Knowing how to plant tulips in pots, flowerpots or containers, you can easily decorate your balcony with wonderful spring flowers. Just imagine how pleasant it will be to inhale the delicate aroma of tulips and admire their exquisite blooms, while it is still snowing outside or the gloomy April slush reigns.
Choosing suitable pots for tulips
But for the tulips to bloom in early spring, you will need to take care of planting them in the fall. All winter, tulips in a pot should be kept in a dark, cool place in the apartment or under cover outside. At low temperatures, the bulbs will not germinate, but when the time comes to move the tulips to the balcony, they will quickly begin to grow and bloom together.
From the article you will learn about which pots and containers are best to choose for growing bulbous flowers, what soil to prepare for planting bulbs, and how to plant tulips correctly so that they all sprout after wintering.
Video about growing tulips at home in a pot
To force bulbs at home, it is recommended to use low containers, however, tulips on the balcony in low containers will not feel comfortable, and their winter hardiness will noticeably decrease. The sufficient height of pots for growing tulips on the balcony is 30 cm for large bulbs and 20 cm for small bulbs. With an upper pot diameter of 20 cm, you can place about five fairly large tulip bulbs in the soil.
If you can’t decide whether to take ceramic pots or plastic ones, opt for the first option. Ceramics better allow air to pass through, which is necessary for the normal formation of the root system of tulips. Although plastic containers are much cheaper, they overheat in the sun and do not provide the plant roots with sufficient oxygen access.
If you can’t decide whether to take ceramic pots or plastic ones, opt for the first option.
Containers and pots must have drainage holes at the bottom to remove excess moisture from the soil. If there are no such holes, you will need to think about how best to make them yourself.
Preparing the substrate for tulips
Tulips' soil preferences remain the same, regardless of whether the bulbs are planted in open ground or in pots. Therefore, the principle of mixing the substrate will be the same as when growing tulips in flower beds: add two parts of peat and the same amount of washed river sand to one part of clay soil.
Growing tulips on the balcony also works well when using a substrate consisting of equal parts of leaf, garden, humus soil with the addition of peat and sand. The soil must be neutral or slightly alkaline.
If you don’t want to mix the substrate yourself, purchase a ready-made soil mixture from flower shop– usually there are no problems with this.
Growing tulips on the balcony also works well when using a substrate
Instructions on how to grow tulips in a pot
As with planting in open ground, tulip bulbs are planted in balcony boxes in September-October. The landing process is quite simple:
- Place drainage in the form of gravel or ceramic fragments at the bottom of the pot or box to prevent the drainage holes from becoming clogged;
- measure from the edge of the pot required depth, on which the bulbs should be planted, and pour the substrate to this level;
- place the bulbs on the ground - the planting should be denser than when grown in a flowerbed;
- add the substrate almost to the very edge of the pot;
- Gently water the soil using a watering can with a diffuser.
Throughout the winter, containers with planted bulbs will need to be moved to a cold room. If, in addition to an unheated balcony, you have no more suitable place To store boxes with tulips, cover them well on all sides with old blankets or unnecessary warm clothes. You can also use boxes filled with shavings. In this form, the plantings will not be afraid of even the most severe frosts. But don’t forget to check the containers and water the plantings from time to time to prevent the soil from drying out.
In March, it will be possible to remove the cover from the containers and begin watering. Soon green shoots will appear, and beautiful tulips will decorate your balcony!
As with planting in open ground, tulip bulbs are planted in balcony boxes in September-October
Create a spring fairy tale on the balcony
To make your balcony an object of undisguised admiration for neighbors and passers-by, take note of a few recommendations:
- The best varieties for growing on the balcony are varieties such as simple and double early tulips, Foster and Kaufman tulips - they begin to bloom earlier than others;
- Tulips of the Prestance Fusilier variety look gorgeous in pots, with up to eight flowers formed on their peduncles;
- low-growing varieties fit more harmoniously into the limited space of the balcony;
- there are countless varieties in pots - you can combine contrasting tones and similar shades, use different types tulips of the same color, plant them in pots with tulips small flowers(forget-me-nots, muscari, viola, daisies, pansies), add greens, etc.;
- you can plant tulips of one variety in a box, so that after flowering you can remove them for growing, replacing them with a box with other flowers, or combine varieties with different terms flowering, taking turns replacing each other.
