Tulip Bulb Timeline
Why do tulip bulbs ship so late? Why won’t my supplier just send them to me earlier? I grow in a cold climate and it’s colder here sooner — why can’t I have an early delivery?
I hear these questions often. To be honest, I used to ask them myself, too. And then I added a bulb division to my company. And now I get it. OH do I get it!
The answers to these questions are several, but I’ll start with the most important: bulb health.
The farmers who grow our tulip bulbs in The Netherlands (and the bulbs for most of the Northern Hemisphere) are only able to harvest the bulbs once the plants have had enough time to develop in the ground during the summer months. During that time, the bulbs are gaining strength through photosynthesis via their leaves.
The bulbs can only enter the cool season (or cold holding) once they have demonstrated that they have reached maturity during their growing period. Bulb farmers look for the bulbs to have achieved what they call “Stage G” as a signal that the bulbs are ready for cold treatment/winter. At Stage G, a tulip embryo has developed inside the bulbs. The tiny petals, stamens, and pistil have developed. It is only at this point that the farmer or distributor can make a prediction as to the earliest date the flower can be made to bloom (forced).*
And, naturally, each variety of tulip reaches that stage at a slightly different time. That timing can vary by bulb farm and weather and other factors, too. There is no singular day when tulips bulbs are lifted from the ground and universally reach Stage G or go into a cooler. Those dates are different for every variety and every farm.
When international buyers pressure the bulb farmers to ship bulbs early, before they have reached maturity, the bulbs must be shipped warm. They are packed into the shipping containers for the two week journey overseas at a warm (70F) temperature. This warm shipping is not optimal for the health of a perishable good that is locked up in a container for such a long period of time. While the containers are climate controlled, it is still not as good as being able to offer refrigeration during overseas travel for these bulbs.
A thoughtful distributor will push back on requests for early shipment overseas, prioritizing the quality of their bulbs over the buyer’s demands.
This is why our earliest bulbs (untreated) arrive here around mid-October. The first pre-cooled bulbs arrive in November. This timeline ensures a healthier product.
In addition to being very intentional with our shipping plan, we manually inspect our tulip bulbs when they arrive at our farm for order fulfillment to over 200 other flower farmers. We order an excess of bulbs so that we can replace any bulbs showing signs of disease before we ship the 2.5 million bulbs and bare roots that we offer to bring in for our fellow growers. This is a time consuming process, but we’ve found that it provides for a healthier product and happy customers.
As small scale flower farmers ourselves, we understand the frustrations of receiving poor quality products. When you’re not a big grower, every bulb is important, and we aim to help growers rely upon healthier bulbs from the start.
*This prediction is shared along with our bulb stock to farmers. We actually provide the “earliest bloom” date for our fellow growers. As long as one can provide a proper winter leading up to that date and a proper sequence for growing, as taught in The Tulip Workshop, growers can successfully bring tulips to bloom in the winter.
Have a question about wholesale bulb ordering and shipping? Let me know in the comments field below. I’ll be happy to help.
