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Indoor Bulbs and Forcing
Learn the Florist’s Secret
One of the most delightful treats you can enjoy is to fill your home with aromatic and colorful blooming bulbs.
Have you ever wondered how florists and stores fill with blooming bulbs around major holidays? There’s a secret.
Nurseries grow nearly a third of all bulbs produced each year for florists. They are “forced” flowers—bulbs grown out of season using a series of simple steps you can easily copy at home.
More About Forced Bulbs
Because bulbs store nutrients necessary for growth before they enter dormancy, they can sprout, shoot, and bloom with little more than water to sustain them.
The most popular forced bulbs are a few spring species: crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, iris, paperwhite, and tulip. Among summer bulbs—cyclamen and lily, for instance—and evergreen and tropical species—amaryllis, tuberous begonia, and perennial ginger—are favorites.
Follow the steps shown to create living floral displays in your home. Once you master the easy technique, you’ll enjoy beautiful flowers year round.
Forcing is a great way to share your love of gardening with your family and produce gifts for your friends.
Guide to Forcing
1. No chilling required.
2. Plant and grow at 65°F (18°C) for 3 weeks.
3. Blooms at 68°F (20°C) in 3–4 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 10 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at 40°F (4°C) for 4–6 weeks.
3. Blooms at 65°F (18°C) in 2–4 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 8 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at 40°F for 6–8 weeks.
3. Blooms at 65°F (18°C) in 3–4 weeks.
1. Chill at 63°F (17°C) for 8 or more weeks.
2. Grow at 40°F (4°C) for 6–8 weeks.
3. Blooms at 70°F (21°C) in 2–3 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 5 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at at 40°F (4°C) for 6–8 weeks.
3. Blooms at 68°F (20°C) in 3–4 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 6–8 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at at 40°F (4°C) for 6–8 weeks.
3. Blooms at 65°F (18°C) in 8 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 8 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at at 40°F (4°C) for 6–8 weeks.
3. Blooms at 65°F (18°C) in 2–3 weeks.
1. Chill at 40°F (4°C) for 8 weeks.
2. Plant and grow at 40°F (4°C) for 4–6 weeks.
3. Blooms at 65°F (18°C) in 4 weeks.
Preparing Bulbs for Forcing
Spring bulbs need special preparation for forcing before you plant them.
In nature, they would winter through a cold, moist period followed by rapidly warming days. Copy those conditions artificially to prepare them for bloom.
With practice, you will be able to entice many types of spring bulbs to flower on cue.
Consult the Guide to Forcing Chart, above at left, then gather your bulbs, dry sphagnum moss, and net bags or paper sacks with punched holes, and follow these simple steps:
Step-by-Step Demonstration: Chilling Bulbs
Use either lifted, cured, and stored spring bulbs harvested from your garden or new bulbs from a garden retailer. New bulbs may have been prechilled, so ask store staff whether they require chilling for forcing. Always use the largest possible bulbs for forcing.
Make a base of sphagnum moss in a breathable paper bag, or in a bag punched with holes for air circulation. Layer your bulbs into the bag and loosely close it, using the moss to help air to circulate through the bulbs.
Place the bag of bulbs into the humid vegetable keeper of a refrigerator nnless they were treated with fungicide.
For treated bulbs, place the bag in a sheltered indoor spot with temperature conditions similar to the refrigerator, about 40°F (4°C).)
Store the bulbs to chill them for at least the minimum number of weeks needed for the species before planting in soil or suspending them above water in a bowl of rocks or a hyacinth- or tulip-glass (see: Guide to Forcing chart, above at left).
Once your bulbs have been chilled and are ready to plant, follow the instructions for planting them above water, in soil, or in special containers [see: Planting Forced Bulbs and Caring for Forced Bulbs].