Can Tulip bulbs be split like garlic?

Question

I dug up a bunch of my red tulips and was surprised how many bulbs I got. However, when I dug up some yellow with red stripe tulips with the intent of spreading them beyond the clump they were in for next year – I only found 4 big bulbs. These were the size of a good size onion and looked layered similarly. I was disappointed in the number of bulbs. There weren’t any “daughter” bulbs either.

Recently I planted some garlic cloves- not the whole thing, but broke off some pieces – and they are growing fine. So I wondered if I could do the same with the tulips…especially since I accidently sliced one with the shovel anyway. That is, if I separate the bulb itself into pieces/sections, will each section grow and produce new bulbs? (I wouldn’t expect them to bloom right away. )

Thank you for your time. Please email the answer to me as well.
– Sharon

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this cannot be done with tulips bulbs. If you were to cut them into sections, they would die. You can, however, separate the individual bulbs, including the smaller ones to get additional plants.