Growing Tulips indoors in water

by Mary
(Cranberry Twp, PA)

I have a glass container with a plastic grid which I bought at Costco's that grew tulips in water. I want to repeat this in February. How do I do this and what kind of bulbs must I buy? I bought tulips in September kept them in the dark and just put them in the container with water and they are getting moldy. Thanks. Mary

Doug says that your tulips were probably dead. Without proper storage techniques, the bulbs will not have formed a bud. And just keeping them dark (without cold temperatures and proper humidity) will have allowed them to dry out and die. So you can't "get there from here" with those bulbs. Sorry.

To get them to bloom now, you're going to have to find pre-chilled tulips or other pre-chilled bulbs and put them in the water-glass so the roots are "just" touching the water. These will bloom if kept in full sun, cool temperatures and the roots just in the water.

Good luck