What Causes Tulips to Droop?

Causes

• Plants require nutrients, which they take up from the soil, in order to grow and survive. Cut flowers are no longer attached to their root system, and cannot get the nutrition they need. While the flower's life processes continue for a while, allowing the plant to stay green and flowers to open, they eventually slow and stop. This causes the flower to droop and die. Tulips are prone to drooping, since they have long, slender stems and comparatively heavy flowers.

Cutting

• While no one can entirely prevent cut tulips from drooping, the right cutting techniques can help keep them erect and attractive longer. Choose flowers with buds that aren't quite open. These flowers will last longer than tulip blossoms in their prime. Online resource Cutting Gardens recommends using sharp shears or a recently sharpened knife to avoid crushing the stem's capillaries when the flowers are cut. Open capillaries carry more water to the blossom and keep stems upright. Cut the stems above a node whenever possible. This encourages new growth and longer-lasting blooms. Reduce the stress of cutting by placing the flowers in warm water immediately after you cut them. When you don't have tulips available to cut, re-cut the stems of purchased tulip stems to improve water uptake.

Treatments

• Fresh clean water keeps cut tulips attractive for several days, but won't stop them from drooping and losing their petals over time. Some water treatments can improve flowers' longevity. For instance, according to "Real Simple" magazine online, adding sugar to the water can reduce droop significantly, though flowers may still splay and bloom unevenly. Many florists use flower food, a commercial product containing sugar, acidifiers and antibacterial chemicals. This treatment reduces droop and produces improved results over sugar, but must be purchased from a professional or a florist supply shop.

Misconceptions

• While sugar and flower food can help tulips stay fresh, many popular additives actually speed up drooping. According to the Telus World of Science and "Real Simple," copper pennies produce results no better than or slightly worse than fresh water. Aspirin increases flower droop, as does antiseptic mouthwash. Adding chlorine bleach to tulip water reduces droop, but also bleaches both stems and flowers.