Show #08/7108. Designing And Care Of Daffodils

When Should We Cut Tulips For Good Health Next Year

At home when these have flowered you have to cut the flower at the top. This causes the plants to start to grow from the bottom, at the roots into the new bulb. But what people do at home they make a mistake because when the flower turns brown and they don't like that so they cut the leaves which stops the growing. This causes the bulb to be too small next year. Hans digs some of them up and explains how it works. Here he has a bulb, it was planted in autumn, in this case November. When you dig them up now you see it's too small because it hasn't grown. When you cut the flower then the bulb starts to grow. Hans shows us a bulb planted last year, now after cutting the flower, the food goes back into the bulb. It must stay in the ground for five or six weeks more. When the leaves are brown and dried then you can dig them up. You see that the bulb is a little brown but that's okay. Dig it up, dry it a little, store it, and replant it in autumn. But there are people that cut the leaves this time of year, that stops the growth and this is an example of that. Cutting this time of year stops the growth, the bulb will be too little for making a good sized new flower.