Tulips: This 'lifting' lark...

[malovitt]

Help!

What does this mean, exactly? Digging them up?

I've left the foliage to die down - now what?

I dont do lifting - 'tis for Extreme Gardeners only

I leave all my bulbs in year after year, they come up year after year

i haven't lifted some bulbs for 2 yrs (well since i put them in) and they have multiplied nicely.

Only worth lifting Daliah's imho(which is why I don't grow them, too much effort)

Tulips fine as long as you leave the leaves on for long enough to do their thing (absorbing sunlight/nutrients to send back down to the bulb) although cut off dead flower heads.

What kind of soil do you have?

I am fanatical-but-much-given-to-short-cuts kind of gardener and so leave tulips, cannas and dahlias in the ground. As we have heavy clay soil, this means that many are never seen again as they rot over winter (grit and little horticultural fleece hats notwithstanding). If you've got better soil, your chances of getting them through winter unscathed are probably better, but there's always the risk of tulip fire ...

It all depends on how much time and faff you want to spend!

The squirrels have dug a few up for me already, which is what I'm worried about. There are lots of little baby bulbs attached to the main ones. I just reburied them. I have good soil, apparently.

Tulip fire?

Tulip fire is a disease. According to the Royal Horticultural Society website

"Emerging shoots have malformed leaves, and often shrivel and rot. Under moist conditions the affected shoots become covered with grey masses of fungal spores.
Brown spots appear on the leaves and flowers, both of which may also rot. The flower stalks may also be attacked, and in extreme cases are so weakened that the flowers topple over."

Lifting and storing the bulbs is supposed to protect them from tulip fire, as the spores can loiter in the soil.