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How to Grow Tulips (Tips & Care)

Whenever we think of a tulip we picture the beautiful fields of tulips from Netherland (Holland) But did you know that the botanical name of them comes fromthe Persian word, toliban, turban, which the inverted flower was supposed to resemble. It belongs to the Lily Family and grows wild over a great territory from Asia Minor through Siberia to China. Its beauty captured the imagination of the Dutch around 400 years ago, until today.

The first thing to do is to find a good bulb from a well-stocked garden center. The Netherlands regulates its tulip growers, so all Dutch tulips are of a good quality.
Try to buy early in the season and choose only bulbs that are firm and free of cuts, bruises, or mold.  We also recommend you buy tulips by variety or species name, not color. The bigger the bulb (in circumference), the bigger the bloom. So, when you buy tulip bulbs at discount stores, chances are your are getting what you pay for. If you want the biggest, best blooms, look for quality, name brand bulbs.

If you live where winters never reach freezing temperatures, tulips likely won't grow all that well. However, you can still grow tulips if you cooll them for six to eight weeks before planting.
Tulips are a strange breed of flower though, as they need to be planted in the fall to thrive in the spring, before the winter frost, in order to bloom to their maximum capabilities in the spring. The reason for this is that they are considered a hardy-bulb, and they require the cold of winter in order to sprout later.
Even though tulips appear to be very delicate tulips they can easily be grown in pots or any other container.
You should use a large, and brightly colored pot that is made of a natural material like a terracotta. You should plant the tulip bulbs in the container from September to about October.
You should make sure that there is about one-half an inch of soil below the bulbs and about a inch of soil to cover the top of the bulbs. You need to place the planted bulbs outside in the cool shady spot outside.
You need to fertilize and feed your plants after it has begun to flower. You should never use any peat-based mixtures to grow your tulips. Try to avoid black plastic pots because they absorb heat.

Plant the bulbs 6 to 8 inches deep when the temperature is 60F or colder. Ideally each bulb should be covered twice its own height with soil. This means that the hole needs to be three times the height of the bulb.  The bone meal will fertilize the bulbs through the winter and promote vigorous blooming in the spring. Tulip bulbs should be planted with their tips facing up, because if their tips face down, they waste their energy trying to grow in the opposite direction and you will get better results. As a general guide, plant in September or early October in colder areas or in October to early November in cool zones.
In warm areas, refrigerate tulip bulbs for six to eight weeks before planting. Place them in a paper bag away from ripening fruits (the fruits produce ethylene gas, which destroys the flower bud within the bulb).When growing your tulips in containers, avoid placing the container in direct sunshine. The soil needs to remain cool so the bulb doesn't prematurely receive signals that spring has arrived. If the sun warms the soil in the container too early, the bulb will send up shoot and flower before an adequate root system has developed. Keeping the soil cool for as long as possible will encourage the strongest and most expansive root system possible. You need to get a good quality potting soil mix.
The rule is to plant tulips pointed end up and 6 inches deep, meaning 4 inches of soil above the top of the bulb. Plant a little deeper, to 8 inches, if soil is light or sandy, or if pests such as voles are a problem. Those 2 extra inches put them just out of reach of voles. Deep planting also keeps the bulbs cooler, an advantage in mild-winter areas.
For an attractive flower display, plant five tulips per square foot, or 250 bulbs per 50 square feet. Space individual bulbs about 5 inches apart. Use a low-nitrogen granular fertilizer specially formulated for bulbs, and follow label directions about the amount to apply.
When planting a grouping, take the extra care to plant at exactly the same depth; this ensures that they all will bloom at the same time. With a shovel, excavate soil to create a level planting base. Set bulbs into the bed, fertilize, and then cover with excavated soil.

After planting, firm soil and water thoroughly. This will ensure that your tulips develop a strong root system before going into winter dormancy. Don't water again until leaves appear. In cold-winter areas), apply straw mulch about a month after planting. This gives the bulbs time to begin growth before the soil freezes solidly. The mulch also protects the bulbs if snow cover is light or nonexistent. In mild-winter areas, mulch after planting to help keep soil as cool as possible for as long as possible.

After blooming, let the plant continue to grow until it dies off. During the post bloom period, the plant is sending energy to the bulb to store for use next spring, this will reduce the risk of disease.

Tulips can be forced to bloom indoors winter months. When you buy bulbs in the fall, save a few to try this fun and easy indoor garden activity. A few bulbs are planted in a flower pot. The pot is then "chilled" or set in the cold for a few weeks. After a few weeks, the pot is brought indoors, and Voila, the tulips will grow and bloom indoors.

Tulips become weaker each year, and since most gardeners plant these colorful wonders with the expectation of a long life, then its best to choose a tulip that can stand the test of time. Species tulips will last year after year, unlike the hybrid tulips, species tulips will also spread out in the garden producing more tulips, year after year. Two of the most popular species tulips are the Fosteriana, and the Greigii, mainly due to their splendid colors and repeat performance each year.

Cacti: Tips & Care (2nd part)

There are two groups of cacti. The desert cacti which is basically the one that comes to your mind whenever you think of “cactus”, but there are also the so called “Jungle Cacti”, which grow in the rainforest (So everyone would think they don’t belong to the cacti family).

The three variants that we need to consider in order to grow cacti are the following: SOIL, WATER AND LIGHT. That is why growing cacti is relatively easy to do and can be quite rewarding.