After the tulips on the balcony fade, leave them in the pots and continue to water them
If you decide to combine tulips of different flowering times in one pot, use the layer planting method. To do this, after the drainage material, add about ten centimeters of soil and place the bulbs on it. Then fill them with soil and lay the next layer. If there are several such plants, then continue to alternate soil and bulbs until required quantity. Cover the last layer with soil and water thoroughly. After some time, excess liquid will drain through the drainage holes, remove it and place the pot in place.
In order for growing tulips on the balcony to be successful, be sure to select the highest quality, smooth and hard bulbs without damage for planting. When watering, use warm water. If possible, provide the tulips with high air humidity. Apply fertilizing periodically complex fertilizers. Try not to place the pots in the hot sun, otherwise the soil will constantly dry out and the plants will die.
Video about how to properly plant tulips in a pot
Experienced flower growers specially build racks in several tiers around the perimeter of the balcony for pots of flowers, and under the balcony railings they make a kind of “window sill”, sheltered from the sun.
After the tulips on the balcony have faded, leave them in the pots and continue to water them for another month so that the bulbs gain strength and grow to optimal sizes. Watering is stopped when the dried leaves die completely. And as soon as the soil in the pot dries out, the bulbs can be taken out, peeled from the old peel, sorted for future planting and stored until autumn.
Again, this advice is suitable for those who like to experiment with growing various plants. Tulips cannot be classified as house plants. Rather, these flowers belong to the garden category. This is where we are used to seeing them in the spring. But it turns out that they can be grown quite successfully at home. In winter now it is difficult to surprise anyone with tulips. A bouquet of these flowers can easily be bought at any time of the year. But, if you give such a living bouquet in winter directly in a pot, then this is a completely different matter. And, if you also say that you grew them at home, then I think this will add additional value to your “living” gift. After all, you put your work into this living bouquet.
We grow tulips at home in winter. How to do it?
You can grow such a bouquet by a certain date. For example, by March 8th, when flowers are especially popular among us. I also think it will be nice to receive live ones for other winter holidays. The process of growing such a bouquet can be easily regulated. You can speed it up, or you can slow down the pace of cultivation a little. Everything here is regulated quite simply.
How to plant tulip bulbs?
How quickly your tulips will grow is up to you to decide. This can be adjusted very simply. If we take the average, it’s about 2 or 2.5 weeks. During this time, on average, a good bouquet grows. But, if you need to speed up this process, for example, by a certain date, then you need to place the pot of tulips in a warmer place from the window. There they will bloom much faster. And when timing doesn’t matter, then let the pot stand in a cooler place. Then the tulips will bloom much later. Here you should know that flowers that developed more slowly will be stronger than those whose growth you accelerated. Accordingly, such tulips will last
The bulbs will not germinate at low temperatures, and when the owners decide to move them to warmth, they will begin to grow. To grow bulbs at home, the pots must be at least 30 cm in height for large bulbs and 20 cm for small ones. For the diameter of the top of the pot, 20 cm is enough; approximately 5 large onions will fit in such a pot. It is better to take ceramic pots, since ceramics allow air to pass through better, and air is necessary for good formation of the root system of tulips. Plastic containers are much cheaper and less fragile, but they overheat significantly in the sun and do not provide protection from the cold.
The pot must have drainage holes to excess moisture did not stagnate at the roots. To create tulips good soil take equal parts of leaf, garden and humus soil with the addition of peat and coarse river sand. The soil reaction should be neutral or slightly alkaline. The preferences of tulips do not change whether they grow in a flowerbed or in a pot on the windowsill. Bulb soil, sold in specialty stores, is also good.
Bulbs are planted in September-October, as in open ground. Expanded clay, gravel, ceramic fragments or charcoal are poured into the bottom of the pot, making sure that too small particles do not completely clog the hole. The distance at which the bulbs will need to be planted is measured from the edge of the pot; to this level the pot is filled with substrate. The bulbs are located almost close to each other, i.e. much denser than in a flower bed. The soil is added to the edge of the pot and watered so that the volume settles and decreases. If necessary, top up the soil.
So that the result of forcing does not turn out to be disappointment, the bulbs need to be selected high-quality, smooth, hard. Then the containers with the bulbs are moved to a cool room, simulating wintering. If it's September and it's very warm outside, the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator will do. The containers are checked approximately once a week to ensure that both the soil does not dry out and mold appears. You can place pots with tulips in a bright place and begin full watering after 3-4 months.
