Hyacinth dilemma
 

I kept these bulbs from last year in a brown paper bag. As soon as the green growth started poking through, I potted them up with some osmocote granules. The problem is the blooms are fully 'out' before they bloom? On the other bulb, the bloom stalk is even shorter and it's within the leaves. Can anybody give advice as to what I can do next time to get these to bloom properly or let me know what I did wrong? I have them place on my south facing window with a sheer curtain.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...78fab6d9b0.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They do this when they bloom before making roots and they're too warm. Daffodils too. Next time pot them in the early fall, just moisten the soil, put the whole pot in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for 4+ weeks. When you see roots growing out of the hole in the pot you can take them out and let them bloom, but the lower the temperature the better. You can leave the pot in the fridge for months and take them out for blooms anytime after the roots form. One fall I filled my bottom fridge shelf with 4" / 10cm pots of paperwhite narcissus and took a pot out every week from December to March.

Oh my goodness, as soon as I potted them I put them on that very warm south facing window, way before that they grew sufficient roots 😁. Thanks for this information, this is great advice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The refrigerator treatment is important not just as a time of root growth. Many bulbs need to experience 'winter' for a certain duration before they will break dormancy and grow at all. Bulbs sold for forcing may be pre-chilled but even for them the transition from cold to warm temperatures helps trigger the normal developmental sequence of events, like elongating the stem before opening the flowers. They can be a bit confused in their growth without it.

I would have never known to put these in the fridge. Well I will be getting a some at the grocery store soon to replace my duds :( with the advice I have been given they should do much better next year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk