HOW TO FORCE HYACINTH BULBS
Last year for Easter, friends of ours gifted us with a cute wooden container filled with blooming hyacinths. Once they died, we put the container with the bulbs in our garage and didn't touch them until recently! Here is how we brought our hyacinths back just in time for Spring!
By: JD
Common Q & A
Why do some plants have bulbs?
Bulbs are how some plants store nutrients to survive long cold periods. These plants are able to complete their life cycle underground. Plants that have bulbs are normally perennials, which means they come back and bloom every year after a period where they are dormant. During this time, they die back into the ground once the growing season is over.
What does forcing bulbs mean?
Inducing the blooming of bulb flowers out of the season they prefer to bloom in.
How can I force bulbs?
By mimicking the conditions they prefer to grow in outdoors, indoors.
How can I force hyacinth bulbs?
You can do this either by planting them in a container filled with potting soil, or by putting them in a glass with water.
What do I have to do with the bulbs before forcing them?
First, you will need to cool the bulbs for a while. They should be exposed to about 40 degree Fahrenheit weather for about 12 to 14 weeks. This will let provide them with the conditions necessary to grow roots.
Where are good places to let hyacinth bulbs cool?
I put mine in my garage for a while, but another place that works is in your refrigerator in the vegetable drawer. As long as you don’t store them near ripening fruits or vegetables you should be okay! (ripening produce releases ethylene gas which is harmful to bulbs)
When should I start cooling my hyacinths?
Depending on when it starts to get cool in your area, you can start to cool them as soon as temperatures start to reach an average of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. I put mine in the garage around October and took them out in February, and they had already started to grow!
How we did it:
Put bulbs in a cool space for a few months
Take them out a few weeks before you want them to bloom
Poke holes in the bottom of or put a layer of stones at the bottom of your container for drainage
Fill the container with soil halfway up
Put the bulbs down on the soil so that the pointed end faces up
Cover them with more soil until the container is full
Keep the container in a sunny area and keep the soil moist but not drenched (you don’t want to rot the bulbs!!)
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