I usually cut bulb leaves back to about one half when the tips of the leaves turn brown. Then I remove the leaves when they turn yellow or brown. You can also move bulbs as soon as the leaf tips turn brown. If you wait until the leaves are completely gone it will be difficult to locate them.
Cutting Back Fall-Planted Bulbs
The best time to prune is after they bloom in the spring. Let the flower completely fall and the seed pod go brown. Once the green leaves have started to die back and have turned brown then it's okay to prune.
The flower stems from spring bulbs can be cut back to the ground as soon as they have finished blooming. This allows the bulbs to focus their energy on new growth. Cutting back spent and old flower heads encourages regrowth and can help to improve the flowering of the bulb the following season.
The general rule of thumb for planting spring bulbs is to plant two to three times as deep as the bulbs is tall. This means most large bulbs like tulips or daffodils will be planted about 6 inches deep while smaller bulbs will be planted 3-4 inches deep.
Planting bulbs too deep can result in bulb rot and a bit of a delay in spring growth.
To plant flower bulbs too shallow can expose them to damaging temperature spiking. Planting flower bulbs too close together can cause root systems to strangle each other or cause them to dehydrate or starve due to limited water and nutrition.
To store bulbs, pack in milled peat moss, perlite, shredded paper or sterilized dry (bagged) compost. Or store them in mesh bags, hung up or placed into boxes for winter. Add several sheets of paper between bulb layers to help absorb moisture and reduce chances of rot.
Before buying many bulbs on sale, buy one or two and cut them in half longitudinally to make sure the flower bud is alive. If it is brown or dried up, the bulbs will not flower next spring.
Some of the best spring-flowering bulbs for bouquets and tips on arranging them include: Tulips—Tulip stems continue to grow after they've been cut, giving them a dynamic look in arrangements that continue to evolve in a vase. Err on cutting stems on the shorter side to avoid unwanted flopping in smaller arrangements.
No law requires gardeners to dig up tulip bulbs each year, or at all. In fact, most bulbs prefer to stay in the ground, and, left in place, rebloom the following year. Gardeners only dig up tulip bulbs when the plants seem less vigorous and offer fewer flowers, which can indicate overcrowding.
The trick to ensuring bulbs are safe and happy all winter long is to keep them uniformly cool. So after you plant, it's valuable to put mulch on top of the soil. Not only does mulch keep the bulbs uniformly cool, but it also inhibits weed seeds by cutting off the light that encourages germination.
Do I need to dig up my bulbs or can I leave them in the ground? Spring-blooming bulbs that are winter hardy, such as tulips, daffodils and crocus, can be left right in the ground. Summer bulbs such as dahlias, tuberous begonias and calla lilies, will not survive cold winters.
Most bulbs can be stored for up to a year, but tend to perform best when planted within six months of lifting. For tender bulbs, be sure to plant in the spring following the fall in which they were lifted-they will likely not have enough energy to survive past the warm season and into the following year.
Place the bulbs in a paper bag in the refrigerator. Be sure that the refrigerator is set at a temperature between 35°F and 50°F. Also, rid the refrigerator of any fruit (particularly apples) as these produce a plant hormone called “ethylene” when ripening which will cause flower bulbs to rot.
It is manufacturing food for the underground bulbs. Premature removal of the plant foliage reduces plant vigor and bulb size, resulting in fewer flowers next spring. After the foliage has turned brown, it can be safely cut off at ground level and discarded.
Daffodils will only bloom once a year in spring. However, if you care for them properly and they grow in the right conditions then they will come back year after year.
While tulips should be deadheaded immediately after flowering, it is not necessary to deadhead daffodils. The vigor of tulip bulbs quickly declines if tulips are not promptly deadheaded and seed pods are allowed to develop. However, seed pod formation on daffodils has little impact on plant vigor.
Making sure you have the right amount for the space you are planning in helps ensure you get the right look! Generally, having too many bulbs isn't a big problem. You can always gift the extras to friends and neighbors. However, if you end up planting too few bulbs you may find yourself disappointed in spring.
You can maximize your spring bulb display by layering several bulbs in the same planting hole. That way, you can dig once, but plant for a variety of blooms! The rule of thumb is that the larger the bulb, the deeper it's planted.
Bulbs will easily grow through 4 inches (10 cm) or even more of mulch as if it weren't there. Bulbs do this in the wild too, pushing their way up into the light, first through the soil, then the plant litter that covers the ground. Perennials do just the same thing, by the way.