Forcing Hyacinth Indoors For The New Year

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Now I do not want to think about it, but soon the cold will come, white snow will whirl above the ground and bright sunny days, green foliage and fragrant flowers will sink in the far distance. And there will be only one thing left - to dream of the coming spring. But you can not only dream, but also invite her to your home.

To do this is quite simple: go to a flower shop and choose the most beautiful flower blooming in the middle of winter, like in the fairy tale "Twelve Months". Most likely, there you can find hyacinths of a wide variety of colors: snow-white, pale pink, blue, lilac and purple, raspberry and pearl-pink, apricot.

The name of the genus Hyacinthus (Hyacinthus) in translation from Greek means "rain flower", because at home, in the Mediterranean, it blooms with the onset of warm spring rains.

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Plants on sale are in the phase of green leaves, indicated by buds, at the beginning of flowering and in full dissolution. To admire the fragrant blooming hyacinth for a longer time, you must choose a plant with a flower arrow in the buds and 1-2 open flowers. The pot must be well wrapped in several layers of paper so that the plant does not freeze on the way home and does not rush to unpack it at home.

For at least two hours, any plant introduced from the frost (or simply from the cold), including a bouquet of flowers, is kept in the package, opening it slowly and layer by layer. Greenhouse plants do not tolerate the contrast of temperature and humidity in rooms compared to their growing conditions.

Now forcing hyacinth is placed in a bright and cool place, most likely on a windowsill. A luxurious flower, exuding a sweetish aroma with a slight bitterness, deserves a decent frame, and you should take care of this in advance.

A layer of fine expanded clay is poured into a beautiful flower-pot similar in color, a vase, a salad bowl, a glass-vase, a tray, half filled with water and a pot of hyacinth is placed there. Forcing plants especially need moist air, but they can only be sprayed over the leaves so that water droplets do not fall on the flowers and spoil them, leaving stains.

Therefore, the installation of hyacinths, crocuses, scilla, daffodils, tulips, Pushkinia, primroses, daisies and other forcing plants blooming at an inopportune time on a wet tray with expanded clay provides them with the necessary air humidity, which significantly extends the flowering time.

The soil in the pot is kept moist, preventing overdrying. Pour soft, settled water at room temperature into the edge of the pot, without wetting the onion.

Until all the flowers on the inflorescence bloom, the hyacinth is fed after 5-6 days with a weak solution of fertilizers for flowering (uniflor-bud). Hyacinth inflorescences bear up to 30-40 bell-shaped flowers, simple or double, sometimes a heavy peduncle has to be tied to a support in the form of a thin stick.

With a low, even air temperature (15-18 ° C) and good lighting (additionally with a fluorescent lamp in the evening), without drafts, hyacinth bloom can last 4-6 weeks.

Forcing hyacinths can be done at home, but you need to prepare for it in the fall. For this purpose, choose the largest and densest bulbs of early varieties. In order to bloom by the New Year, in early October, the bulbs are planted in pots with a diameter of 8-9 cm in a mixture of peat and sand, in a fertile garden soil with sand.

The peculiarity of planting is that the tip of the bulb is no more than 1 cm above the soil surface. The soil in the pot is watered and placed in a cold (7-9 ° C) dark place: it can be a refrigerator, basement or garage. Within 8-10 weeks at a low positive temperature and in complete darkness, the bulbs take root and prepare for flowering.

The soil is occasionally watered, keeping it moist. When the first leaves and peduncle appear, the dark and cold content continues for another week. Then the pots are transferred into the room, gradually accustoming them to light and heat, while in the first week of the new regime, the aboveground part of the plants is covered and kept under a paper cap ("bag"). This is important for the primary growth of the peduncle, not the leaves.

The air temperature is gradually increased to 15 ° C, then to 20 ° C, the relative humidity should be 60-70%. (To do this, use humidifiers on heating batteries, pallets with expanded clay and sand, indoor fountains, spraying the surrounding space.)

When the flower arrow extends above the leaves, remove the paper cap. At this time, additional illumination with a fluorescent lamp for 3-4 hours in the evenings will also be needed to keep the flower arrow strong and tall. Leaves turn from yellowish to green, and a magnificent bloom of hyacinths begins.

It is interesting to achieve flowering of hyacinths from bulbs in special glasses. Rather, it is a medium-high, conical vase with a bowl-like extension at the top, but with a narrow neck. The bulbs specially prepared for forcing (they go through all stages of a rather complex and strict temperature regime in industrial floriculture) are placed in a vase or glass with boiled water and several pieces of charcoal so that the bottom of the bulb does not touch the surface of the water.

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The bulb is covered with a paper cap to isolate the shoots from light and stimulate root growth. This is usually done in October and the vessel with the bulb is placed in a dark cool (7-9 ° C) room or in a refrigerator for 8-10 weeks. During this time, you have to add water twice or twice, lifting the onion so as not to soak it. Within two months, as a rule, a good root system and a strong flower stalk with buds develop.

Now the vessel is put on the windowsill, but the paper cap is not removed for another ten days. In the light, the leaves acquire a normal green color, and the peduncle grows rapidly and the flowers begin to bloom. Blooming hyacinths of various colors in multi-colored glasses make an unforgettable impression.

At the end of flowering, the peduncle is cut off, the potted flowers continue to be watered until all the leaves turn yellow. The bulbs are removed from the ground, dried in the warmth for several days, then stored at room temperature until they are planted in open ground at the beginning or end of summer. It will be possible to use it for distillation no earlier than in a year.

You can also prepare your garden hyacinth bulbs for forcing by passing them sequentially through all the necessary temperature-time stages. After harvesting in early August, the bulbs are dried with good ventilation for three days. After that, they are kept at a temperature of + 30 ° C for two weeks (you can use a greenhouse, an attic with an iron roof, etc.).

For the next three weeks, the bulbs should be at + 25 ° C, then two weeks at + 17 ° C. After the bulbs are transferred to a cold room (basement, pantry) and at the beginning of October they are planted in pots as described above.

For distillation for the New Year, spring holidays, experts recommend the following varieties: `L'lnnocence '- white,' Yellow Hammer '- yellow,' Lady Derby '- pink,' Jan Bos '- red,' Ostara '- blue,' Amethyst ' - purple. Roman hyacinth (a special form of oriental hyacinth) with a bulb forming 2 or 3 peduncles with small, loosely sitting flowers of white, pinkish, blue color is also used for forcing.

The aroma of hyacinth is quite strong (so you shouldn't keep it in the bedroom to avoid headaches), it has always been appreciated and called intoxicating, hot, passionate … Hyacinth oil is used in the perfumery industry, mainly in the upper class oriental perfumes. It harmoniously combines with narcissus, violet, ylang-ylang, jasmine and neroli oils. Hyacinth aromatic oil is used in aromatherapy to relieve stress. In ancient Greece, it was believed that the aroma of hyacinth refreshes and enlightens a tired mind …

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