How to Get Potted Tulips to Bloom

Fill your pot with potting soil. The soil does not need to be of an especially high quality as tulips need little fertilization. That said, a pre-fertilized soil with good water-holding capacity will encourage larger and healthier blooms.

Plant your tulip bulb 6 inches deep in the flower pot.

Water the soil thoroughly then keep it wet beginning at the onset of spring. Do not water the pot at all until spring as the tulip bulb must dry out and become dormant during the cold months to facilitate blooms the following year.

Place your potted tulip by a window where it receives at least five hours of direct sunlight per day.

Monitor your tulip for growth. It should begin to emerge early in spring after an initial watering and will continue blooming throughout the spring and possibly into early summer. Make sure the soil remains moist during the blooming period.

Cut the stem of the tulip down to the soil once the petals begin to fall off and the leaves start to wilt. Your tulip has finished blooming for the year at this point and will not bloom again until next spring.

Separate your bulbs. This needs to be done every five years or so. If the tulip blooms appear weaker than they have in past years, the bulbs in the soil have become too numerous and must be separated and placed in new pots. Wait until after you have cut the tulip stems to do this.