Tulips are flowers that are popular all over the world. Their bewitching beauty attracts many people. Therefore, they are grown in various countries. You will find a description of this crop, growing tips and general guidelines for caring for it in this article.
General information
Tulips belong to the Liliaceae family. These perennial bulbous plants got their name from the Persian word turban. The fact is that the shape of the buds of these flowers is very similar to an oriental headdress resembling a turban.
Since ancient times, tulip flowers have been growing in Central Asia: in the steppes, deserts, and mountainous regions. They can also be found in the southern regions of Kazakhstan and in Eastern Europe. Currently, tulips are grown in Turkey, Iran and India.
Flower description
Depending on the variety in question, the height of the plant can be 10-20 or 65-100 cm.
The stalk of culture consists of several parts. These include the bottom, the stolon, as well as the generative shoot, on which leaves and buds are formed. The peduncle has a cylindrical shape and is either 5-20 or 85-100 cm high. The stem is straight and does not bend to the ground.
Tulip leaves are green or bluish. They are elongated, their edges can be smooth and wavy, covered with a touch of wax. The venation of this culture is arc. The leaves are arranged in such a way that they surround the entire stem. The flag list, located above all, has the smallest size.
Most often, one-flowered varieties of tulips are found. However, in some varieties, 3-5 buds can form on the peduncle. Perianth is formed by six free leaves, tulips have the same stamens. Despite the fact that there are varieties of various shades, the most popular are yellow and red tulips. Their coloring can be represented by pure color or combine several tones at once.
Often the lower part of the buds has a color different from the rest of the petals, because of which the so-called “bottom” of the tulip can form.
The shape of the flowers is in the form of a glass, bowl or lily. They are large, reach a length of 12 cm, their diameter is from 3 to 10 cm, in the open form - about 20 cm. The buds open in sunny weather, and on cloudy days and night time the petals are collected.
The fruit of the culture is represented by a small trihedral box, in which there are flat yellow-brown seeds.
Tulips in the greenhouse
Very often people prefer growing tulips in a greenhouse. Firstly, it is not very difficult. The most important thing is to know how to do it right. Secondly, greenhouses operate year-round. And this means that you can grow tulips by March 8 or any other holiday.
In order for the flowers to be beautiful and strong, it is necessary to select high-quality planting material and properly prepare it. Bulbs can be purchased at specialty stores or other gardeners. The best time to buy them is from mid-summer to September.
Experts say that the sooner you get the bulbs, the better they will be. How to choose a good planting material:
- If the bulb scales are very dense, painted in a dark brown shade, then it was overexposed in the soil.
- Carefully inspect the bulb for damage and mold, they should not be.
- It is best to give preference to heads whose diameter is about 3.5-4 cm.
- On a dense base near a healthy head, only small tubercles are located, from which roots subsequently sprout.
- If the bulb seems too light for its size, then it is rotten.
How to prepare bulbs for planting
Planting stock can be bought at the store. But for those who have long been cultivating tulips in a greenhouse, it is not difficult to independently prepare the bulbs for planting.
To get buds in the early spring, for the first holiday of this season, you should take care in the summer:
- First you need to choose the most attractive plants, with no signs of wilting, disease, and mark them. Healthy flowers on the petals lack dashes, spots, dots. Their color should be characteristic of this plant variety. If, out of inexperience, let it out of sight, the flowers affected by some kind of virus will not be able to reproduce over time, and from the bulbs harvested from such plants, it is impossible to determine whether they are capable of this process or not.
- From marked specimens, the flowers are cut on the third day after the petals open. The bud should fully open, otherwise after cutting it off the plant, the leaves will not develop well.
- When the end of June comes, you need to dig the bulbs. If the plants still do not turn yellow, the procedure is postponed to July. There is no need to rush, otherwise the tulips will bloom earlier. Every gardener wants to get flowers for the holiday. To do this, plant healthy bulbs. Of all the excavated ones, the largest are selected, without damage and rot, their shape should be round.
