Tulip bulbs

I was sent some tulip bulbs as a gift and have no idea when to plant them. Do I have to put them in the refrigerator for awhile? I'm in 8b and don't know if they will grow here. Anyone have some words of wisdom?

Van Engelen's site says for your zone, refrigerate bulbs for about ten weeks, then plant them as soon as you take them out of the refrigerator. I guess that means have the hole dug for them before you take them out of the fridge.
As to when you should do this, they say to consult a local nursery. Hopefully, someone in your zone will chime in. I'm sure you can get them to bloom at least once!

Another bit of info I've heard is not to store bulbs in the same fridge as fruit (maybe veggies too?) as the ethylene gas they give off as they ripen can damage the bulbs.

I am not familiar with your weather patterns or growing conditions in zone 8b as I live in zone 5a. From my experience with bulbs they need a period of rest and cool down to help them sprout and eventually flower in the Spring. We have to plant our bulbs in late September to early October in order to beat the frozen ground and freezing air temperatures.

One thing to remember is that tulips as well as other spring flowering bulbs will start to send out roots soon after they have been planted

So, I would agree with the cool dry storage and having the seed bed ready to go when you are ready to plant.

Planting tips:
Condition the soil by mixing in sand and peat moss or leaf compost to help promote good drainage. Plant to the recommended depth and fertilize with a quality bulb food. After you plant them water them well and then cover them with mulch to help protect them if they start to emerge to early.

Good luck,
Dave

This message was edited Nov 24, 2006 8:01 AM

Dave,Critter, and Clay: Thank you for the information. I have seen very few tulips in Thomasville. I have attached all your good advise to my planting schedule. I appreciate it very much. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. Elaine

Elaine
I too am in zone 8b......................
Dont bother messin around with refridgerating them, just plant them in the ground and in spring you will have beautiful flowers...................
Plant them anytime before the frosts arrive................. about 4" below soil level................

Mark

Mark, thank you for the information. I do have them in the refrigerator but will plant them as soon as I can. We do have great weather here and I'm glad to see it is the same zone as yours. I loved your website and will visit it often to see what has changed. I may even try to find some of the flowers and plant them. They are lovey. We had some rain last night so it will be good to plant them now. Elaine

Anytime sweetie............. I take it you do get frosts where you are, as you are the same zone as me????? Thats why you dont need to refridgerate them............ only need do that if you dont get frosts!!!!
Pleased you liked my website............. it probably wont change much now until next year.......... some of them are very very very hard to find!!!!!! If you want to try a few Elaine, then i will send you some early spring!!! You only gotta ask..................... I have started putting mine away to bed for the winter............. as all mine are in pots!!
Anyway, if you want a few to try just say, ok??

Mark

A word of advice, Elaine...zone 8b Georgia is very different from zone 8b U.K. The zone only refers to the lowest temperature you can expect to hit...but the average winter temperatures in England I can guarantee are much lower than yours. Tulips in the American south require more cold than we can generally give them, with the exception of mayvbe the species tulips. They may bloom without refrigeration, but probably won't bloom well, and even if they do they'll likely be very short....I have even seen them bloom before completely emerging from the ground without ample chill time. Tulips in climates like yours (and mine) need to be refrigerated for decent performance. I usually refrigerate tulips for about 8 weeks before planting in mid to late December.

Steve, I still have mine in the ref and they will have to stay until I return from a conference. I plan to plant them in a couple of weeks. We are going to have a "cold " spell for a couple of days. I'm talking 30 or so. Today it's raining and more leaves are falling. Thank you for the advise. Have a great weekend. Elaine

Hey folks,
Do tulips/hyacinths/daffodils need to be given time to root in Fall, or will they do that in Spring if they have not already? I planted a bunch of stuff last week when it was nice and warm now it is in the 20F's.

Good day

People have successfully planted them in the middle of winter by prying up slabs of frozen ground and planting them in workable soil beneath.... you can plant them any time you can dig. Most spring bulbs do need some chill hours in the ground, so you have to refrigerate them or find another chilly way to store them (pot them up in a somewhat sheltered location outside) if you're really not going to plant them until spring.

I'm in zone 8a, so probably fairly close to what you have. I haven't ever pre-chilled any bulbs and they have done fine, but I tend to treat spring bulbs as annuals and not count on them to come back for another year. If they do that's a nice surprise. I checked with a man near me who has the most beautiful spring gardens you can imagine and he sticks bulbs in the ground in December, January and February if he finds some on sale. He says they come up fine and I can believe him based on what I see in his yard. Since it is this late in the year and yours have already had some chill time, I would just plant them.

here here.......................... all this chilling thing is rubbish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
just plant them........................ mine come up year after year

Thomasville GA has average winter high temps of 66, 63, and 67F in the months of December through February. That's about 10F warmer than Fayetteville and lows are equally disparate. Thomasville, near the Florida border, is about 30 degrees latitude north (comparable to Cairo, Egypt) compared to about 35 degrees for Fayetteville (that's a huge difference) and well over 52 or 53 degrees latitude north for Lincolnshire UK (I think that is where Caistor is?) Also, Lincoln UK average temps in Dec-Feb range from low 30's for lows to low 40's for highs.....a big difference. Prechilling would very likely not be required for someone in northern Europe, but most definitely is in the deep south in the USA. I stand by my assertions on this.

Yes, there's really no good way to figure out chill hours just from zone info... that's why it's good to look around your area and see what is working in other people's gardens, or check with your local agricultural extension service.

It sounds like tulips don't actually need freezing temps in order to "chill" them, since I think people chill them in the fridge also, at what, 40 degrees? So they probably get chilled just fine in the UK... but I agree, a little fridge time would be good bloom insurance in GA!

I know there are many daffodils that do well in the lower south without prechilling, and in my area (we have slightly hotter summers than Fayetteville for example but slightly colder lows in winter) hyacinths and daffodils both do well without prechilling, for me at least. I have planted a lot of tulips though over the years, and they tend to be stunted without prechilling for me. The farther south, the more it warms up during the day, even if lows are comparable to more northerly locations, and this seems to negate some of the effect of chilling. Everything I've read suggests that tulips need the most chilling time of all the major bulbs.

This message was edited Dec 2, 2006 8:00 PM

except for "species" tulips (T. humilis, T. bakerii, etc), which are among the most charming of the "small bulbs," I think!

I agree, critter! :-)

Here's a funny one for you -- my downstairs neighbor has these super large yellow darwin tulips. They come up every year, and I don't know if she replants every fall. But she planted them at the edge of her patio, then covered them over with brick pavers. Around May 1, she lifts the pavers, and up they come. After they die down again, she trims the leaves and covers them back up again. Cracks me up every time!

Greenjay - that's a hoot! Thanks for the laugh.
jo