How to Grow Tulips the Flower Farmer Way
Tulips are a springtime staple flower.
Tulips are among the few flowers that make their appearance in early spring and come in hundreds of different forms and colors.
Naturally, they are a very sought-after flower in the floral industry—and, really, by anyone who loves flowers!
Many do not know what goes into bringing a bouquet of tulips to your table to enjoy, so I’m sharing insight on how to grow tulips the flower farmer way!
How to Plant Tulips
Most gardeners will plant their tulips one bulb at a time or in small clusters, but for the flower farmer, they plant them in trenches by the thousands.
When planting tulips, flower farmers start by digging a trench about 3 to 4 feet wide and about 6 inches deep. Next, they plant the bulbs as close together as eggs in a carton. This helps not only to conserve space and time, but it also forces the tulips to have long and straight stems.
If you’re a home gardener or growing in a smaller space, you can borrow this technique to produce long and straight stems for beautiful cut tulips.
Planting Tulips in Crates
This year was our first year trialing growing tulips in crates in the ground. Many people will also grow tulips in crates outside the ground to force them to grow indoors or a heated greenhouse to produce blooms much earlier in the season.
The reason we wanted to do this is because, when we harvest the tulips, we harvest them with the bulb still attached (more about why, when, and how to harvest tulips below!).
By planting and growing them in crates, we hoped it would make harvesting tulips with the bulbs attached easier by keeping the soil loose under the roots. This way, it would require less effort to remove and save all of the bulbs that snapped off underground while harvesting.
Thankfully, all this work proved to do just that, and we plan on growing tulips in crates again as much as possible!
Growing Tulips Under Cover
There is a great benefit to planting tulips under cover, whether in a greenhouse or a low caterpillar tunnel (which we did).
By doing this, the tulips warm up sooner than field-grown tulips, so if you’re growing cut tulips to sell, you can sell your blooms earlier in the season and get a jumpstart in the market.
Growing tulips under caterpillar tunnels or in a greenhouse also can produce much longer stems on tulips by forcing them to "reach" for the sun.
Tulips are lovely enough to not need any additional blooms in a bouquet!
Field Grown Tulips
If you would like to extend your bloom time for tulips, then a very easy way to do so is to plant additional bulbs out from under cover. This will make your bulbs warm up a bit more slowly, giving you blooms about a month or more so after your greenhouse-grown tulips.
Harvesting tulips with the bulb attached has many advantages
How to Harvest Tulips
Below you’ll find tips for harvesting tulips via two different methods: with the bulbs attached and without the bulb.
Harvesting tulips with the bulb
There are a number of reasons why flower farmers harvest their tulips with the bulb attached.
First, since we are cutting the flower, we are actually taking away the energy that the bulb needs to produce another flower the following year.
If we left the bulb in the ground, it would only produce leaves the following year, so we would have to purchase new bulbs every year for cut flower production.
The second reason is to have the most optimal stem length possible so we can just snip the stem right at the bulb's base.
And the third reason for harvesting tulips with the bulb?As tulips come on quite quickly, we are able to store them in our coolers dry with the bulb still attached—and they can keep for up to a month! Then when it’s time to sell them, we can just snip the bulbs off the bottom, rehydrate them in water, and they perform as if you had just harvested them that day.
Harvesting Tulips Without the Bulb
Unfortunately, when harvesting cut tulips, there will be many times where they will snap off from the bulb. Those cut flowers must be stored in a cooler with water and sold sooner than those stored with the bulb still attached.
When cutting tulips and leaving the bulb planted, your cut flowers will also not have as long as stems.
How to Store Cut Tulips After Harvest
Tulips that still have their bulb attached can be stored in a cooler dry for up to a month. Though they may appear a bit wilted-looking, once you snip the bulb off and hydrate them in water, they will pop back to their harvest-day condition.
Tips on Arranging Tulips
Whether you’re growing tulips for home floral design use, for use in professional arrangements for design clients, or to sell at market and to other designers in your community, below are some tips for using your fresh tulips in floral arrangements.
When preparing tulips for arrangements, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
If you want straight stems and the stems are a bit wild, wrap the stems and flowers in paper so they are in a snug tube, and then let them hydrate in water in a cooler for a few hours.
Tulip stems will still grow in the vase, so you will want to tuck them down a bit lower into a floral arrangement to allow for growth.
With their continued stem growth in mind, you can also remove them from the arrangement after they have grown a bit, snip off an inch or two, and then return them to their place.
While I personally like the look of the tulips curving to their natural shape, everyone’s tastes and floral design needs are different! Follow the tips above to ensure your cut tulips produce the shape you need from them.
Adding tulips to your farm or garden is a sure-fire way to bring a smile to your face and The Heart of Your clients.
I hope this information was helpful to you, and that you’re able to enjoy these beautiful flowers that God has created to the fullest. Happy growing!
