Hyacinth out of season

[Amir Farnood]

Hello all,

I am looking for information so that I can grow Hyacinths throughout the year indoors, if it is possible. I just called around a few nursuries and they all told me they are all out of bubls now and it won't be until September or October before they get bulbs again.

As you can tell I am compeltely novice at this. I have these questions:

- When Hyacinth bulbs are available again, can I just buy a whole lot of them enough to have sufficient supply for the whole year so that I can grow hyacinths throughout the year? Why are these bulbs not available all year?

- I understand the Hyacinth is a Spring flower, but I am sure the bulbs don't know anything about calendar systems, so with right temperature, etc., they should come out and blossom. Why is it that I only see Hyacinths in stores in early Spring time?

- I live in a sunny apartment with a small balcony. Can I grow Hyacinth in my apartment or the balcony? Any time of the year?

- I would be grateful if you can either write instructions or point me to an information source which shows me how to grow Hyacinths. I couldn't find any useful web sites in this regard myself.

Thank you all in advance.

-Amir.

[fran]

To do this, you need to force the blooms. To my knowledge, this involves a cold period of around 6 weeks in a dark area such as a closet or garage. I belive we are talking a temp of around 30 F. Once a bulb has been forced, most do not ever bloom again, so you would have be replacing the bulbs constantly.

Others may know more, this is just my understanding of the issue.

[Cereus-validus]

There are so many flaws in your reasoning it is amazing.

Read up on Hyacinths and why exactly spring bulbs normally don't bloom at other times of the year. Do a Google search.

Actually bulbs are genetically programmed to follow the calendar seasons but not in the way you assume.

[Cereus-validus]

That is how you can force them to bloom ahead of season not later.

The temp should be above freezing not below.

[Amir Farnood]

Hello Cereus-validus,

Thank you for your response. I don't know why you are so amazed. I am not highly educated and also I did acknowledge cluelessness in this regard in my original post. But I am hoping one shouldn't need a Ph.D. or an IQ of a genius to be able to grow flowers.

I honestly don't understand why the bulbs cannot be fooled into believing it's the right time of the year by providing the ideal environment for them.

As for google searches, I had already done that before posting here. Unfortunately, nearly all the hits were commercial or generalities; none that would explain in detail how I can grow hyacinths.

Regards,

-Amir.

[culprit]

they can be fooled. the easiest way is to put them in the refrigerator, in a crisper drawer. don't put any other fruits or veggies in with them. they should stay in there for about three months.

this site has good instructions on forcing hyacinths:

can't purchase bulbs now, because they're still in the ground, using the leaves to "recharge" through photosynthisys for next year's flowering. they're dug up in fall, and need a cold dormancy period before they bloom again. you can do this by leaving them in the ground, or forcing them indoors.

-kelly