Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom - Part II

Last time we discussed forcing bulbs and also the use of cold frames in filling the February days with color. Now we will look at drawing blooms up and using those special “glasses” for growing and showing off your bulbs. Part I - Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom

To Draw Blooms Up

Hyacinths may need special treatment here. If the flower stalk has a tendency to remain low in the plant, make a cone of cardboard or stiff paper, leaving a hole at the top. Place this over the plant at the soil level. The flower then reaches for the light and stretches up nicely. When color begins to show in the buds, the pots can be brought into the desired location for the fulfillment of your dreams. But avoid sunlight, unless you wish to rush the opening of the flowers for a special occasion. We kept our bulbs in bloom over a period of two weeks by giving them a cool night location and misting them with a water spray during the day if the house became too dry.

Let us not forget the hyacinths in the glasses. This is our favorite method of culture of these lovely queens of the spring bulbs. In the fall a bulb is placed over the collar of each glass with water barely touching the base of the bulb. The vase is placed in a cool dark area (a cold closet will do) until the glass is filled with long roots and the flower bud is just appearing. No nutrient is added to the water but it is replenished from time to time so that it just reaches below the bulb. When the bud and roots are developed, the treatment of the glasses is the same as that for pot culture, even to the paper cone. The beauty and fragrance of these lovely flowers is reward, indeed, for the painstaking effort spent.

The ‘Paper White’ or other tender narcissus bulbs are a bit easier of culture. They can be started at the end of September, if available, and in succession every two weeks or so thereafter, in shallow glazed ceramic or glass bowls. Place a layer of clean pebbles in the bottom of the container, stand as many bulbs as will fit side to side on the gravel, water just to the base of the bulbs, and fill in up to the tips with more pebbles or gravel or small stained stones. A collection of small shells would hold the bulbs just as well.

‘Paper Whites’ to Bloom

Have you ever been disappointed by having your ‘Paper Whites’ sprout tall leaves but no flowers, and then just fall over from sheer weight of greenery? The trouble has probably been in the early treatment of the bulbs. They do not require the same low temperatures for development as the more hardy bulbs, but they must be kept cool though not dark.
Place them out of doors on the north side of the house where they can remain until the nights approach frost temperatures, or in a screened porch or breezeway. Of course the later plantings must be kept indoors but cool and sunless until there is a mass of roots in the gravel bed. The buds should appear when the leaves are about an inch high. If the leaves develop rapidly, however, and the buds have not appeared, you are keeping them too warm. When buds and leaves are about three inches high, the bowls may be brought into the room for forcing. You can almost choose the time of blooming by temperature control. Sunlight will speed the development and the demise of the flowers.

Lilies of the Valley

Although not classified as a true bulb, lily of the valley may also be forced for indoor blooming in February or March. Most growers have “pips” that have been held in cold storage all winter. These may be planted in standard clay pots or azalea pots, as the roots are quite long. Often some of the lower portion of the roots will need to be trimmed a bit to fit the pot. A good loose soil or a mixture of sand and peat will do quite well for potting. The buds or points of the pips left about an inch above the soil will soon grow and develop leaves and flower buds at the same time if kept in a dark room at a temperature of about 50 to 60 degrees for about ten to 14 days. Then they should be watered with warm water and brought into ordinary room temperature to flower.

We have been fairly successful in digging up clumps of lilies of the valley from the garden in the fall, keeping them in a cold, dark basement, and watering them as necessary until about mid February. When the flower buds just show we separate the clumps and pot them in containers of gravel, place them in our fluorescent lighted “Green Thumb Room” in the basement until leaves and buds reach the same size, then bring them into the sunroom for enjoyment. An attractive container for lilies of the valley is a small strawberry jar, with wet sand just up to the first side hole, tips emerging from each hole, and space between the pips packed tightly with dampened sphagnum moss. Early treatment of this type of planting should be the same as the above.

Replanting Outdoors

After blooming, bulbs and pips may be allowed to dry until the leaves turn yellow, then planted outdoors for a spot of color the following spring. But new bulbs should always be obtained for the next year’s forcing.

Perhaps I have used the word “cool” too often in this article, but experience has taught me that correct temperatures, the use of prime bulbs, and patience are the essential ingredients to success in this fascinating form of indoor gardening.

by A Hemmer

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