If in a pot of varieties that bloom in different time, you can use the layer planting method. To do this, after the drainage layer in the pot, add about 10 cm of soil and place the bulbs on it, fill them completely with soil and lay the next layer. The earliest flowering varieties are placed at the bottom, and those that bloom later are at the top. The last layer is covered with soil and watered abundantly. The liquid will drain through the drainage, after which the pot can be stored.
To grow tulips at home, soil is not necessary. To ensure that the result of forcing does not turn out to be disappointment, you need to choose high-quality, smooth, hard bulbs. When watering, you should use warm water, providing the tulips with high air humidity if possible. Fertilizing with complex fertilizers should not contain a lot of nitrogen; it is better to give preference to phosphorus fertilizers. Do not place pots in the hot sun; tulips will die from direct sun rays. After the tulips have bloomed, the bulbs are left in the pots for about a month, fertilized and watered so that they gain strength for the next flowering. Watering is stopped when the penultimate leaf begins to fade. When the soil dries, the bulbs are taken out, peeled, sorted for future planting, and sent back to storage.
Many gardeners grow tulips in a pot at home to please their significant other on March 8th or to profit from the further sale of flowers.
In most cases, such plants develop in a flower bed, but early flowering can be obtained by planting bulbs in ordinary pots in winter.
Our article will be devoted to the process of growing tulips in flowerpots.
Description
Depending on the chosen variety, the height of the tulip can vary from 10 centimeters to 1 meter. The root part of this plant consists of adventitious roots that develop and die every year.
The stem of the flower is erect, cylindrical. The leaves are elongated, lanceolate, green with a barely noticeable waxy coating. The largest leaf is considered to be the lower one, the largest leaf blade is located in the upper part of the crop.
Note: Most varieties of tulips have only one inflorescence, but in some species three to five flowers can form simultaneously.
The inflorescences are white, yellow or red, consist of 6 petals and the same number of stamens. U hybrid varieties The coloring is slightly different, in this case the flowers may be purple or violet.
Tulip petals also have different shapes:
- cup-shaped;
- star-shaped;
- fringed;
- oval;
- lily-shaped.
The size of the blossoming inflorescence also depends on the variety. If the length of a flower can reach up to 12 centimeters, then the diameter of the inflorescence ranges from 3...10 centimeters. Tulips usually open in cloudy weather and finish blooming at nightfall or in unfavorable weather conditions.
For home growing
London variety
The choice of tulips is actually huge, but not all varieties are suitable for growing at home in a pot. The most adapted crops include:
- London;
- Oxford;
- Parade Record;
- Aristocrat;
- Negrita;
- Scarborough;
- Confux;
- Diplomat.
It is important to know: Low plants are ideal for growing at home. Such crops are undemanding in care and have good disease resistance.
Tulip bulbs can be bought at any specialty store or prepared from your own planting material. There are some nuances to using your own seeds:
- Their flowers need careful care during the development period.
- Bulbs are dug up in the spring after the tulips have faded during the period when the stems turn yellow.
- For storage and further planting The largest bulbs are selected.
When drying seed material, the following must be observed: temperature regime. In the first week of storage, the room temperature is set at 34 degrees. In the next two months, temperatures are reduced to +23 degrees.
In the next third month, the temperature is again reduced to +17 degrees. After some time, the bulbs are placed in a gauze bag and placed in the refrigerator. In this state, the seed material is stored until planting.
Preparatory work for forcing bulbs
Winter growing of tulips involves using forcing technology.
During the main work, the gardener must bring the temperature and humidity, as well as lighting, as close as possible to natural conditions.
The main work on growing tulips at home is carried out in the following sequence:
- Planting of bulbs occurs in the last ten days of September.
- To grow flowers, choose flowerpots up to 15 centimeters deep.
- You can buy the soil mixture or prepare it yourself. It consists of one part humus and river sand and two parts turf soil. To enrich the soil with microelements, add a little wood ash.
- We inspect the bulbs for the presence of diseases, immerse the planting material for 30 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection.
- We place drainage in pots and fill them with a nutrient mixture.
- We lay the bulbs on the surface of the soil, maintaining a distance of 1 centimeter.
- We fill the planting material with soil.
- We water the soil.
- We move the pots to a dark, but damp and cool room. The temperature in this place should not exceed +9 degrees, humidity is within 80%.
Keep in mind: The bulbs must be cooled before planting, which will stimulate intensive development of the crop.
Further care for flowers consists of: additional watering. The soil must be moistened at least once a week.
