Grocery, hardware, big box and many other stores all sell thousands of forced bulbs in pots during the winter holidays and up until Easter. I pick up a few myself from time to time. I would say the majority of the plants get tossed by consumers once the blooms have faded. I hope to convince a few to reconsider disposing of them. This diary is about my own experience with forcing and recycling bulbs in Connecticut. And also a fantastic discovery I made by accident this year by not listening to the experts.
Definition. Forcing is a technique that imitates the environmental conditions that bulbs encounter outdoors, thereby tricking them into flowering earlier.
My favorite bulb to force is amaryllis.
I’ve forced them to bloom in water instead of soil for many years.
When all danger of frost is over, I plant them outside in my vegetable garden or in trays such as this so they can build up energy for the next year’s blooms
Then in early fall before frost, I dig up the amaryllis,
shake the remaining dirt from the roots (I rinse them also) and trim off the leaves.
I flip them upside down, place them in the basement to dry for about two/three months and then force them again into bloom. I’ve had some of the bulbs for many years and a few of the smaller ones are their children.
These are some of my present crop this morning with a pot of unknown forced bulbs in the window
These are hyacinth bulbs that I had prepared to force in water
I then place them into an old beehive oven in complete darkness until they start rooting and the bulbs shows a bud about ½ to 1 inch high. (You can also use a closet or even a paper bag)
Be careful placing them! This vase got tapped on the iron frame around the oven door this year
and broke. It was one of an antique pair.
These are now perfect for moving into light
and ready to be placed in their new home.
ones placed in direct or bright sunlight will bloom sooner and on shorter stems
goodbye to one of the white vases below :-O
everyone loves their intoxicating smell
if the hyacinths are left in too low of light, the stems will grow so tall and top heavy that they will tilt over the vases containing them. That is how these blooms ended up as cut flowers.
these are some that had bloomed in a previous year and were patiently waiting to be planted outdoors. Despite all the publications saying that you should just toss the bulbs once they have finished blooming, I keep mine and plant them outside.
I’ve had pretty good luck with them reverting back to a wilder form the following year. I actually like them better this way because the blooms appear more natural spread further apart along the stem
Last spring, I had returned from a vacation and was running short on time so I only planted the bulbs outside that still had green leaves so they could continue building energy. This group of bulbs below had already had all their leaves turn yellow so I decided to dry them and then planned to plant them outside in the fall. Everything I had ever read said that hyacinth bulbs could not be forced again inside and to always throw away the ones that had been forced in water.
Well I forgot to plant them and then this past January discovered them in a wooden crate in the basement and each had a nice plump green bud on top. The ground was already frozen so I thought since my favorite part of forcing hyacinths was the sight of their growing roots and the green leaves more than the flowers, why not try them again in water to see what happens.
And what to my surprise did occur? As I was passing through the room one day, I stopped dead in my tracks seeing a white bloom emerging from one!
And then suddenly more and more and in my favorite wild form. This was too good to be true
and then after the white blooms started dying off, the purple ones arrived
and now I’m on a mission to see if I can get these same bulbs to be forced a third year in water
I posted an earlier diary “here” with lots of photographs of forced hyacinths that you would enjoy. In that diary gizmo59 posted the following comment which I still laugh about. Boldness by me:
My husband, a jealous gardener, has taken to calling Steven Payne "that tomato bitch." I fear he's going to start calling you "that hyacinth bitch."
By the way, our lone forced hyacinth bulb is currently blooming...
(I fear for that one lone forced hyacinth bulb’s safety and hope Gizmo and his husband will give it up for adoption :-)
I also force many other types of bulbs, some of which I don’t keep their identification or forget where I’ve put them. These miniature daffodils were found forgotten under the riding lawn mower in the garage one year and were almost ready to bloom. I decided I would rather have more color outside so I set them on this bench.
then after they were finished I planted them in the yard and was able to enjoy them the next year with a taller variety and you can see a hyacinth poking up behind them
I also force miniature tulips, crocuses, grape hyacinths, etc.
Throw away the bulbs the experts say but they also go out into the yard in the spring and most arrive blooming the following spring.
there is a florist that comes to the flea market the Sunday after every Easter and sells all of his spring plants for $2 a pot. I get to enjoy them in bloom and then they get planted in the yard to enjoy again in the future.
The one type of bulb that I do throw out after forcing are paperwhites. They are beautiful and good for the compost pile. But maybe I should also try an experiment with them …...
I know this has been long but I have to end with this. I was at a discount store on the very bottom ladder rung of discount stores. This horrible store never waters its plants and just tosses them when they wilt. One late bitter cold winter day last year I went in and they had huge propane heaters burning to warm the store. The smell was horrible so I was making a quick run around the perimeter to leave when I spotted this.
There were many amaryllis gift boxes left over from Christmas but one had a bloom trying to escape its box. The bloom called out for me to save her but I pretended not to hear. I got up to the door to leave yet turned back with a quick glance. I couldn’t leave her as I knew she would be tossed out soon with the other boxes. The clerk gave me 50% off the already marked down price.
She appeared healthy although slightly rough around the edges
I propped her up in a sunny window and told her that she was pretty.
I could tell she appreciated the care and attention.
it’s nice to see a bulb that started out its life with abuse and neglect find its forever home. And below is how she rewards me the following year! I took the photograph this morning so still looking forward to its bloom. I’m sure she will put on quite a show.
so are there any bulbs that you force and what do you do with them afterwards?