Tulips are beautiful spring flowers. A wide variety of species and varieties makes plants unique and unusually beautiful.
Tulips: care and soil preparation
When planting flowers, special soil requirements do not exist. Tulips can develop on any garden soil, but most of all they like loose, well-drained, moderately moist soil. Loam or sandstone with a slightly alkaline or neutral reaction is best suited for this. Heavy clay soil should be improved by adding peat or sand to it. The site for plants must be selected in a place protected from the wind with plenty of sun. It is important that the planting is carried out on level ground, which does not allow stagnation of water in the fall and spring, which can soak the bulbs and cause them to rot. The place for planting for tulips must be changed every 4 years.
Tulips: care and fertilization
For the development of the plant, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are applied, they do this simultaneously with digging. Nitrogen fertilizers should be added only before planting. You can’t bring fresh manure under the tulips, because the roots will rot and the bulbs will die. Fertilizers are added in the following quantities per square meter of planting: compost or rotted manure is taken in one bucket, wood ash - 200 grams, dolomite flour - half a kilogram, 50 g of double superphosphate, 30 grams of potassium sulfate and potassium nitrate, 25 grams - nitrogen fertilizers (ammonia nitrate or urea). If no fertilizer was added during the digging, then immediately before planting the tulips, it is necessary to add nitrophosphate or other minerals at the rate of 0.10 kg per square meter of area.
Tulips: Care and Planting
The best time for planting bulbs in the middle lane is mid-autumn. Starting planting, it is necessary to carefully review the bulbs and remove any rotten ones. This should be approached responsibly in order to prevent the spread of plant diseases. Before planting for one hour, you should perform the pickling of the bulbs in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Tulips are also planted in spring.
Large bulbs need to be planted at a distance of 10 cm from one another, and the distance between the rows should be 25 cm, the children plant almost flush. Planting depth is calculated based on the size of the bulb. At the same time, on light soils to the surface, the soil layer should be three bulbs high, on heavy soils — two. After planting, it is best to sprinkle the area with dry leaves or a peat layer five centimeters thick.
Tulips: care and feeding
In order for the plants to grow well, simple care is required. It is enough to weed them in time and to water in dry weather. Flowers can grow without top dressing in the spring, but the introduction of additional fertilizer will allow lush flowering and form larger bulbs. Best plants absorb fertilizers that are dissolved in water.
The first top dressing is performed immediately after the snow melts. The fertilizer should consist of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in a ratio of 2: 2: 1, respectively. The second top dressing is performed during the period of bud formation, in this case, one part of the above components is taken.
When cutting flowers, at least two leaves must be left on the stem. If cutting is not performed, then you need to remove the formed ovary after falling of the petals.
Tulips: care and storage
Tulip bulbs need to be dug up every year. This is usually done in the middle of summer, when yellowing of the leaves begins. Tulips, the varieties of which are grouped separately, are laid out in shaded places to dry, after which the bulbs are cleaned of the remains of the roots and old scales. Store planting material at a temperature of 20 degrees in a ventilated room.