Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Can you force tulip and daffodil bulbs the same way you do paperwhites?

I have some bulbs I forgot the plant this fall (the ground's proper frozen now) and had a lovely experience doing paperwhites last year.

Can you force tulip and daffodil bulbs the same way you do paperwhites?
Certain ones you can, maybe 5-7% of daffs and tulips. Usually it will say on the packaging "suitable for forcing" if the bulbs you have fall into this group. If it does not say this then you probably have some from the other +90% that aren't suitable. In a conservatory, a botanist could, because they would know the exact cold stratification procedures that need to occur before planting. So they could, but without their knowledge and facilities you would just be guessing. That's why the easy ones say "suitable for forcing"--because they don't require special attention.





If they aren't suitable you still may be able to salvage them if you have a warm couple of days and the ground thaws. As long as you can dig, you can plant (about 5-6" deep) up till about the middle of Feb. After that it will probably be too late to get them to bloom this spring. Even if the ground is partly frozen, get a big shovel and plant them in groups of five. They'll look great in the spring.
Reply:Yes you can. Forcing bulbs are very hard on them most of the time you have to discard them afterwords they most likely will not bloom again.
Reply:yep





good luck
Reply:Don't know about daffodils (but probably yes). You can definately force tulips.
Reply:yes you can, I have also planted these bulbs as soon as the ground thaws and have good results. Good Luck


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