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Forcing Flowering Bulbs indoors

Posted by Diana in Flower Gardening, tags: bulb containers

You don’t have to wait until spring to enjoy gorgeous flowering bulbs. All you have to do is force some bulbs to bloom indoors. Forcing bulbs to bloom simply means inducing them to bloom when you want them and not when they are suppose to during their normal stage. Most bulbs go dormant in late summer with very little roots or shoot growth but as the weather changes and temperatures get cool, the bulbs automatically begin to grow and this process continues until the weather gets very cold.

When the weather changes in the spring and temperatures begin to rise, shoot growth starts again and this pattern continues until the bulbs flower. Once the foliage starts to die back, the bulbs return to a dormant state. So what does this mean? In simple words, by forcing bulbs to bloom indoors means that you basically manipulate their normal cycle.

You can basically choose any type of bulb to bloom indoors but the most popular ones are tulips, narcissus, crocuses and hyacinths. And don’t think that you need special containers to force bulbs to bloom. Just about any container is adequate for most bulbs and some garden stores do sell specially designed vases for forcing individual hyacinths. Bulbs like paperwhite narcissus can be forced to bloom in a simple shallow container of water and adding pebbles for support. It is that easy!

Choosing the best type of soil mix for forcing bulbs is very important. It is best if the mix contains equal parts of moss, perlite and spaghnum. Do not use regular potting soil that you buy in the store as that type of soil mostly contain just peat moss. Once you have your soil mix ready, fill about three quarters of a container with the mix. Place bulbs closely together on top of the soil and once this is done, add more soil mix around them. Be careful not to fill the container to the top as some bulbs like narcissus and tulips don’t need to be completely covered. Water your newly planted bulbs but don’t drown them. Watch the video below (courtesy of youtube) for more information.