Once in the ground the disease persists for several years, making it impossible to successfully grow tulips where it is present
Tulips in bloom. These bulbous plants are one of the great joys of a spring garden with their long-lasting, graceful flowers. Photograph: EPA
Q: I’ve always loved growing tulips in my garden but this year they flowered really badly, with stunted-looking yellow leaves and blotchy, distorted flowers. Any advice as to what I’m doing wrong? I don’t want to spend time and money planting them this autumn only for it to happen again. SL,What a shame.
Unfortunately the tulip’s biggest enemy is tulip fire or Botrytis tulipae, a very destructive fungal disease that causes the symptoms you’ve described. Carried Trojan horse-like into gardens and allotments via infected bulbs bought unwittingly by gardeners, it thrives in warm, wet soil conditions, which is why it’s always recommended to hold off planting tulips until late autumn/early winter when ground conditions are typically colder.
Once in the ground the disease persists for several years, making it impossible to successfully grow tulips where it’s present. For this reason it’s important to source your tulip bulbs from a reputable supplier and to always carefully inspect any new bulbs for signs of the small black sclerotia .
In the case of your garden I’m afraid that you’ll need to grow your tulips in pots for the next four years to protect them from possible infection . Once that time period is up I’d then recommend adopting a crop-rotation plan to minimise the chances of the disease taking hold againMoss has taken over my hedge.
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