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Lasagne bulb spring/summer - feeding advice

squirral87k4-WvGwTsquirral87k4-WvGwT Posts: 167
edited April 2021 in Problem solving
I’ve planted a few spring /summer lasagne/layered pots. Tulips which are in flower now and alliums, to flower in May.

I want to feed the tulips after they finish flowering so that they bloom again next year. However this means feeding the alliums (purple sensation) when they haven’t even flowered yet. Is this an issue in terms of the alliums being fed too much? I don’t even think they need feeding! 

I was planning to feed (the pots of spent tulips and yet-to-flower alliums) every 2 weeks with half concentrate tomato feed.

This is the first year planting bulbs and also first time using plant feed. I won’t be repeating this lasagne plant pot idea! 

Any advice welcome. 
thanks 

Posts

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Most people don't keep tulips a second year especially in pots, I wouldn't feed now.I did the same,and found by the time the allium flower,the spent bulbs looked horrible and and tatty,
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I re-use my tulip bulbs in pots although they don’t last long - at best I’ve had three years of flowers, year 2 quite good but far less flowers by year 3. But I’m taking great care of them - after flowering I put the pot behind the greenhouse out of sight and give them a feed of fish, blood and bone or chicken pellets and then forget about them until the Autumn. If I need the pot they are in, they get lifted out en masse and dumped into whatever I have available. In the Autumn, I tip everything out, throw away any mushy ones and replant.

    To answer your question, I wouldn’t have thought feeding would effect the alliums the RHS says to feed bulbs for six weeks after flowering and they don’t name any exceptions in the article I read. They also suggest a high potassium feed like tomato. I never buy those types of feeds so just use what I have available hence the fbb or pellets.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • squirral87k4-WvGwTsquirral87k4-WvGwT Posts: 167
    Thanks both. 

    I planted the Greigii and orange emperor tulips , which apparently do rebloom. I’m hoping they do! I’m curious why they are less likely to rebloom in containers? I planted them around 15cm deep, apparently this helps encourage them to rebloom.

    we’ll see! 
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I don't think they are less likely to rebloom in pots, places like Great Dixter, remove the ones in the soil.I do the same as butterfly,I have some that are 3 years old,but they still have s few scruffy weeks while waiting for the aliums
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