Bulbs To Force For Christmas

Cultivate christmas cheer with our bulb forcing guide.

Bulbs to force for christmas.

You can order other colors online. Amaryllis like being pot bound. From amaryllis to tulips learn how forcing bulbs now can bring beautiful blooms for the holidays. Don t use a pot that s too big.

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. Hyacinthbulbs can brighten up the darkest days of winter and are very easy to grow. Prepared hyacinths need to be kept below 9 c for six weeks while unprepared bulbs need 10 weeks. This will help to re hydrate them more quickly thereby kick starting the growing process.

Around christmas most stores sell only white and red that s all i ve ever found. To begin the forcing process soak your hippeastrum bulbs in water for a few hours before planting. If you can get hold of ordinary garden hyacinths early enough in autumn you can prepare them yourself. If you want your amaryllis to bloom for christmas you will have to force it to go into dormancy earlier.

Amaryllis which can be purchased as bulbs in the fall or as blooming plants in december has become a popular year end gift. Then when you bring your plants indoors in september or october place the pot in a cool spot with indirect sunlight. Your foray into paperwhite growing can start one of three ways. Fill a pot with compost and sit the bulb on top.

Forcing hippeastrum is best done towards the end of september if you want to be sure of flowers in time for christmas day. Start withholding fertilizer in august. 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. Soak the amaryllis bulbs for a few hours to help rehydrate the roots and speed up the growth process.

This means they re easy to force into flower simply by exposing the dormant bulbs to water. When choosing a pot to plant your amaryllis bulb in choose a pot less than twice the diameter of the bulb. Plant a succession every two weeks from the beginning of september until mid october to provide fragrant blooms from christmas onwards. Prepared bulbs have been pre chilled to force them to flower at christmas or early in the new year.

This is commonly done to hyacinths. All that the bulbs grown inside need is protection against the worst of the wet and cold. This is true for crocus bulbs fritillaries anemones tulips and narcissi bulbs. With many bulbs ordinary garden varieties are fine.