How to Force More Bulbs in the Same Space Installment #2

   It's finally gotten cool enough that I can move over to my normal chilling method for the rest of the year. By now the bulbs that were pre-chilled are getting ready for their rooting period prior to bringing them out for blooming. Here's the dilemma:

1.    I have limited space to chill my bulbs.
2.    I have to use that space for both chilling and rooting.
3.    I want to sequence my bulbs so that I have flowers blooming all winter, not just one big bang.
4.    The pots take up substantial amounts of room.

   The solution I expect to work is to have different containers for different purposes. First will be the bulk bulb chilling container. It is expected to keep the bulbs dry enough that they don't root. The other container(s) will be for rooting. They will all be stacked to fit within my chilling chamber.

storage container

    The next two pictures show my rooting container. It is made with a garden fabric bottom so I can drop the rooted bulbs through into the desired pot for blooming in my window. The containers are only as high as needed for rooting, to save space. The fabric is that weed block fabric that roots can't penetrate. The second picture shows the fabric is overlapped and pinned on the bottom.  (Don't tell my wife I used her sewing pins!!!)  This provides the strength needed to hold the wet soil and bulbs, but allows it to be un-pinned so we can drop the rooted bulbs through later.

  Here the containers are all stacked before I put them  back in my chilling chamber. Notice there is a drip tray between the storage container and the rooting containers so any drip doesn't start the storage bulbs rooting early. The first rooting containers were filled and watered 2-3 weeks before I wanted to take them out.

  After their rooting period, put some soil in the final pot, un-pin the rooting container, unfold the fabric, and it will look like this.

  

   Remove the fabric and the ring containing the bulbs, and you have your chilled, rooted bulbs in the pot of your choice, ready to grow and bloom inside the house.

Bulb Forcing Chilling Time

Yes, it's early August and most of us aren't thinking about forcing flowers bulbs.  I know!  Here in north Idaho, the harvest season is just barely starting, my early started cherry tomatoes have produced 1 ripe one and the beans are still a week or so away.  Sadly, our raspberries are almost done and it was our best crop so far!  Of course when thinking about forcing flowers, you have to think months in advance, as they have a long chilling period.  Which leads to the topic today - chilling time.

Before I start, I probably should do the standard disclosures.  My wife, Cathy, runs Season Extenders, LLC. which sells the only product designed for forcing bulbs.  It also can germinate seeds.  These blogs will not be focused on selling The Bulb Box, but some of my experiments will likely involve it.

Now, on to the chilling experiment we ran.  So, what about the chilling requirements for tulips?  The Washington State University Extension Agency flyer on forcing bulbs states 15 weeks.  Online, I've seen other colleges state 15-23 weeks, and other postings online with as little as 10 weeks.  So, if I'm going to force tulips, do I have to let them chill for 15 weeks?

I decided to run an experiment where I didn't provide any chilling at all.  My expectations were that I'd get no flowers and perhaps no sprouting.  My results:

• Muscari - extemely delayed and strung out flower generation with normal flower height
• Tulips - extremely delayed flower generation.  Flower stalks were about 2 inches high, funny sort of burned look to them, odd and disfigured
• Daffodils - no flowering at all

The flowering was so delayed that those with normal chilling flowered before the no-chilled ones.


Another example is the picture of Muscari and Princess Irene tulips.  The Irene is listed as an early bloomer.  I suspect their chilling requirements are 15 weeks.  The ones in this picture have only 11 weeks:

All the tulips flowered, but note how tall (short) they are compared to the normal height Muscari.  They sure look pretty though and look even better when it's deep in the January winter!  Below is another picture with Princess Irene, Freeman, Tete a Tete, and again Muscari.  These have had 18 weeks chilling:

Comparing the Princess Irene against the Muscari in the two pictures really shows the shortening effect lack of proper chilling time creates. 

In closing the loop on this experiment, each bulb variety has it's special chilling requirements.  If you want pots with the tallest flower heights, you will need to chill them for the full period, which may vary if you have a mix.  However, after seeing my results, they still produce beautiful displays of color and allow me to display more pots during the winter season!

Till next time,
Darrell