bulbs storgae

hi- I was wondering if i can uproot the tulips, muscari, alluim, hyacinth bulbs now with the green part attached and let them dry out if i lay them out in sun and then store them for next year, as opposed to leaving them in the soil and waiting for the foliage to brown because it takes forever and i literally cannot see the soil i have that many bulbs planted and the foliage that's appeared, flowered and now starting to slightly look very messy. I wanted to plant a different colour scheme for next year with bulbs too and maybe use some of this years , but i can't plant anything else because there's too much foliage! i feel awful digging the whole lot up and throwing them away,. thanks

 

Hi @Shaneoak I always do that with Hyacinths, Muscari and Narcissus. I leave them laid out in a seed tray in the greenhouse where they dry off and then when they've dried off either replant them or store them in paper bags until August.

Ideally you would have planted the Tulips around 12 to 18 inches deep so they come back year after year and so you wouldn't be able to dig them out again. If you only planted them a couple of inches deep you might as wee dig them out and throw them away as they won't flower again.

With the Allium it's best to leave them in situation as the foliage dies off pretty quickly and the seed heads are attractive.

 

I do the same too .

 

I always leave them until the foliage starts to yellow, then I might cut it off, but I dont lift them.

I tend to think they are still growing and making next years bulbs at the moment, I think you need to leave them another month at least.

 

I leave them in the planter as long as possible then do as KFF and lift them and lay them in seed trays for several weeks. I store them in onion bags and hang them up in the garage until planting time comes around again.

 

You should never cut the foliage off @pete . I always leave it until you can gently pull it and it comes off in your hand.

 

thank you for the replies. so, what I’m going to do is leave them for another say 2 or 4 weeks and then dig up the hyacinth, tulips and muscari and leave the alliums. There’s so many bulbs that i can't put a trowel in the soil without hitting a bulb! I've had big issues past few years with tulips not flowering or just sending up one thick lef. WHEN I FIRST PLANTED THEM 8 YEARS AGO THE FIRST 4 YEARS THERE WERE AMAZING BLOOMS FROM EACH NEW Tulip and HYACINTH SCHEME I PLANTED, BUT AFTER THAT, IT WENT DOWN HILL AND I'VE WASTED ALOT OF MONEY( WHICH I DON'T HAVE!) ON BUYING NICE TULIPS EG 50 VICTORIA SECRETS TULIPS AND ONLY 8 CAME OUT AND 25 SPRING GREEN AND 5 SHOWED UP! THE HYACINTH DO ALOT BETTER AND MOSTLY COME UP BUT ONLY IF I PLANT NEW ONES. So, now i've decided i'm going to TRY and dig the tulips and other bulbs and dry them off with foliage attached , plant other stuff e.g some nice annuals and then try again in September! I think i may need to feed the soil with some form of manure or potash type medium to nourish it again, maybe this is the reason i have en getting poor displays. I normally plant them about 8 inches deep. maybe that's not deep enough. ugh i don't know, except i was disappointed again. RATHER DISHEARTENING . oops... just realised I’ve typed all this in odd caps..im typing in dark and just looked up at screen

 

Just a thought, on the tulips tending to fail.
Wondering if it could be slugs.
They do sometimes attack bulbs under ground.

 

As I said, I only cut the foliage off after it has started to die.
I think that is a much better approach rather than lifting in the green and drying them off prematurely.

 

I always use them again because they do flower again, just keep the biggest bulb and throw the small ones away. Myself I let the hyacinths die down first before digging them up.

 

Good to know this. My cheapie allium bulbs I bought and planted last fall are a big disappointment. I will put them in pots for next year.

Thanks for asking and answering the question that was on my mind!

 

Same here Lori, the allium bulbs I planted a couple of years ago to give some early colour, don't exactly look like the picture on the packet !

 

wow they would have to be pretty hungry slugs to eat 100s of bulbs lol but it's a good insight, i might use a slug eliminator next time

 

I have no trouble with slugs eating the bulbs, they usually go for foliage and tender plants, some plants more than others.

 

As I understand it there are some species of slugs that tend to remain pretty much under ground.
They spend all winter munching away down there, have a similar problem with crown imperial, the bulbs just disappear over winter.