Forced Bulbs

Wishin'

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Carol Dee,
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How does that work? I thought you need nutrients from soil, and a dark place for the bulbs. Can you do that with most bulb flowers? Or at least narcissus flowers? They are starting to come up here and I hate to cut them all only to last 2 or 3 days in the house.
 

Carol Dee

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Carol Dee,
011-jpg.718


How does that work? I thought you need nutrients from soil, and a dark place for the bulbs. Can you do that with most bulb flowers? Or at least narcissus flowers? They are starting to come up here and I hate to cut them all only to last 2 or 3 days in the house.
HELP.... Masoud ,I think you can answer this better this I can.
Wishen. I know you can force, tulips, paper white, daffodils, etc.... some need to be planted in soil others placed in a shallow dish with pebbles, others in these vases, designed for hyacinths.
 

Masoud

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Most large flower bulbs, like amaryllis, hyacinth,and narcissus already have their flower buds and future leaves formed in the bulb. All they need is moisture and proper temperature to grow. The food supply they need is already stored in the bulb. Good light helps, without it the leaves and flowers will be pale. Forced bulbs are often discarded after blooming. This is due to less than ideal growing conditions during forcing. I kept a dozen of last years' paperwhite bulbs, put them outside, fertilized them, and gave them a resting period. They looked about normal in size. I planted them late in the fall, all I got was lush greens, not even one flower.
Wishin, in my opinion it is a good idea to keep the garden bulbs in the garden, and bring their flowers in, even if they last just for a couple of days! Forcing bulbs, is for the novelty of having flowers out of their normal blooming season.
Masoud
 

Wishin'

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Thank you Masoud and Steve. Maybe next year I'll give that a go, since it seems to late now.
 
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