The optimistic spirit of optimism in the spring garden is gone when tulips refuse to bloom. If only leaves sprout instead, affected gardeners want to get to the bottom of the problem. A complicating factor is that the causes can have different origins. The spectrum ranges from an unsuitable location to improper planting and neglect in care. With this analysis, we work through the most common triggers with you step by step. This helps when tulips don’t want to bloom.
Table of Contents
Lack of warmth
In the bed, your tulips are exposed to the unpredictability of the weather. If spring comes with wet and cold weather, the heralds of spring see no reason to let their precious blossoms sprout. The less demanding and more robust leaves nevertheless sprout cheerfully. For generations, resourceful gardeners have had the right answer to this reason why tulips do not bloom. Since it is simply too cold for the flowers, they are given their own mini greenhouse to bridge the gap. How to do it:
- Put a large glass over the flowerless tulips
- Alternatively, cover with a bottomless glass bottle
- Ventilate the hood regularly to protect against mold growth
- Remove the cover when exposed to direct sunlight
A pleasantly warm microclimate is created under the glass protection, which signals the hesitant tulip bulbs that the weather is improving. If the flower stalk then sprout with its bud, the glass has done its job.
nutrient deficiency
That helps: Administer liquid fertilizer
A widespread belief said that tulips could do without fertilizer. This ignores the fact that each blooming season represents a tremendous effort for the bulb flowers. The nutrient reserves in the onion are just enough to sprout the leaves. Your tulips depend on a supply of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus for the development of the colorful flower cups. With a fast-acting liquid fertilizer for flowering plants, you can get your tulips blooming:
- Fertilize non-flowering tulips every 14 days
- Add a commercial liquid fertilizer to the irrigation water
- Alternatively, shower the soil with a mix of nettle and comfrey manure
At the end of the flowering period, please continue feeding. Rake in 3 liters of mature compost and 100 grams of horn shavings per square meter of bed surface and water. Continue this care until the leaves have completely died. Thanks to this prudence, your tulips will have bulging energy reserves for the growth of leaves and flowers alike in the next season.
Too much moisture
This helps: Water less and protect against continuous rain
If tulip bulbs are exposed to excess moisture, they will sprout their leaves. However, they keep the sensitive flowers under lock and key. Too frequent watering or constant rain are therefore among the most common reasons for a lack of flowering. Only water your heralds of spring when the soil has dried well. To test, stick your finger in the ground. If you feel the first moisture at a depth of 2 to 3 cm, watering is required.
If the spring sky repeatedly opens its floodgates, catch the pouring rain with a layer of mulch. Cover the soil with leaves, bark mulch, straw, brushwood or breathable fleece. The more water is kept away from tulip bulbs, the better chance there is of a delayed flowering period. If the weather subsequently becomes dry again, remove the cover to prevent rot from forming underneath.
Wrong pruning in the previous year
That helps: Cut professionally
Tulip leaves are more than just decorative accessories. The foliage has the important task of replenishing depleted nutrient depots inside tulip bulbs. For this reason, the leaves should only be cut back when they have completely yellowed and died. Until then, the remaining nutrients are transferred from the foliage to the flower bulb. If you cut off the leaves prematurely last year, this year’s flowering will fail due to a lack of energy reserves. Thanks to the tuft of leaves, there is at least the option of a beautiful tulip bloom next year.
This is how the plan works:
- Continue to water and fertilize leafed tulips
- Continue care until all leaves have died
- Cut the foliage close to the ground
With this strategy, the nutrient reserves in the tulip bulbs fill up. Thus, the course is set for a lavish tulip bloom next year.
Planted too deep
That helps: dig up, oversummer and use properly
Tulip bulbs consist of fleshy shells that enclose the already formed buds and leaves as a protective coat. Immediately after planting in the fall, each bulb aims for downward rooting. The following spring, vertical growth is the focus with leaves followed by flower stalks with buds. If a tulip bulb is too deep in the ground, its strength is already used up after the leaves have sprout. The stems and buds simply lack the necessary floral power. Does this cause apply to your flowerless tulips? This helps:
- Lift the tulip bulbs out of the ground with the digging fork
- roots with a sharp, sanitized knife
- Do not cut off the leaves while they are still green
- Fill the potting soil into a wooden box and put the onions in it
Keep the substrate slightly moist in a bright, warm location. Do not cut off the leaves until they are fully fed. For the rest of the summer, store the tulip bulbs in a cool, dark and dry place in the basement. In autumn, plant the flower bulbs that have been oversummer at an ideal depth of 10 to 15 cm in loose, humus-rich garden soil in a sunny location. Since the bulbs haven’t bloomed yet, the buds are still dormant inside. This gives the best chance that the flowers will make their way into the sunlight next spring.
Onion volume too low
That helps: Patience and loving care
Only once does a flower stem with a bud emerge from a tulip bulb , which unfolds into a magnificent flower cup. The onion then dies. Before that, a young flowering bulb forms in the axil of one of its bulb scales. In addition, other onion bulbs sometimes thrive along the base of the onion. Whether the offspring will produce a flower next year depends largely on their size. Unfavorable weather conditions or a meager supply of nutrients can cause the onion volume to be too low.
In response to a small-scale bulb, the affected tulip is limited to leaf growth. The task of these is to bring in enough nutrients so that the reserves are sufficient for flowering next year. In this case, a combination of patience and professional care will help. The effort of watering during drought and fertilizing every 14 days until the dead leaves are cut back will be rewarded with a magnificent tulip bloom next spring.
Conclusion
If your tulips only put out leaves but don’t bloom, a traditional gardener’s trick can help. If the lack of flowering is due to wet and cold weather, cover the plant with a large glass. Other reasons for the refusal to flower are a lack of nutrients, moisture, hasty pruning and incorrect planting depth. What helps as a countermeasure to each of these triggers, you are now informed in a practice-oriented manner. All in all, there are always uncomplicated ways to help your hesitant tulips out of a predicament and point the way to a furious spring bloom.
