Very cheap tulips, but....

The bulbs have already started to sprout! If they are planted now, would these bulbs make it through the winter and continue to grow and flower in the Spring? Or would the leaf sprouts freeze up and die?

If they would grow okay, I would really go hog-wild at these prices, (and probably be digging through the snow to finish planting them,LOL).

PS If no one nows the answer to this one, I might buy a few and try them, just to see what will happen. And come Spring, I will post the results here in the bulb forum.

They wont do in the ground but you should try planting them in lon tom pots using a well drained mix. How far on are the leaves? If they are small spikes less than half an inch I would plant them at their normal depth. Water well and set them where they wont freeze but not warm

Thank-you so much for the information, Mark! Some of these "sale" bulbs are out even more than that. There is one variety I really want to try, though, and I do have a spot where I can keep them dormant until Spring.

Buying a lot of these to plant out would have been a costly mistake, and I would have had an "empty bed" come Spring, lol, with nothing to show for it except the exercise of digging it.

Bulbs really should be in the ground during September to the middle of October which gived them time to grow roots rehydrate and go dormant for the winter. I know there can be problems in the south.

It can be tricky up here in northern NY, too, since we never really know when the first snow is coming. It came on the 3rd of Oct. and stayed 'til mid-May one year. Or it can hold off until the end of November. Days can be mild, but nights are cold, so if we plant bulbs too early here, they get "confused", think it is spring and start coming up, only to be killed by the onset of winter.

After the ground freezes, we mulch heavily to protect them and also to prevent early emergence in spring, which is an even more dangerous time for them. Quite often, May tulips don't flower until mid to late June. So for us, sigh, spring is a long ways away.

Yes, but look at the bright side. At least in colder zones your tulips, hyacinths, etc., RETURN! If I want them -- and I love parrot tulips -- I have to buy and plant them anew every year.

Yes, we sure don't have to do any of that "pre-chilling" stuff up here to get them to bloom. Bulbs are a real blessing in areas with a short growing season, though, and provide a pretty reliable show of color.

It's also a blessing to have you California gardeners and ones in the South on these forums! We get to drool over the photos you post while snow blankets the ground outside our windows.

Zone3_newbie's question reminded me about my experience with Breck this year. I sent them a sizeable order, more than $100.00. Sent the order Aug. 30, said I wanted to receive my order by Oct 15, since it oftens gets pretty cold here about that time. Actually it was a phone order, using Visa.By Oct. 28, I hadn't received the order so called them. Was told the order was on the way. Of course they don't have an 800 number.

Nov. 4, during our very cold weather , I called again and said it was too late my ground was frozen. They said when the order arrived don't open the box, return at their expense and they would refund my money. The order finally arrived Sat. Oct 8. So i will return it. I did tell the woman, when she was explaining that the bulbs had to come from Holland, that i had received my other orders most of which the bulbs came from Holland. i said that next year I would order from a different source.

Actually i was pretty happy with the bulbs from Dutch bulbs and McClure & Zimmerman. I was especially pleased with the bulbs from Brent & Beckys.

Newbie, if you plant very many bulbs, i wish you good luck. Isn't your ground frozen yet. Donna

I checked this afternoon and Yup it's frozen, down to around 5-6" deep. I put in quite a few, and was hoping I could maybe do some last linute ones, but things got ugly here when the temps started going down down down-- to 3 above the night before last!

I do plan on forcing a few in the refrigerator cuz I've never tried it before! I hope it works. Guess I'll have to be content with the houseplants until Spring.

Tulip bulbs can be planted till the ground freezes, narcissus (daffodils) need to be planted in early fall to put out roots. Tulips that have been stored too warm for too long may grow, but not bloom next spring.

http://www.nybg.org/gardens/abouttul.html
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall1998/tulip/Planting.html
http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/111201/liv_mcdaniel.shtml

This message was edited Nov 13, 2003 11:08 AM

Thanks for that info, echoes. I didn't know that about narcissi, and as for keeping tulips too warm, this means I'll have to watch where I shop for bulbs locally!

As for frozen ground, I wonder if any adventurous gardener has gone out with a pickaxe to dig holes and then dropped in the bulb and covered it up with soil mix that was kept indoors, LOL.

Would I try this? Maybe...Hmmm, would have to borrow the pickaxe... Oh, my! A short growing season does bad things to a gardener's sanity!

Echoes when would the Tulip grow roots? They also need to in the ground 6 weeks before the ground freezes. Actually all spring bulbs need to in the ground as soon as possible

I've heard (read) that many times before. There seems to be differing advice on tulips. Over the years, my tulips didn't always get in as early as I intended, but I'd put them in anyway. I've usually still had success. After the ground has frozen - no I don't think so. Not long ago I read in a guide to wait until the ground has cooled in fall. The safest bet I think would be to give them at least 4 weeks before the ground is frozen.(depending how deep you plant) You could delay that with mulch. A lot of books just say late fall.
Does the ground freeze in zone 8b?

>As for frozen ground, I wonder if any adventurous >gardener has gone out with a pickaxe to dig holes and >then dropped in the bulb and covered it up with soil mix >that was kept indoors, LOL.

Well, I came close to doing this exact thing this year. I had to shovel snow off the flowerbeds to plant the last of my bulbs. DH thought it was hilariously funny! The ground underneath wasn't frozen yet as it was insulated by the snow. It will be interesting to see what happens next spring.

we get frosts in 8b which are usually gone by the afternoon. In January we sometimes get very hard frosts to 14F which can last for days up to 10 days or more like it did in 2000.

I say this over and over .... bulbs needs to grow roots before the frost and while the soil still has warmth in it. The bulbs we buy are dehydrated and need to get 'fattened' up again so they can flower properly. If they dont the flower will either be aborted, deformed or very short. all I can do is advise people and let them do what they want.

I'm very grateful for your advice, Mark. Most of the people around here plant them late, but the tulips never grow as tall as the package says, and they have always blamed that on the severe winters and cold Spring weather.

I know you are right about the bulbs being dehydrated, because some of the last ones I planted had shrunk in their wrappers. Some were early, but the rest were spread out because I had to work 7 days a week.

I made notes of what kind I planted and when. This means I'll be able to see first hand how this has affected them, because nearly all of the varieties I bought were divided up, with some in various beds.

It will probably be a case of learning the hard way, but at least I never make the same mistakes twice. If the "early" Don Quichottes out-perform the mid and late ones, you can bet I'll be out there digging holes way earlier than my neighbors!

It would also be a lot nicer to do it when it's warmer,too, LOL. I nearly froze my butt off planting that last bed!

Got to work last night and found out that Thursday morning, before the storm hit, the maintenance staff planted nearly four hundred tulip bulbs, that are now sitting under 8-10 inches of snow. Come spring, I'll post to the Bulb forum and let everyone know how this turns out! These little guys for certain got no chance to root or rehydrate.