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Caring for Bulb Plantings
About Bulb Care
Watering, feeding, and protecting bulbs from pests and diseases are easy skills to learn, plus there are tips for storing bulbs and making new plants in this section.
Care of bulbs is easier by far than for most other landscape plants.
Established bulbs are strong, resistant to drought, and rarely require added nutrition. They also are susceptible to fewer pests than many other plants.
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Care Bulbs Need
The care bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes and tuberous-rooted plants need is limited to regular watering, occasional fertilizing, and inspection to prevent disease or pest damage.
You’ll see how much water to apply, where to apply it, and how often to irrigate [see: Watering Bulbs]. You’ll also discover when and how to apply fertilizer at the correct rate [see: Fertilizing Bulbs] and what to look for when it comes to pests and disease [see: Bulb Pest and Disease Solutions].
You’ll see how good garden practices and care techniques limit the spread of harmful insects, bugs, and nematodes, and how to use these beneficial organisms as your controls. For each pest, disease, or care condition, you’ll find a recommendation for an environmentally positive way to treat your bulbs.
End of Season Care
Some bulbs have special needs as warm weather ends and autumn begins. Review the specific care instructions for lifting, dividing, curing, and storing each of your favorite bulbs [see: Lifting and Dividing Bulbs and Roots].
Renewing them and protecting them from winter cold ensures you’ll enjoy their blooms each and every season.
You’ll find information about storage: the right temperatures, humidities, and storage cycles for many types of bulbs [see: Curing and Storing Bulbs]. Note the methods shown to cure bulbs prior to storage, help them to adjust to dormancy, and prepare them for planting the following season.
Bulb Propagation: Making New Plants
For bulb enthusiasts, see the processes of dividing rhizomes and tuberous roots when they begin to compete with one another. Learn how to propagate bulbs—grow new plants from your offsets, cuttings, bulblets, and bulbils [see: Bulb Propagation Demonstrated].
These are the very same propagation techniques that growers use to multiply plants, so try your hand at growing a new hybrid bulb from seed—one way to have a truly personal and unique bulb garden all your own.
What Bulbs Need
You’ll find bulbs are more carefree than most landscape plants, trees, shrubs, or flowers.
Their needs are simple:
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- Regular waterings during cycles of active growth [see: Watering Bulbs].
- Start-of-season and end-of-season fertilizing for spring, summer, and autumn bulbs [see: Fertilizing Bulbs].
- Weekly feedings for tropical and evergreen bulbs [see: Fertilizing Bulbs].
- Weekly inspections for signs of pests or diseases [see: Bulb Pest and Disease Solutions].
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When bulbs show signs of disease or insect pests, they require prompt care and treatment to stop problems from spreading. If animal pests dig up or eat bulbs, remedies include installing barriers and other protection.
Advanced Care for Bulbs
Overcrowding is another red flag. During bloom, watch for bulb plantings that have become too crowded. Mark any such groups before their foliage dies or they go dormant. Then, in autumn, lift them and divide the plants to either store for later use or to replant right away [see: Dividing Bulbs and Roots].
For those that garden in cold-winter climates, learn why, when, where, and how to lift bulbs too tender to survive winter cold in the ground or under a deep layer of protective mulch [see: Curing and Storing Bulbs].
Rhizomes and tuberous-rooted bulbs often need division or the plants in the center of a group will weaken and die. Dividing these bulbous plants is easy, and it gives you free new plants to spread throughout your landscape [see: Dividing Bulbs and Roots].
Propagation
Finally, some may wish to grow new hybrids from old favorites through the art of propagation. Who knows? You may be the one to create a brand-new bulb that everyone loves [see: Bulb Propagation Demonstrated].
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