Tulips - Potting Guidelines
Tulips make lovely additions to any outdoor garden. But they also thrive in pots.
The tulip's nature and the specific cultivar dictates the type of pot that should be selected. Some dwarf Darwins will only grow to about six inches. Other Darwins may grow as high as 30 inches. Triumphs range everywhere from ten to 16 inches high. The taller you expect your specific cultivar to be, the deeper pot you want to consider.
That isn't merely an issue of providing enough room for root growth, though that's important. It's also an issue of having a pot that is aesthetically matched and provides sturdy support. A very tall stalk in a very short pot looks unbalanced to the eye. It's also physically unbalanced and can topple more easily.
The second aspect determining pot size is flower size. Some tulips have relatively small flowers, that open narrowly. Others may reach a 'wingspan' of six to eight inches and fully extend their petals almost horizontally.
The larger the flower, the more stress it puts on the stalk, especially if the pot is placed where it is subjected to wind. That stress has to be supported either by the pot or a stake or both. Get a pot wide enough to provide ample support. If the pot is placed in an area that gets a little windy from time to time, add 10-30% to the size, depending on the peak strength of the wind.
One of the advantages of potted tulips is they can go through a procedure called 'forcing'. That's a process of refrigerating the bulbs for a few weeks to a couple of months or more, then warming the soil to fool the plant into thinking it has entered spring after winter. The specific length of time varies by species. That makes it possible to have lovely tulip flowers even at Christmas.
Just select some bulbs at least an inch and a half in diameter and be sure to keep them away from fruit. The ethane given off by ripening fruit damages the developing buds.
Now, on to planting.
Fill the bottom of a pot with holes with a layer of pebbles about one inch deep to ensure good drainage. Then fill the pot about halfway to two-thirds full with a mixture of gardening soil and peat moss. Always keep the soil at least an inch below the rim in order to facilitate watering. There's no need to add any fertilizer at this stage.
Dig holes the size of the bulb in the soil. The soil should be damp but not wet. Then place the bulbs in with the flat side of the tulip bulb facing outward in the pot, this is toward the rim, not the center. The top of the bulb should just sit at the surface.
Keep the whole pot in the refrigerator for about 8-10 weeks at about 40F/4C. Then remove the pot and allow it and the soil to warm up gradually, preferably in stages if it can be arranged. A cold room in the house can be useful here. Once the soil and pot warm to about 60F/16C for a week or so there should begin to be some visible action.
Depending on tulip type the stalks may pop up anywhere from two weeks to a month later. Flowers will bloom starting anywhere from early April to late May when planted outside, owing to the different categories (Early, Mid-Season or Late). But pots can produce flowers at Christmastime if the procedure has been carried out correctly.