Planting in the greenhouse
To receive flowers for the first holiday of spring, planting should begin with the onset of November. Before this, it is recommended to disinfect the bulbs:
- Soak in potassium permanganate, for this a weak solution is prepared.
- Spray with a decoction of celandine.
- To process strongly heated water, but not boiling water.
The soil should also be decontaminated to exclude the content of parasites in it. To do this, the substrate is placed in the oven for 15 minutes. Usually, soil for greenhouses is acquired, but if this is not possible, it is made up independently from garden soil, peat and sand. The technology for growing tulips is simple:
- Each bulb is planted in a separate container. But if there are a lot of them, boxes or containers are used for this.
- The distance between the planting material should be at least 1.5 cm.
- Landing holes shallow - three centimeters.
- Bulbs placed in them are sprinkled with earth and watered abundantly.
- Pots or a container with onions are placed in a cool room where it is dark and humid.
- Plantings are watered regularly so that the soil does not dry out. It should always be wet.
The appearance of sprouts and the formation of buds should be expected after about 140 days. At this time, tulips need diffused lighting and additional nutrition to strengthen the stems. For this, plants need to be watered with a solution of calcium nitrate.
Flowers should be transferred to the greenhouse 21 days before the planned flowering. Sprouts have time to grow up to 5-6 cm in height. For three days, the temperature in the greenhouse is maintained at 15 ° C. When the color of the plants becomes saturated green, the temperature must be raised to 19 ° C.
Greenhouse Tulip Care
Features of growing a tulip and caring for this plant depend on the variety. However, there are some conditions that must be adhered to, regardless of their type:
- It is very important to take care of the lighting. It should be bright, because a lack of light has a detrimental effect on the condition of the flowers. Their stems are bent to the ground and bent, and the color of the petals becomes paler.
- This crop can tolerate exposure to direct sunlight. However, in this case, it is recommended to water the plants very carefully: water that has fallen on the leaves can cause burns.
- Further care consists in loosening the soil, weeding from weeds and watering, as necessary.
- Flowers are cut when the buds have not yet opened, and their color has not become characteristic of the variety.
- Bouquets should be kept in water with a temperature of +5 ° . So the freshness of the flowers lasts longer. Water should be changed periodically.
- After cutting flowers, watering the plants is halved, this mode is maintained until they wilt.
- Dry leaves are a signal for digging up bulbs and further storage. Such planting material can be used to grow tulips in the garden. Re-planting them in a greenhouse is not recommended.
Tulips in the open field
It is not difficult to grow these flowers in the fresh air, given all the details. Sometimes making minor mistakes leads to slow growth, rotting of the stems, the formation of buds of small sizes, fast withering and much more.
The best conditions for growing tulips in the ground are flat areas in the garden. It is better if they are well lit by the sun. In the shade of the crowns of trees or buildings of economic purpose will grow flowers of the most hardy varieties. For growing tulips, it is desirable that the soil is fertile, light, with a neutral reaction.
Outdoor landing
Gardeners usually plant in the fall. At this time, the bulbs will undergo natural cooling, and it is under such conditions that new sprouts of future plants begin to emerge inside them, which will bloom early. Tulips are also grown from bulbs planted in the spring, but these plants bloom later.
According to the recommendation of specialists, approximately in the middle of September, when the soil temperature drops to around 10 ° C, but freezing does not begin, you can plant tulips. Furrows or holes are made on the bed for each bulb separately. Their depth should equal the triple height of planting material. If the planting is too deep, the bulbs form few “children”.
Planting material can be placed at any distance from each other, but not closer than 10 cm, otherwise the growth of bulbs and their digging will be difficult. After planting, the pits are covered with soil and mulched with humus or peat. For winter, additional shelter is not required.
This is acceptable for a small site. If the areas are large, which is important for industrial plant growth, the bulbs are simply laid out on the surface and covered with a layer of soil.
