Question:
I removed my tulips and daffodils from the ground after the foliage turned brown and stored them. When should I replant them, and should they be chilled first?Answer:
- Spring or summer flowering bulbs stored from the previous year are replanted during their typical planting season. So you'd replant Daffodils, Narcissus, Tulips, etc., in the fall, while Dahlias, Gladiolus, and others would return to the ground in the late winter or early spring.
- Yes, Tulips should be chilled, but not the Daffodils before planting for six weeks, as the ground doesn't get cold enough.
- Remove all the apples, bananas, tomatoes, and other fruits when chilling tulips in a refrigerator. The Ethylene Gas from the maturing fruit can damage the immature flower(s).
- That being said, the real question is whether it's worth the effort. Tulip flowers vary, so don't expect last year's tulips to be as showy this year as they wouldn't. They require another growing season before they reach their peak again.
- You improve the color shown by mixing in new bulbs with the older ones. Personally, I'd plant new bulbs each year.
- This is not the case with Daffodils and Narcissus; they're planted anytime before the rainy season begins. Also, it's quite common to leave them in the ground year after year. The clumps are dug up and divided when the groupings become so crowded that the flower size is reduced.
- Also, overcrowding is why Daffodils and Narcissus stop blooming altogether.
- Typically, they're divided every three to four years.
- As with new planting, you should add Bulb Food or Bone Meal. Depending on the size of the bulb, add a teaspoon or tablespoon under each bulb so nutrients are immediately available to the new roots.
Question:
I read that to keep Hydrangeas a pink color; you should feed them an acid fertilizer and then use something alkaline to turn them blue. Each spring, I fertilize my pink Hydrangea with an acid fertilizer, but the blooms turn out to be a dirty white color. What am I doing wrong?Answer:
- The flower color on Hydrangeas is determined by the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, and the soil pH measures it.
- A pH scale runs from one to fourteen, with seven being neutral. Any reading below seven is acid, while any above eight is alkaline. A simple pH kit is available to measure your soil at your favorite garden center.
- Unfortunately, your blue/pink formula is backward. Hydrangeas turn pink in alkaline soils, while we get blue tones in acid conditions. You keep Hydrangeas pink or red by fertilizing with Superphosphate or 0-10-10.
- For blue and/or lavender Hydrangeas, feed them Aluminum Sulphate, EB Stone True Blue, or Gro More Blue. You begin in the fall and continue monthly from February through May. These additives supplement your usual plant fertilizers, not a replacement.