Bulbs To Force For Christmas

You can order other colors online.

Bulbs to force for christmas.

Around christmas most stores sell only white and red that s all i ve ever found. If you can get hold of ordinary garden hyacinths early enough in autumn you can prepare them yourself. Amaryllis which can be purchased as bulbs in the fall or as blooming plants in december has become a popular year end gift. Forcing hippeastrum is best done towards the end of september if you want to be sure of flowers in time for christmas day.

This will help to re hydrate them more quickly thereby kick starting the growing process. This is true for crocus bulbs fritillaries anemones tulips and narcissi bulbs. Then when you bring your plants indoors in september or october place the pot in a cool spot with indirect sunlight. Amaryllis like being pot bound.

Allow 1 3 of the bulb to be above the soil. Hyacinthbulbs can brighten up the darkest days of winter and are very easy to grow. Fill a pot with compost and sit the bulb on top. This means they re easy to force into flower simply by exposing the dormant bulbs to water.

Soak the amaryllis bulbs for a few hours to help rehydrate the roots and speed up the growth process. Dormant bulbs can be purchased from local nurseries and flower shops as well as from online bulb purveyors such as brent and becky s bulbs and white flower farm. Prepared hyacinths need to be kept below 9 c for six weeks while unprepared bulbs need 10 weeks. From amaryllis to tulips learn how forcing bulbs now can bring beautiful blooms for the holidays.

With many bulbs ordinary garden varieties are fine. Cultivate christmas cheer with our bulb forcing guide. Start withholding fertilizer in august. How to force amaryllis bulbs for christmas.

Method 1 place the potted bulbs in a black polythene bag and stand them in a cellar or dark corner of a shed or garage check regularly and water if there are signs that the growing medium is drying out or that the vase needs topping up bowls or pots without drainage holes should be tipped on their. Don t use a pot that s too big. Prepared bulbs have been pre chilled to force them to flower at christmas or early in the new year. Plant a succession every two weeks from the beginning of september until mid october to provide fragrant blooms from christmas onwards.

Prized for its willingness to produce large lily like trumpet blooms which generally last indoors for several weeks amaryllis is a fabulous choice for holiday centerpieces. Your foray into paperwhite growing can start one of three ways. If you want your amaryllis to bloom for christmas you will have to force it to go into dormancy earlier. To begin the forcing process soak your hippeastrum bulbs in water for a few hours before planting.