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I planted few tulip bulbs in December last year. The plants grew nicely. But the buds didn't develop properly. Few buds did emerge and seemed to bloom. But one of the buds suddenly turned soft and is yellowing.
I live in a tropical zone in India where winter temperatures have reached 24° C today. I gave the bulbs their cold period in the fridge for 12 weeks.
I've been watering them regularly as it is very dry now and the plants get morning sun only. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome.
The tulip flower embryo is formed in the previous year; for this flower to form completely the bulb must be allowed to go through the entire cycle of producing lots of leaves and keeping those green leaves right to the end of the natural growing season before it goes dormant in the heat of the summer. If the process is interrupted for any reason such as mowing leaves off early then the following year's bulb will be incompletely formed, possibly producing leaves but no, or an incomplete, flower. If you are lucky it might produce two or more flowers.
So the question is whether the cycle was too short in the previous season, perhaps with early onset of summer heat? Some parts of India grow tulips really well; any comparison possible there?