How to achieve flowering
A few weeks after sowing, the first shoots will begin to appear from the pots. When the height of the leaves reaches 6 or 7 centimeters, they are transferred to a bright room and gradually begin to accustom them to sunlight.
Indoors it is necessary to achieve optimal humidity air (about 80%). Such indicators can be obtained by periodically spraying plants.
When growing flowers at home, you must follow the following rules:
- plants should not be exposed to direct sunlight;
- it is necessary to protect vegetative crops from drafts;
- pots are kept away from heating radiators;
- To moisten the soil, settled liquid with a temperature of 18-22 degrees is used.
- It is advisable to cut flowers in the morning near the surface of the ground.
Gardener's advice: For the first time after moving, the flowers should be covered with a paper cap. The temperature also needs to be increased gradually to +18 degrees in two days. When growing tulips in winter time Artificial supplementary illumination may be necessary.
It is not recommended to use the bulb for re-forcing tulips, but the planting material can be restored in open ground. In this regard, after flowering ends, it is necessary to cut the bulb and reduce watering.
After the leaves turn yellow, the bulbs are removed from the soil and dried. Planting material is stored in the basement, where the temperature is set to +18 degrees.
Growing tulips yourself in winter is quite simple, but to do this you must follow the rules described above. At proper care these flowers will delight the hostess with colorful inflorescences and long-lasting flowering.
How to properly plant tulips in pots, see the following video:
A striking representative of the Liliaceae family are tulips. These spring flowers, which have a special aroma, are often driven out by March 8th. To grow bulbs at home during an unusual period of the year, you need to know all the intricacies of this process: from choosing a variety to feeding.
Article outline
When is the best time to plant bulbs?
The timing of plant forcing is greatly influenced by its biological features. For the success of the event, by the time of planting in the ground, the planting material must already have formed all the organs of the future flower. The inside of the bulbs should also contain an optimal amount of useful elements. Based on this, you should choose a soil substrate only of high-quality and large specimens, weighing at least 25 grams.
For the convenience of calculating the exact timing of planting bulbs in a pot, there is a simple technology where two main periods should be taken into account:
- The first includes planting and the process of rooting the material. Optimal temperature for at this stage is 5-8 degrees. Depending on the varietal characteristics, the duration of this time period can vary from 16 to 22 weeks.
- The second involves keeping the emerging sprouts in comfortable conditions at a temperature of 12-15 degrees. Light intensity should be in a moderate range. The duration of this period (before the formation of buds) varies between 3-4 weeks.
By adding these two stages, it is possible to calculate the flowering period when kept indoors. This is how they distinguish:
- Early, when the tulips bloom last December dates early January. Flower forcing coincides with the New Year holidays
- Mid-early, in which flowering coincides with the Christmas holidays.
- Medium, allows you to grow flower crops for Valentine's Day.
- Late, makes it possible to prepare the bouquet by March 8th.
How to choose a variety for winter planting
The market offers a fairly large assortment of flowers from the Liliaceae family with different forcing periods. Among the most popular varieties are:
- Bridge Mize, Christmas Marvel, Diamond Star. These are plants with early flowering, the process of formation of peduncle primordia is 10-16 weeks. They reach a height of 30-40 cm, and the size of their buds does not exceed 8 cm. The advantage of such tulips is the formation of flowers in the shape of a bowl or glass.
- Darwinian hybrids. Flowers with medium and mid-early forcing attract attention with the height of the buds - 12 cm, and the height of the plant itself - 60-80 cm. But given the large size of the flowers, only experienced gardeners can cope with them.
- Triumph, Temple of Beauty, Negrita, Aristocrat. Late-flowering specimens of class 5 can grow up to 75 cm. The height of the flowers is no more than 10 cm, their shape resembles a bowl in appearance.
The process of growing tulips
Often, novice gardeners do not dare to grow tulips at home in winter, considering this activity as something difficult. But if you adhere to a certain technology, success will be guaranteed.
Preparatory activities
You should prepare the bulbs in the summer season, when tulips grow on summer cottage. For subsequent forcing, you will need exceptionally healthy and strong specimens; they are provided with proper care throughout the entire growing season. After harvesting, the bulbs are kept indoors at a temperature of 25 degrees for 30 days. Then these indicators are reduced by 3-5 degrees (August-September).
Planting work
The bulbs selected for planting are placed in fertile soil substrate with a neutral acidity level. The planting date will be determined by the planned period of bud formation. In a suitable container, the material is placed at a distance of 5-10 mm from each other, the bulbs are slightly buried and irrigated. The container with planted tulips is placed in a room with cool air, where the temperature is at least 9 degrees. This stage of flower forcing lasts 16-22 weeks.
