How to Grow Tulips and Other Spring Flowers Indoors This Winter
The best part of spring is when all the bulbs you planted start popping out of the ground, adding color to your yard after a long, gray winter. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait six months for them to bloom, but if you’re impatient like me, you can actually grow these flowers indoors from now on. The idea is simple, and you don’t have to be an experienced gardener to implement it: you can place the bulbs in a pot or glass vase and let them bloom inside like a living bouquet. Once they bloom, the bulb is depleted, so it can be discarded or composted. (You can try to save the bulb and replant it, but I usually find this to be a futile exercise.)
You may have seen these designs on the pages of Pottery Barn or in the aisles of Trader Joe’s. The good news is that you can buy inexpensive light bulbs and get the same effect for much less money by doing it yourself. This time of year, you can buy bulbs just about anywhere, from major online light bulb retailers like Eden Brothers to your local garden center, Home Depot , or even the grocery store. If you see a bag of bulbs on sale, take them for this purpose. If you can find pre-chilled bulbs , that’s even better, as it means you won’t have to wait until winter to bloom (more on that below).
When you rape light bulbs, you trick them into thinking it’s spring by keeping them inside. The key to this work is to simulate outdoor conditions by exposing them to cold temperatures for several weeks. How long they need chilling depends on the type of bulb (amaryllis and papery daffodil don’t actually need chilling at all). You don’t want to refrigerate the bulbs because there’s likely to be fruit in there, and ripening fruit releases ethylene gas, which will cause the bulbs to grow. The best place to cool your bulbs is outdoors or in the basement. You can refrigerate them already potted or leave them in the paper bag they were shipped in.
How to plant indoor bulbs in pots
Most bulbs prefer to be planted in a pot containing potting medium. Look at your garden center for a soilless potting mix that has excellent moisture retention and optimal drainage. When choosing a pot, you’ll need three to four inches of space under the bulb, in addition to the height of the bulb itself. When you are ready to plant the bulbs, soak the bulb roots in warm water overnight. In the morning, add three to four inches of potting medium to the bottom of the pot, then place the bulbs there, pointy side up and roots down. You can plant the bulbs as close together as you like, even touching. Cover them with more potting medium, leaving the top inch of the bulbs uncovered. Tamp down the potting medium with your fingers—you want it to be compacted well enough so that the bulbs will stay in place as they grow into flowers. Water the potting medium until all the soil is damp, meaning that when you make a fist and squeeze it, the medium clumps together but no water is squeezed out.
How to plant indoor bulbs in glass vases
There is a second way to plant bulbous plants such as hyacinths. They can be planted in tall glass vases, rooted only in pebbles or glass marbles , creating a real display. You will still need two to three inches of marble or pebbles under the bulbs, but instead of covering the bulbs, you will add just enough to cover the roots of the bulbs and secure them. Fill the vase with enough water to cover the roots, but no more.
Alternatively, you can buy small vases specifically for forcing hyacinths . You place the bulb on the top of the vase and fill it with water up to the level of the roots.
How to refrigerate onions
Either way, you now take the potted bulbs and expose them to the cold for the required amount of time according to the list below. The ideal temperature is around forty degrees, and during the cooling period be sure to check the moisture level of the rooting medium or water (for hyacinths) every few weeks to ensure the soil medium is still moist.
I like to set calendar alerts for each of my potties so I know when to take it out of the garage. By this time, each bulb should have small shoots and you know it’s time to bring them inside and continue forcing them. At this point, the temperature of your potted bulbs should remain at sixty-five degrees, and you will still need to check the humidity of the potting medium.
How long to refrigerate these onions:
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Anemone: 8 weeks
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Crocus: 8 weeks
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Snowdrops: 10 weeks.
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Hyacinth: 12 weeks
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Dwarf iris: 10 weeks.
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Daffodils: 15 weeks
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Narcissus: 15 weeks
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Tulip: 14 weeks
The length of time they bloom depends on the flower, but you can usually expect them to bloom for several weeks.
How to care for spent bulbs
When these bulbs bloom, they are single flowers, so they should not be cut. If you do this, they will not grow back. Once the flowers start to die back, you can try planting the bulbs outdoors, but I have generally had no success with this as the bulbs can be finicky. If you want to try it, cut the flower stem above the leaves, but you will have to leave the leaves. This is where all the nutrients in the bulb are stored. Let the potting soil dry completely. Clean the dried bulbs from dust and store them in a cool, dry place until autumn. You can plant them outdoors as soon as summer is over.