Garden Flower Care
In the spring, after the snow melts, you need to remove the mulch and loosen the soil. After this, fertilizer containing nitrogen should be applied. So tulips will grow better and grow green mass faster. Further care consists in loosening the soil and watering as necessary.
When the sprouts appear, you need to carefully examine them. If signs of disease are found, they are dug up and destroyed. Early spring is usually characterized by frost, but tulips are not afraid of them. These flowers respond well to dressing. They need to be done when 2-3 leaves appear, before the beginning of the flowering and blooming of buds. To do this, use mineral fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium.
When the flowering is over, the cultivation of tulips and care for them continues. In order for all the forces to be directed to the formation of large bulbs, blossoming flowers should be removed, but the leaves on the plant must be left, otherwise there will be less bulbs. The stems also remain on the flower bed until they turn yellow. This is necessary for the full ripening of the bulbs.
Growing Tulips at Home
At home, on the windowsill, not all types of tulips grow. Flowers of exotic varieties, for example, are very moody. For growing tulips at home, it is recommended to take time-tested varieties: Aristocrat, Oxford, Parade, London and others. It is preferable to choose undersized varieties. They are more unpretentious and resistant to disease, able to endure poor care for a short time. Purchased bulbs are ready for planting. They can be planted immediately.
Growing tulips in pots on the windowsill is based on creating conditions close to the natural growth of plants. The cooling of the bulbs requires special attention, since in the wild, the formation of shoots and flowers occurs after they pass the stage of winter dormancy. Growing tulips at home allows you to have flowers at any time of the year, even in winter.
Landing at home
You can plant tulips at the end of the first month of autumn:
- First you need to prepare pots with a height of 15 cm and soil. In a ratio of 1: 2: 1, turf land, river sand, humus are taken and add a little ash.
- Bulbs are inspected, discarded by the sick, damaged, and treated with potassium permanganate.
- At the bottom of the pot put drainage, such as moss-sphagnum. After that, the tank is filled with prepared soil.
- On its surface lay the bulbs at a distance of a centimeter from one another.
- Then planting material is covered with earth to the very tops.
- Plantings are watered, and if the tops are not closed, they fill up the substrate.
- Pots are placed in a room with a temperature above +9 ° C and a humidity of 80%, it should be dark.
Home Flower Care
Growing tulips in winter is different in that the flower needs to be provided with additional lighting for 10 hours a day, otherwise the stems will stretch, the color of the petals and leaves will become much paler. To extend the flowering period, at night the flower pots are taken out onto the balcony, and the leaves are sprayed during the day. When caring for home tulips, some subtleties should be observed:
- Do not put them in the bright sun.
- Protect from drafts.
- Keep pots at a decent distance from sources of heating.
- Pour settled water at room temperature.
- Cut flowers at the very base of the plant. Do it early in the morning.
How to save planting material?
The cultivation of tulip bulbs and their storage should be carried out in favorable conditions. If there are few bulbs, they are stored in low drawers, the bottom of which is made of mesh. This is necessary for good ventilation, so that the rot does not start. The bulbs are spread in one layer, the boxes are placed one on top of the other.
Plants after the winter period, when they were at rest, accumulate nutrients, due to which flower buds are laid and formed. Therefore, for successful growth, tulips need to provide a decrease in temperature artificially, but this must be done gradually:
- During the first month after harvesting, the bulbs are kept in a room with an air temperature of 20 ° C, it should be dark and dry.
- When the end of summer comes, the temperature is reduced to 17 ° C for up to 14 days.
- September, October and November, bulbs are stored at a temperature of five to nine degrees Celsius. A cellar or refrigerator is suitable for this.
It should be remembered that some vegetables and fruits during storage tend to emit ethylene, which is harmful to tulips. For this reason, they are recommended to be kept away from apples, tomatoes, pears, melons, plums, bananas. These are just the fruits that secrete an undesirable substance.