{"id":10127,"date":"2019-11-05T06:58:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T06:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovenfreshflowers.com\/no-till-tulip-planting\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T00:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T00:19:40","slug":"no-till-tulip-planting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovenfreshflowers.com\/no-till-tulip-planting\/","title":{"rendered":"No-Till Tulip Planting"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>No-Till Tulip Planting<\/h4>\n<div>Tulips have been a mainstay crop at my farm since the very first season.\u00a0 I remember learning about planting them for commercial production at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers\u2019 conference I attended that fall.\u00a0 My mind was blown that flower farmers planted thousands of bulbs in big trenches at \u201cegg carton\u201d spacing, rather than digging an individual hole for each bulb, as I had been doing all my life.\u00a0 That traditional planting system is pictured above.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Thus for 11 years, I\u2019ve dug a 6\u201d deep trench into my soil in late October to plant myriad varieties of fancy tulips for spring bouquets.\u00a0 The process involved using either my big 4\u2019 tractor tiller or my little Mantis tiller to loosen up the soil as deep as possible.\u00a0 \u00a0Then the crew would use shovels to scoop out the soil from the trench and place it on tarps.\u00a0 Once the trench was dug, we would then place the tulips in the trench, scatter in a little compost, then cover up with the original soil and wait for spring to harvest.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As I was preparing for my 2019 growing season, I decided to dedicate my farm to regenerative agricultural practices and adopt no-till strategies for bed prep and maintenance.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be writing many more blog posts about this over the winter, but <a href=\"\\&quot;https:\/\/lovenfreshflowers.com\/2019\/05\/30\/no-till-flower-farming\/\\&quot;\" target=\"\\&quot;_blank\\&quot;\" rel=\"\\&quot;noopener\\&quot;\">my first post on the topic is up over here<\/a> if you\u2019d like to read it.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re curious about no-till farming in general, I highly recommend checking out the podcast series on\u00a0<a href=\"\\&quot;https:\/\/www.notillgrowers.com\/\\&quot;\" target=\"\\&quot;_blank\\&quot;\" rel=\"\\&quot;noopener\\&quot;\">No-Till Growers.com<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>With this new determination to not disturb the soil at my farm in mind, tulip planting became a bit of a puzzle.\u00a0 Digging a four-foot-wide trench six-plus inches deep for hundreds of feet along my planting beds was pretty much the worst-case scenario in terms of maintaining soil structure and the soil food web in that space.\u00a0 So, I went seeking inspiration for a no-till tulip planting technique.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I found that inspiration in two places.\u00a0 One came from the ever-generous duo, Tony and Denise, at Bare Mountain Flower Farm, who have helped me out with more than a few no-till flower farming questions this season.\u00a0 They have some videos of their no-till tulip planting along with several other great videos on their YouTube channel, which you should go watch after you finish reading this article.\u00a0 So grateful for all that Tony and Denise share!!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I was also reading Gabe Brown\u2019s book, <em>Dirt to Soil<\/em>, earlier this fall, and was intrigued when I stumbled on a brief mention there that he plants potatoes on the soil surface and then covers them with thick straw\/hay (rather than digging into the ground at all) and they grow just fine that way!\u00a0 Tulips and potatoes have a lot in common so I figured that was a good indication that it wouldn\u2019t be so hard to develop a no-till tulip planting technique of my own.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>No-Till Tulip Planting\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Rather than digging down and disturbing the soil to create a trench, we went UP with a temporary raised bed system.\u00a0 (Our soil is naturally well draining so we\u2019ve never needed to use permanent raised beds here.)\u00a0 Not wanting to disturb the soil at all meant we couldn\u2019t fill the raised beds with soil from our farm.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been using a lot of high-quality, aged, screened compost on the farm already this season in our preferred no-till bed technique of deep mulching. So it seemed natural to look at that compost yet again for no-till tulip planting.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If you\u2019d like to try no-till tulip planting too, here\u2019s how we did it:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Supplies<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>&#8211; \u201cDecking\u201d lumber boards (decking lumber is cheap; I used the 6\u201d wide by 10\u2019 long boards)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; 12\u201d rebar stakes (2 per board)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Mallet\/hammer\/heavy rock<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Lots of high-quality, aged compost<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Straw<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Organic soil amendments (optional)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Old drip tape (optional)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Grease Marker (optional)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Staple Gun (optional)<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Bird Mesh or Rat Wire (optional)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Steps for No-Till Tulip Planting<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>1. The bed we were using for the tulips this year had previously been in cover crop and then under a tarp for about a month to kill off the cover crop.\u00a0 I wanted to add some soil amendments to this bed prior to putting it into tulip production so the first step was to scatter some cotton seed meal, soil mineralizer, and raw agaraonite over the surface.\u00a0 I used a hard rake to just very lightly scratch these amendments into the soil surface. Then I scattered a little compost (less than a \u00bd\u201d) on top of that to create a cushiony surface for the tulip bulbs to sit on so they wouldn\u2019t topple over.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>2. I used two rebar stakes per lumber board to get it to stand upright along the perimeter of the bed, being sure to pound the stakes in really well so they would securely hold the board up.\u00a0 If you were trying to save some money and happen to have a wood lot on your farm, instead of purchasing lumber, you could easily build these temporary raised beds out of large fallen branches.\u00a0 You\u2019d also save money by not needing the rebar stakes. Waste not, want not, right?\u00a0 Or, if you are planting in a hoop house, you may not need any \\&#8221;sides\\&#8221; at all on your raised bed of compost.\u00a0 Ours is out in the field though so I didn\\&#8217;t want to risk having heavy rain wash away the compost, exposing the bulbs to the freezing cold.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>3. Lay your tulips out inside the bed, directly on the ground, being sure to turn them all so their growing points are sticking up.