Most Jungle cacti are either Epiphytic (grow in trees) or Lithophytic (grow in rocks).This type of plant gets its nutrients from the air or from dead leaves and other debris that may have collected in cracks.It is important to note that there are no parasitic cacti. Those that grow in trees do so for support, but do not sap nutrients from their host. The perfect mix for a Jungle Cacti would be to include: orchid bark, perlite, potting soil, peat, coir, pumice, and oak leaf mold. You can start with some coarse orchid bark (about 25%), mix in some potting soil (25%), peat (25%), and the rest mostly perlite with maybe 5% coarse gravel. What really matters of the mix is for it to have a good drainage. The perlite helps create this by keeping the soil loose and ventilated so does the orchid bark. Additionally the orchid bark tends to hold more moisture than pearlite or gravel. Rememberhat the orchid bark will eventually break down into soil. This will create a very rich soil that may not be as effective in keeping the roots healthy. It isn't a bad idea to re-pot these plants every 2 or three years with a fresh mix. The best time to do this is shortly after your plant has finished blooming. 

This is when it will be ready to start growing again. You might also add some fertilizer to the new mix such as bone-meal or some commercial brand for re-potting.A well drained soil is critical for keeping the water from rotting the roots off the plant. With the proper soil, however, watering is really quite simple. You should water your Jungle Cacti about once a week. This is a good rule of thumb, but there are exceptions. During extended hot, dry periods you may water twice a week. But if it cool and rainy you can switch to every other week. For those living in colder regions, you may find that you have to water your indoor Jungle Cactus more in the winter than in the summer due to the dryer air from the heater.  

So, you may wonder when to water your cacti, well I am going to tell you an easy, common sense method: stick your finger in the top 1/2 inch of soil. If the soil is dry, go ahead and water. If it's not, Hold!! If the stem segments are contracted, dehydrated and the soil is cracked, it is time to water. But, be careful, If the plant is over watered, the stems will also look shriveled, but the soil will be damp. If this is the case, do not give it more water. An over-watered plant will start to turn yellowish, then it will turn dark reddish-brown like a rotten apple. This is because the cells took in so much water they broke and are now dead and rotting. This usually happens from the ends first. This will continue even after you stop watering too much, but often you will have enough plant left to start over.

Jungle Cacti can survive in a wide range of light conditions. For the plants to thrive the amount and intensity of light are key ingredients. The ideal condition is full morning sun and then shade for the afternoon and you will have cacti with robust and healthy growth. It may seem that shade in the morning and full-sun in the afternoon should produce the same results as full morning sun/afternoon shade, but it doesn't. This is because the temperature is cooler in the morning than the afternoon and for many plants the afternoon sun is too intense and plants will often take on a yellowish appearance and may develop spots. In full-sun these symptoms will be even more apparent. In full shade the plants will don a dark-green healthy appearance, but the stems will be stretched out long and thin in an attempt to reach more light. Light also triggers blooming in many species. In ideal conditions a particular plant may exhibit fantastic growth with many show-quality stems, but they won't bloom. In this situation exposing the plant to longer and more intense sunlight will trigger it to bloom. Desert cacti hail from throughout the arid regions of the America's and surrounding islands. 
Despite this, many people picture cacti growing in the Sahara Desert sands with practically no water. This common thought should not be in your mind when you are preparing an environment for your desert cacti. Let’s try to generalize as much as possible for a successful all around growing environment.

It is not true what you have seen in the movies of growing cacti only in sand because most cacti prefer a nutrient rich, rocky soil with good drainage. To create a suitable growing median for our desert cacti we'll use some of the same ingredients that we used for jungle cacti as well as some new ones. These are pear-lite, pumice, potting soil, rocks, sand, peat, coir, and gravel. After trial and error and advice from other growers, We came with a good recipe for an easy, well-draining mix. This mix consists of around 50-60% pumice, 20% coir, 20% topsoil. For larger pots you may like to add 1 to 2 inch lava rocks from anywhere between 5 and 10 percent, but it can make digging or transplanting more difficult because you'll hit rocks with your trowel or shovel. Some people use earthworm castings for extra nutrients. Remember, there is no one mix that is the perfect mix. Ultimately, you'll want to experiment with different ingredients until you find one that works for you. Just remember that cacti roots need a well-draining soil that will wet easily. Use whatever materials are most readily available to you locally. A simple observation to determine if your mix is cacti-suitable can be made each time you water. The water should not sit on top of the surface and eventually drain down through the mix. Instead the water should very quickly soak down through the pot and out the drain holes at the bottom. Always make sure that your pots have good drainage holes and that no water is able to sit in the bottom of the pot.

Their ability to survive in extremely hot, dry habitat is a truly fantastic capacity of cacti. But obviously the idea that cacti must avoid water in order to survive is obviously false. The reality is water is essential for all cacti to live. Most desert cacti can sustain long periods of drought. This is because the last time water was available to them, they stored as much as possible in their tissues. Additionally cacti contain many features that enable them to keep that moisture and not dry up in the heat of their environment. A good time to water desert cacti is whenever the soil is dry. In hot, dry areas watering once a week is acceptable. In more humid or cooler areas, it may be three to four weeks before the soil dries enough to need more water. The key then isn't to avoid watering, but rather just don't over-water. Avoid watering if the soil is still moist .

Desert cacti typically prefer a lot more light. My potted plants, seedlings, and newly rooted cuttings only get sun for half a day. The sun would make short work of plants that are not established. Therefore it is not wise to move cacti into the full sun until they have a healthy root-system. Even if potted plants are established, full sun should be avoided. This is because the sun will heat the roots in pots to temperatures much higher than roots in the ground. This is not a natural condition and the roots are not made to survive high temperatures so make sure your potted plants don't get too hot. One way to prevent this is by using white pots instead of black.Once you find the best soil, water, and light mix for your location the cacti will do the rest. To learn more about how to grow Cacti, I recommend this book, simple, easy to read, inexpensive and with good tips...

Tulips Time Lapse

   

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