I'm having the same issue here. I emailed Van Engelen but received no reply as of yet.

Other than being planted too deeply - l sometimes wonder if however deep in the ground they are planted, they aren't getting enough chill hours for them to bloom well after mild winters... ?

Here in zone 9 this will always happen if bulbs are not chilled enough. Al

we have the same thing here in MO. short stemmed tulips cute, but stubby. However, it hasn't been too cold here either.

I received a call from Van Engelen and the gentleman I spoke to said it was either poor root development or more than likely because of the warm weather and lack of rain. It looks like only my double tulips are shorter than they should be. The others are where they should be. I think watering, the recent rain and the cooler temps have helped.

I'm having the same problem. This was my first time planting tulips and daffodils. Only a few are coming up now. But the tulip bloomed and it's so short. It looks silly. The daffodils sprouted up but not as tall as I was expecting. I'm also new to the area, but I'm thinking it wasn't as cold and rainy/snowy as it ususally is. Is there anything we can do now? Should I pinch off the flower and hope that it forces it to grow higher before blooming again? I have sprinkled bulb food over and watered really well. I have a bed with the weed fabric down and mulch on top. I mixed the mulch around in hopes that it will circulate the air through and help them sprout up better. ?????? I have no idea what I'm doing though.

kristie - If you want to cut the flower, go on and do so. Allow the leaves to remain and grow through the rest of spring and into summer until they die down naturally so that the bulb will get nutrients from them. Neither type will bloom again this season. Hopefully next year, they will be back to normal.

It appears that all people posting got short stems, but I have NO stems! Lots of beautiful healthy leaves, but nothing at all growing up in the the center of them. Last year, (their first year) they were fine. We had many days of very cold freezing weather this winter, so I think the bulbs got quite chilled. I would appreciate any ideas.

janc, I am having the exact same problem! I have beautiful leaves. Leaves, that's it. No stem with a developing flower! Ugh! Then again our nights are still in the 20's and 30's this week. To cold for them yet maybe. I have hope.

kentstar

I did some head hunting today in the garden. Looking for any sign that my hyacinths didn't die over winter in the ground. I can see a few small stems just starting to peak up underneath the mulch. Yay! I might have planted too deep. Could also be the cool weather this year so far. But I think they lived. Phew! More follow ups later. We'll see how it goes. I planted 25 in groups of about 5 to 6 of Hyacinth Blue in the autumn. I noticed where I bought them "Colorblends" doesn't mention whether they are hyacinth blue jackets or not, no name, just blue hyacinths. They are planted with Baby Boomer daffs.

Someone told me when bulbs blooom with short stems, they were too cold at the time they started to make the stem. I think thats what happened here as we had temps in the 20's for 3 nights in a row. Most of my newly planted ones had short stems.

My tulips are blooming too small !
They barely have any stems at all, and some have flowers visable before the leaves even get an inch tall. There is one tulip that is growing nicely but it is still only 6 inches tall. I planted them about a month ago and most of them are only one inch tall. They are darwin hybrids and they were planted at the right depth and spaceing. I live in zone 8.5.. What is wrong?

mine too but we had the most awful freezing weather just when the flower stems had initiated growth (flowergirl, this is my understanding too). The only ones doing this are older ones or those in pots - all the darwin, triumph and lily-flowered types are proceeding as usual. I only get 2 years from the potted tulips anyway so not such a big issue, just a reminder to compost them in May.

noeylovesgardening in your zone pre-chilling for at least 6 weeks is a must if you expect normal tulip growth. Al

Some varieties bloom tis way. They start out blooming with stubby stems, and as the bloom continues to mature, the stems grow taller. I have a "black" tulip variety that does this, which concerned me at first. My other tulip varieties grow tall stems first, and them bloom. So all tulip species bloom differently. Don't worry! However, make sure to give them water regularly when you begin to see them sprout and while they are blooming.