\u00a0 We place the bulbs as close together as eggs in a carton so we can fit thousands into a rather short stretch of bed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>4. Once the tulips are all placed, begin shoveling compost on top, starting with just a gentle scattering at first so you don\u2019t topple over the bulbs. Once the bulbs are snuggled in fairly well, you can start really shoveling with gusto until you fill up the raised bed completely to the top of the boards with compost.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>5. I like to label my tulip bed so I know what\u2019s what in case of crop failure or a sneaky supplier substitution that I need to rectify.\u00a0 To do this, I use old drip tape (we always have some we are pulling off the beds around the farm during fall clean up) and a grease marker.\u00a0 With this raised bed system, I was able to use a staple gun to staple down lengths of drip table between each variety of tulip so they\u2019d be clearly labeled.\u00a0 I figured this would also add a little structural integrity to the temporary raised bed so I didn\u2019t need as much rebar.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>6. Once the tulips were labeled, I went back over the bed and scattered a thin layer of straw to protect the compost from getting flooded out by the heavy rains we typically get in November.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>7. Final step was to staple down plastic bird netting\/mesh over the top of the bed to keep our farm cats from digging into the bed (oh, look, new litterbox!) and to keep other small furry critters from digging out bulbs.\u00a0 If you have a real problem with moles\/voles\/chipmunks\/etc, you may want to invest in some heavier protection in the form of metal rat wire.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>8. Sit back and wait six months.\u00a0 That\\&#8217;s really the hardest part of this whole process!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h5>So, here\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking after implementing this no-till tulip planting technique:<\/h5>\n<div><strong>Pros\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>&#8211; No soil was disturbed!\u00a0 This is a truly no-till technique.<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; It was so much faster than digging a trench!!!!\u00a0 So. Much. Faster.<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; And so much kinder to our backs!!<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; When the tulips are finished next spring, we can use the compost from this bed on neighboring beds, which means less carting around of compost in the spring.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Cons\/Concerns<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>&#8211; The lumber and compost are an extra \u201cexpense\u201d compared to just digging a trench in the soil.\u00a0 But the lumber can be used year after year and, as noted above, the compost can also be used on another bed in the spring.\u00a0 Also, planting was so much faster that there\u2019s a decided labor cost savings.\u00a0 In the end, when I did the math, it was actually a little cheaper for me to plant this way.<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; The tulips might be too cold in the raised bed and freeze (this is a very minor anxiety; I highly doubt this will happen).<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; The tulips might be too warm in the raised bed and not flower on long enough stems.\u00a0 Since compost \u2013 even aged compost \u2013 is actively decomposing, it gives off heat.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping mine is aged well enough and not too deep that it creates a hot pocket around the tulip bulbs.\u00a0 If this proves to be the case, I can always order pre-chilled bulbs in future seasons, though it will be a very expensive lesson to learn this time around.<\/div>\n<div>&#8211; Critters are going to get into the raised bed and eat the bulbs.\u00a0 We don\u2019t typically have any issues with rodents at the farm thanks to two on-patrol tom cats.\u00a0 But in case they get a bit lazy in the winter (they each get their own personal heat mat and plush igloo that they don\u2019t leave on snowy days), I put the bird mesh on top and purposely chose to locate the tulip bed in the middle of our wide-open field where hawks usually circle above and small furry creatures fear to go.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Only time will tell if this no-till tulip planting technique is as good as I hope it to be.\u00a0 So far I\u2019m loving it!\u00a0 As long as our tulip quality is as high as usual in the spring, I\u2019ll be doing no-till tulip planting just like this from here on out!\u00a0 Stay tuned as I\u2019ll be sure to report back in the spring!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As a quick side note, since I\u2019m sure some of you are curious, the tulip varieties I grow change every year based on what weddings we have scheduled, but two beauties that are always in the mix are Menton and Apricot Parrot.\u00a0 Of the 60+ varieties I\u2019ve tried over the years, I haven\u2019t found a tulip I strongly dislike yet.\u00a0 But I will say that my love of the double-flowered \u201cpeony\u201d tulips is waning because the heads snap off the stems so easily during harvest and designing.\u00a0 Back in 2014, <strong>I wrote a blog post all about tulips <\/strong>that you might want to give a quick read.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>UPDATE<\/strong>:<\/div>\n<div>After harvesting these beds of no-till tulips in the spring of 2020, I can happily say I am 100% sold on this system!!\u00a0 The tulips were the best quality we\\&#8217;ve ever had at my farm.\u00a0 Very tall and very straight stems.\u00a0 Harvesting was an absolutely <em>dream<\/em> compared to pulling tulips out of our heavy soil.\u00a0 In seasons past I would have horrible hand and wrist pain by the end of the intensive tulip harvesting stretch in April because harvesting was so physical.\u00a0 This year, zero hand pain because pulling tulips from compost is so easy!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Bonus!\u00a0 After we were done with the tulip harvest, we disassembled the beds as planned and spread the excess compost on a nearby bed that was being prepped for planting.\u00a0 The beds where the tulips had grown were then immediately planted with summer annuals.\u00a0 The crops in the former tulip beds this summer have been incredibly healthy and robust.\u00a0 I think the soil in those beds is super happy now!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So all around an A+ for no-till tulip planting!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No-Till Tulip Planting Tulips have been a mainstay crop at my farm since the very first season.\u00a0 I remember learning about planting them for commercial production at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers\u2019 conference I attended that fall.\u00a0 My mind was blown that flower farmers planted thousands of bulbs in big trenches at \u201cegg [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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commercial production at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers\u2019 conference I attended that fall.\u00a0 My mind was blown that flower farmers planted thousands of bulbs in big trenches at 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