and peat, and potash fertilizers and superphosphate will be useful . You can not use unripe manure because of the high pathogenic flora, in which the bulbs begin to hurt. Also, experienced flower growers do not recommend planting tulips in the place where the asters grew - they are considered bad predecessors.
The time for tulip planting in regions with a warm climate is at a later date - in the 2nd and 3rd decade of December. The depth of the furrow depends on the size of the planting material. To do this, first calibrate (or sort) by size and grades. Children should be planted separately to a depth exceeding the size of the bulb by 4 times. The same rule must be observed for large adult tubers. From above, mulching with a layer of peat, sawdust or fallen leaves is necessary. To ensure that the plants are healthy and do not die from fungal diseases, the bulbs are pickled before planting in a solution of potassium permanganate or in a special preparation.
The optimal scheme is to plant tulips in autumn in three-line ribbons or islets. The distance between the ribbons should be at least 60 cm, between the lines in the ribbon - 20-30 cm, between the bulbs can be left from 5 to 10 cm.
The islands look picturesque when 10-20 plants are planted at once in one place. It is worth considering that after flowering, large bulbs will give children, so the distance between them should be at least 10 cm. To prevent the loss of children, a mesh of polyester is placed at the bottom of the prepared hole. When it comes time to dig out the bulbs for storage, the net is taken out of the ground along with a layer of soil and all the bulbs.
Planting tulips in the fall on cultivated fertile soils will give positive results if you protect the site from small rodents. For this, poisonous baits for mice are laid out. If there are moles on the site, then dug tubers, which are a real treat for them, are found by the mouse moves dug by them. To prevent this from happening, the bed is encircled with spruce branches and they trample the soil well around.