Tulips Not Flowering

If your hardy bulbs like tulips daffodils or hyacinth are not flowering there may be a few reasons.

Tulips not flowering. Photo by isabel branstrom msu extension. If the location is not cool enough they may not bloom the following spring. That s why in holland they replant every year. All flower bulbs not just tulips need phosphorus in order to form flower buds.

Lastly allow the tulip foliage to die back naturally before removing it. Only the species types come back year after year. Are these tulips left over from previous years or did you plant them last autumn. Tulips require a cooling period to bloom.

Planting bulbs too deeply or too shallow may have. Use this troubleshooting guide to figure out what went wrong and how to get future blooms. A batch of tulip bulbs infested with mites. 10 reasons hardy bulbs may not flower.

Bulb mites are often a secondary pest after infection by another insect or a soil borne pathogen. When you plant them in a new site make sure you plant them at the correct depth in nutrient rich soil with plenty of drainage. The planting depth is very relevant to tulips are more likely to come back the following year if planted more deeply. No flowers on tulips it isn t easy to get tulips to flower the following year and in this respect they are different to daffodils.

On the other hand if these are new bulbs planted in 2011 then they should have flowered. It might also reflect how they were treated the year before when they were growing. Tulips should be treated as annuals but here are some tips to get tulips to flower. Tulips prefer full sun so i would recommend moving them to a sunnier location in the fall or after the foliage has fully died back.

Tulip bulbs decline in vigor rather quickly. If your soil is lacking phosphorus your tulips will not bloom every year. Promptly remove spent flowers after the tulips are done blooming. Weak bulbs produce large floppy leaves but no flowers.

Unlike daffodils and many other bulbs they just don t like staying in the soil year after year and should be lifted once the leaves die back then stored dry until the autumn. This is also true for bulbs that are left in the ground. Seed pod formation deprives the bulbs of much of the food manufactured by the plant s foliage. Unless they are species tulips most tulip varieties only bloom reliably for a year or two and then stop.

To maximize the number of years tulips are in bloom choose planting sites that receive at least 6 hours of direct sun per day and have well drained soils. Tulips planted in our gardens may not get this exact environment and they have a hard time forming a flower bud without it. If you have flowering bulbs in the wrong location you can transplant bulbs any time.