The next step will be to transfer the container with future flowers to a room where the temperature is maintained within 12-15 degrees. Such conditions are necessary to avoid stress that overtakes bulbous crops with a sharp change in temperature. The lighting should not be too bright. In addition, you should know that the sooner the tulips are warm, the faster the flowering phase will begin. Move containers to warm room should be done when the height of the sprouts is 5-7 cm.
Subtleties of selecting planting material
It is necessary to select bulbs for forcing from your own planting material. Suitable specimens must be cleared of the husk covering them and the smooth shell inspected. High-quality bulbs should not contain hidden cuts, any damage, or signs of disease. In addition, peeled bulbs are more effectively fixed in the soil substrate and quickly absorb moisture and nutritional compounds.
Before planting in prepared soil, it is recommended to soak the bulbs in a working solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes. To prepare it you will need several dark purple crystals and 0.5 liters of water. Thanks to this procedure, it is possible to save future flowers from diseases. Alternatively, you can use a container of water whose temperature is 40 degrees. Soaking time of the material is 5 minutes.
Which substrate is best for planting tulips?
For forcing flowers from the Liliaceae family, it is advisable to use an earth mixture with a sufficient level of moisture and air permeability, and acidity levels in the range of 6.5-7.0. Based on the practice of Dutch flower growers, the crop can be grown in river sand, but sand mixtures where peat, soil, and sawdust are used. Perlite has proven itself well.
At home, it is effective to prepare a soil substrate from soil, manure and humus in a ratio of 2:1:1. For fertility, you can add another handful of wood ash - this is an excellent fertilizer for tulips. What is not recommended to do is to use soil from greenhouses, where there is a high probability of the presence of pathogenic microorganisms and fungal spores.
If using peat or sawdust processing needs to be done lime mortar. It’s good to take sawdust steamed hardwood. To grow blooming tulips, you need to monitor the seedlings; they should grow evenly and not stretch out.
Rules for planting bulbs
Having decided on the soil, we begin planting tulips:
- Drainage is placed at the bottom of the container, and holes must also be provided to drain excess moisture.
- The containers are filled with soil substrate.
- Bury the bulbs, but not too deep.
- Water with a solution of calcium nitrate (20 g of product per 10 liters of water).
- Add soil as needed after moistening.
- The container is placed in a room where the temperature is maintained at up to 10 degrees.
The duration of the rooting period is 22 weeks.
Tulips in a pot at home
During the growing process, bulbous plants need proper organization irrigation systems. Special attention It is worth paying attention to humidity; it should be at least 80%. It is supported until mid-December. Then the temperature is lowered by 2-4 degrees, this way it is possible to prevent the sprouts from stretching. 1.5 months before the flowering phase begins, containers with plants should be placed in a room with a temperature of 15 degrees.
At first, in warm weather, while the flowers go through an adaptation period, dim light should be used. If there are specimens that have grown poorly, they are covered with cardboard caps. And after 2-3 days the temperature is increased to 18 degrees. You can prevent the stems from stretching by installing fluorescent lamps, they are turned on every day for 5-6 hours.
When carrying out early forcing, there is no need to germinate tulips, since such plantings do not have the ability to form a full-fledged bulb. This technique is only relevant for low-growing species. The idea is to remove both flowers and leaves from the stem and remove them from the ground after three weeks. This makes it possible to obtain medium-sized material.
Upon completion of forcing, leaf blades are left on the stems and the flowers are cut off. They are watered for 21 days, and then dug out of the ground. Most of bulbous plants respond to this method of maintenance and direct all their efforts to the formation of a new viable bulb. The dug up specimens are first dried at a temperature of 24 degrees for 14 days, kept at 15-20 degrees for the next 30 days, and at 15 degrees until planting.
The quality of the bulbs depends on the correct maintenance of them after forcing. They are planted in the ground at the usual time and provided with standard care. The germination rate of bulbs for March varieties is 30%. If you use early flowering varieties for growing, the effect will be weak: the children are small, they will begin to bloom only after 3-4 years.
Growing tulips at home in winter is quite possible even for novice gardeners. The main thing is to know how to care for tulips at all stages of their growth and development. Maintenance only optimal temperature, humidity level, lighting will allow you to achieve the appearance of bright buds in winter. And you shouldn't skimp on planting material, because the result depends on it.
