Tulip · Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan
When to sow tulips in Sialkot
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
no spring frost
In Sialkot, on your chosen risk.
First autumn frost
no autumn frost
The far end of the outdoor season.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Sialkot
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Tulips through the year
Against the frost risk in Sialkot
Why these dates
Plant four to six weeks before your first autumn frost, once the soil has cooled below about 15C - warm soil encourages the rot that hollows bulbs out over winter. Late planting is far less damaging than early; bulbs put in at the start of winter simply flower a little later. Depth matters more than date: 15cm, about three times the height of the bulb.
The bulb is hardy to around -25C once underground. Cold is the requirement rather than the risk: without twelve to fourteen weeks below 9C the stem stays short and the flower opens at ground level or not at all. In zone 9 and warmer, buy pre-chilled bulbs and treat them as annuals.
Tulips are anchored to the first autumn frost rather than the last spring one, so the planting window on this page counts backwards from the end of the season in Sialkot instead of forwards from its start.
Sialkot sits in zone 10b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
Also in Sialkot
Other flowers to time
Growing tulips in Sialkot
How much frost will tulips tolerate?
The bulb is hardy to around -25C once underground. Cold is the requirement rather than the risk: without twelve to fourteen weeks below 9C the stem stays short and the flower opens at ground level or not at all. In zone 9 and warmer, buy pre-chilled bulbs and treat them as annuals.