Planting and harvesting tulips seems SO rewarding to me, as they are the best sign of spring and bring such joy with their beauty and vibrant colours.
Here's how we harvest our tulips:
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Blooming/Harvest Time: Tulips always bloom in spring, with the exact timing depending on the variety and your zone/climate. Each tulip variety has different bloom times within spring as well. Wait until the buds have fully colored and are just starting to open. This stage ensures that the flowers have developed enough and will continue to open fully in a vase.
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Cutting/Harvesting Blooms: When the tulips are fully open and displaying their vibrant colors, it's time to harvest the blooms. If you are using them for a cut flower for yourself, our recommendation would be to use sharp, clean scissors (or garden shears) to cut the stems just above the leaves. This prevents the plant from wasting energy on seed production. We harvest our by digging out the whole plant, blub and all. By keeping the blub on the tulip, it creates longevity in it's lifespan as the blub is it's food source. We put the tulips (blubs attached) in our cold storage and cut the blub off when the tulips are sold!
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Remove Foliage: Strip off any leaves that will be below the waterline in the vase. This helps maintain water cleanliness and prevents the growth of bacteria.
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Conditioning: To extend the vase life of your tulips, we follow a conditioning process (very typical process). After cutting, place the tulips in a cool area, away from direct sunlight, for a few hours or overnight. This allows the flowers to hydrate and the stems to straighten before arranging them in a vase.
Helpful tulip tips: Tulips have a hollow stem so cutting them straight across helps them attain more water to hydrate themselves. We also recommend that you poke a hole an inch below the flower on the stem. This helps the tulips create an air bubble release area. Because the stems are hollow, the water and air that goes up the stems also needs a space to release the air for a longer life.
By following these tips, you can maximize the beauty and longevity of your tulips as cut flowers!