How do I take care of my indoor Tulip plant once the flowers die?

RoseLou
by RoseLou

How do I take care of my indoor Tulip plant once the flowers die & the leaves turn brown @ the tips...?Thanks for any advice...-Rose Lou-RoseLou28@gmail.com

  5 answers
  • Lauren of Mom Home Guide Lauren of Mom Home Guide on Apr 20, 2019

    I’d try planting them in your garden outside and see if they come up next year. I have a bunch of tulips and daffodils in my garden that were gifts to me in previous years.

  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Apr 20, 2019

    While many gifted and seasonal bulbs can be successfully replanted and will go on to become gifts that keep on giving, there are a few exceptions that aren’t worth the bother. Unfortunately they are most often tulips.

    The process of encouraging bulbs to forgo their natural timeline and flower early indoors is called “forcing.” It can take some bulbs years to recuperate from the unnatural stress endured during this process. In general, the most resilient candidates worth saving are small bulbs that naturalize or reproduce readily in the garden. Grape hyacinth (Muscari), crocus, snowdrops, and scilla are good examples. Larger hyacinth and daffodil bulbs that have been grown in soil are worth the effort, but anything grown in water should be tossed into the compost bin. They are done.Unfortunately, many tulip varieties are finicky re-bloomers under the best circumstances, and some simply never bounce back from forcing to bloom again. You’ll have the greatest chance of success in cooler climates that experience a long spring, or with wilder, species tulips and their hybrids.

    To Save All Forced Bulbs:

    Clip off dead blooms, leaving the foliage intact. Set containers in a sunny window indoors, or a bright, but protected spot outside and continue watering as usual.

    Allow the soil to dry out completely once the leaves have withered and died. Set the pots in a cool, dry place in a basement, garage, or shed. Alternately, remove the bulbs from the soil, clean off dead leaves, and allow them to go completely dormant in a paper or mesh bag full of bone-dry coir (coconut fiber) or vermiculite if you have it.

    Plant outside in the fall with a sprinkling of rock phosphate and greensand.




  • Kmdreamer Kmdreamer on Apr 26, 2019

    Cut the plant down to dirt then eat her leave it in a dark place or plant in the ground

  • RoseLou RoseLou on Apr 29, 2019

    Thank you Kathy for this helpful advice.....:)