Spring Bulb Delivery Process

At Gee Tee Bulb Company, things are a little different to your regular online shop. Because we are seasonal we have to fit all of our business for the year into a few months. Spring bulbs such as daffodils start to be harvested in early summer but bulbs like lilium and eremurus are lifted much later. So once the bulbs have been processed by the grower they usually come into our warehouse between August and September.

We begin to take orders in May, once our summer bulb season is over. Many spring bulbs will still be actively growing or storing up nutrients for the coming dormant period. It’s a good opportunity to order whilst spring planting ideas are still fresh in your mind.

Shipping begins in September when we can begin to collate orders from the summer. So if you order in September you might have a bit of a wait, however, we are usually up to date by October and we can turn new orders around in around 7 days. If you have an urgent request to get in touch and we will do our best.

Here is how we process your order…

All of our bulbs come loose in reusable trays. And we begin to position them out in the warehouse. As they come in, we record the passport number and start to count a tray of each through the packaging machine. We try and pack as little as we can to reduce wastage and save repackaging later in the season.

If you are ordering larger quantities we often count bulbs through counters into much larger manageable nets. These go over a belt so we can keep an eye on the quality. Much smaller bulbs are weighed into the correct quantities.

Our barcode system helps to prevent errors at dispatch, so we don’t get Purple Sensation mixed up with Purple Sensation or even Purple Sensation (allium, iris and hyacinth respectively).

Once the order is picked, it is off to dispatch where we double-check the quality as they are boxed, using paper packaging to help reduce movement during transit.

At every step of the way, we have control over the entire process. Nearly all of the bulbs are handled by hand at some stage of your order, many of them are physically counted by our picking team. By keeping everything in house we are confident that what we are sending out will be healthy and in good condition.

September can be a very hot month, and although we start shipping in September it’s not always advisable to plant blubs until October, so there needn’t be a rush to get them in the ground. Any time between October and November is optimal but December and January will also be fine.