Tulips are among the world’s top picks for beautiful flowers to cut and preserve. That’s why so many people take them inside their homes and put them in vases.
But, as lovely as they may look in a vase in your house, sometimes they end up drooping.
Read on below to learn exactly why your Tulips may be drooping and what you can do about it!
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Why Tulips in a Vase May be Drooping
Tulips eventually droop in their vases for several common reasons, including lack of water, too much light, weak stems, or overheating. They also develop droopiness due to other reasons like using the wrong sort of vase or simply due to their heavy blooms.
The truth is, there are countless reasons why your Tulips may be drooping. In the following subsections, we discuss the most significant of those reasons.
1. Lack of Water During Transportation
During their transportation to the store and from the store to your home, the Tulips may have been without adequate water.
Even if they are properly watered, packaged, and transported, they may still sometimes go through shock.
2. Excessive Exposure to Direct Sunlight or Heat
Tulips don’t like the direct sun very much. That means they need very little of it to grow properly, which also makes them a great choice for keeping in vases.
That said, Tulips may get sunburnt and start drooping, even after they are cut and placed in a vase. If they were too close to a heater, they also get overheated rather easily.
3. The Vase Lacks Proper Support or Holds Too Much Water
Tulips like to be in a vase that they will be able to stand up straight in. If the vase you keep your Tulips doesn’t support them properly, they will begin to droop and eventually die.
Likewise, Tulips vases are designed to hold only a certain amount of water. If you are using a vase designed for other sorts of flowers, you may be accidentally overwatering your Tulips.
4. Forgetting to Change Water in the Vase
If the water in the vase wasn’t fresh and changed every few days (or even less), your Tulips would almost certainly begin showing droopiness.
Thankfully, this mistake is an easy one to avoid! Tulips won’t last for long, whether in vases, gardens, or potted, without proper watering.
5. Vase Was Not Cleaned from the Previous Batch of Flowers
If you swapped out old dead flowers for fresh Tulips but didn’t clean the vase first, residue found on the bottom (some sort of bacteria) may well be causing your Tulips to die.
This problem is an easy fix; clean your flower vases between each use.
6. You mixed a bouquet of other flowers with Tulips
If you mixed Tulips in the same vase with daffodils or narcissists, that is a deadly combination for Tulips.
How to Fix Drooping Tulips
When you notice your Tulips are drooping, it isn’t always too late to correct the problem. The real problem is knowing how to fix the issue, which we discuss in detail below.
So, if you want to fix those drooping Tulips, it’s time to take immediate action:
1. Find the Right Place for Your Tulip Vase
Remember, Tulips don’t like direct sunlight and don’t like heaters at all either. So, make sure the place you pick keeps the vase with your Tulips far away from such things.
Also, try to position them under lights, or on west-facing windowsills, rather than beside lights. Tulips are drawn to light. If they are beside lights, they will droop towards them. If they are under lights, they will continue standing upright.
2. Change the Water Regularly
A simple way to combat Tulip droopage is to regularly replace the old water with fresh cool water. Tulips react very physically to fresh clean water, so changing the vase’s water out will help them to recover.
Even If you missed changing the water for only a couple of days, it may be why your Tulips are drooping.
3. Check the Water Level
Pour the water as not to be more than ⅓ of the vase’s height. Tulips don’t like to be in too much water. Using the correct vase helps.
That said, it needs to remain fresh water. Changing it daily is the best option.
4. Use a specific type of the vase
As mentioned above, using the specific sorts of vases that are built for Tulips helps prevent drooping in more ways than one.
If your Tulips aren’t in a proper support vase, and they are drooping, just switch them out to a better-suited vase.
5. Cut the Tulip Bottoms Properly and Remove Dead Parts
Cut the stems sideways in order to give them more space to absorb water and oxygen.
Also, if you missed it before, plopping the flowers into their vase, remove any leaves that may be under the water level or have died off since you added them to the vase.
This way your favorite flowers will get a fresh new start!
6. Give Them Some Flower Food
Adding some flower food into the freshwater you water your vase with is crucial for drooping or seemingly dying Tulips. It will give them nutrients and maintain their pH level.
This way, if they aren’t simply expired, your Tulips will literally get a second chance at life. Even though they’ve been cut from their bulbs, to be placed in your vase, they are still living flowers and do still need food to maintain their health.
7. Put Tulips in the Fridge for a Sleepover
Suppose your Tulips are still dropping after pruning their bottoms, changing the water regularly, and making sure your vase is shaped as it should be, and everything else listed above. In that case, there is one more thing that could remedy the situation.
If you have enough room in the refrigerator, put the whole thing (vase, water, flowers, and all) inside and leave it to sit overnight. A cold room or any other dark and cool space in the house may have the same effect on them.
Did you know? Tulips are a great floral gift for Mother’s Day.
Takeaways
Multiple reasons lead to drooping tulips such as:
- a lack of water
- too much light
- weak stems
- overheating
- wrong vase
- heavy blooms
Daniel has been a plant enthusiast for over 20 years. He owns hundreds of houseplants and prepares for the chili growing seasons yearly with great anticipation. His favorite plants are plant species in the Araceae family, such as Monstera, Philodendron, and Anthurium. He also loves gardening and is growing hot peppers, tomatoes, and many more vegetables.