Tulips bloom for three consecutive years, blooming as promised year after year

Since 1998, I have used 8 commercially available tulip bulbs and planted them for three consecutive years; they bloom every year, and they have already multiplied to forty or fifty bulbs. Books say the planting time for tulips is late October and early November. The main producing country, the Netherlands, is a high-latitude country with a cold climate, so tulips need to grow in a cold environment. Potted plants should be placed outdoors, not indoors or in a warm shed, otherwise they will not bloom (this is also the conclusion I drew from a comparative experiment). In winter, outdoors, it only grows roots and does not sprout, and only begins to sprout in early spring in February, growing stems and leaves, and blooming at the end of April and the beginning of May. I think the bulbs should be placed outdoors in winter at around 0°C for more than one month, and then planted in spring (of course I have not tried it, but by reasoning it might succeed). I think it is because the bulbs have already undergone cold treatment in the Netherlands.

Once I found white nematodes in the soil. The roots of bulb flowers will be bitten by them into root-knot shapes, the plant will stop growing, and it will become shrunken. In recent years, I always turn over and check the soil, spray the soil with "Radar" insecticide, then seal it in a plastic bag for 2 to 4 weeks before using it, and the effect is very good.

Storing tulips in plastic bags is also not appropriate. I found that bulbs placed in plastic bags are prone to mildew, and sometimes the outside looks normal while the core has rotted. Storing them in paper bags is the simplest.

I feel that before planting each kind of flower, one should first find some flower books or newspapers and magazines and look at what the suitable growing conditions for that flower are. The main points are (1) the planting season and temperature range; (2) whether it likes sun or shade; (3) whether it likes moisture or dryness; (4) whether it likes fertilizer or lean soil. Generally speaking, if these four basic conditions are understood and basically met, then normal growth and blooming are not difficult. As for wanting it to grow with luxuriant branches and leaves and many brilliant flowers, that is truly not easy and requires correct and careful care.

The place where I plant tulips is on an outdoor balcony on the third floor of a building without sealed windows in Zhenjiang City by the Yangtze River. The lowest temperature can reach -5°C. When it is -3°C to -5°C, I move the potted tulips indoors for a few days to avoid the whole pot freezing and damaging the root system. At other temperatures, the tulips are all on the balcony in the sun.