International Women's Day on March 8 is associated with bouquets. Tulips are one of the first spring flowers with a fresh scent. Any woman is pleased to receive a bright bouquet for the holiday. You can please your loved ones and loved ones with flowers grown with your own hands. Recently, forcing has become very popular. What is it, how does the process take place at home? How to make flowers bloom for the first spring holiday?
Preparatory work for forcing bulbs
In our time, a new hobby has appeared - to grow bulbous flowers in a house on a windowsill or in a greenhouse. Tulips are exactly the kind of flowers that are so in demand for the spring holiday. On their cultivation you can make a lot of moneyif you try to grow by the holiday date.
First you need to deal with the variety so that the flowers are bright and beautiful. You must be guided by the following characteristics:
- petal color;
- plant class;
- flowering time;
- stem height;
- resistance to disease.
The last criterion is very important, because due to the disease, the appearance of the flower will not be so attractive. Can appear dots, spots or dashes on the petals... It is not easy to identify diseased bulbs. It is better not to risk in vain and choose the most disease-resistant varieties:
- Great;
- Forester;
- Kaufman.
The listed varieties have beautiful petals with a bright and unusual petal color. They have large flowers with a good medium-sized stem. After selecting the best varieties, you can proceed to the next stage - preparing the bulbs for growing in a greenhouse or in a house.
Growing flowers for the spring holiday
Plants belong to the group that a long time ago grown outdoors... Their biological characteristics do not allow tulips to grow on the windowsill as indoor plants and make them bloom in winter. The only solution is accelerated cultivation in the greenhouse or in the house. Modern flower growers began to use this technique. An artificial temperature and light regime is created for them, forcing the buds to bloom at an earlier period of time. Plants wake up early and bloom.
It is worth noting that emergency rearing is not an easy task that requires certain knowledge and time. If all goes well, it can be a lucrative and enjoyable hobby. The chosen method will help to achieve flowering ahead of time.
Bulbs must be selected in the summer. They should be large and round, at least 3.5 cm in size, healthy and firm. You can select and own seed from your site. This must be done in the month of July. First, the material is dug up, then dried outdoors and then stored in a cool room at a temperature of 18-20aboutFROM.
Forcing tulips by March 8
After storage in September, you need to proceed to the next stage - cooling the bulbs. They are placed for 1 month in a room with a temperature of +5aboutWith air humidity at the level of 85-90%. For this purpose, you can use your home refrigerator by placing seed on the bottom shelf in early September.
Exactly one month after storage in the refrigerator, they must be planted in the ground... Ordinary plastic boxes are suitable for this. They need to fill in a layer of a mixture of river sand and peat with a layer of 3 cm. The distance between the bulbs should be about 10-20 mm. They are slightly buried in prepared containers for planting. After that, the seed is watered and again covered with river sand, so that only the tops are visible.
Now, with the addition of a solution of calcium nitrate and water in a ratio of 1 g per 1 liter of water, the bulbs are watered again. After that, the boxes are placed in a cellar with a low temperature to +5aboutWith and 85% humidity in a dark place. When the soil dries up, it should be moistened each time, but only in moderation, otherwise the seed may deteriorate... It is very important that the soil for planting is permeable to air.
Already at the beginning of January the first shoots should appear and by the end of the month their height should be about 3 cm. About a month before March 8, the boxes must be brought into a room with natural light. The temperature regime should be at +18aboutC. If there is little natural light, then additional lighting is connected.
If there is a greenhouse, then tulips can be grown in greenhouse conditions. 21 days before the scheduled date, pots or special boxes are brought into the greenhouse with a temperature of 14aboutC and support her for three days. During this time, the sprouts will turn green and the temperature can be increased by 4 degrees with uniform humidity. Weeds should be removed and flowers should be watered only with warm water. The greenhouse must have a constantly high air humidity and the required temperature. To grow earlier varieties, they need already in October, bring to the greenhouse.
Process description
Flower growth can be controlled by using room temperature to lower or raise it. If there is a desire to accelerate the growth process, then you need to increase the temperature, if it slows down, then, on the contrary, lower it by a few degrees.
Often, due to lighting, the stems of the plant begin to stretch, this requires additional lighting. When tulips bloom earlier, the process can be paused. 10-15 pieces, together with the onions, are wrapped in paper and placed in a refrigerator, with a temperature of 1-2aboutC within 2 weeks. There are several important points to keep in mind when growing.
- The increased temperature in the room causes deformation of the buds.
- Peduncles can be short if the cooling period is insufficient.
- When the leaves begin to grow intensively, they should not be kept in direct sunlight. This will cause the greenery to grow quickly and not bud.
- Flowers can be exposed to the sun only for a short time, otherwise the buds will quickly bloom and fade.
- It makes sense to apply fertilizers in the form of calcium nitrate only at the very beginning of the growing season, then this is not necessary. Correct and timely feeding will increase the number of buds and positively affect the beauty of flowers.
Flowers have faded, what's next?
After the tulips have bloomed, they must be cut. This is not done in order to collect a beautiful bouquet, but tosave the bulbs for planting next year. If everything is done correctly, then next spring they will begin to bloom again, but not so together. Flowers need restoration after forced flowering.
You should remove the peduncles, leave the leaves on the stems, water and fertilize the plants until the leaves wither. Immediately after this, the bulbs are removed and dried, freeing from the ground. The dried heads should be stored in a cool dry place until autumn. They can be planted again at their summer cottage. They are not suitable for re-distillation; they need a recovery period of 1-2 years.
In the spring, you need to mark the largest and most beautiful ones, so that later they can be selected for home. Peduncles cutas soon as colored buds appear.This will allow the flowers not to use their internal supply, but to save it for growing at home. When the leaves on the plant wither, you can start digging out the roots, and then follow all the steps for preparation.
If you wish, you can grow not only tulips for the spring holiday. These can be irises and hyacinths, crocuses and daffodils. The main thing is to correctly observe all stages of the forcing process, and then the flowers will delight all family members with their beauty and aroma. In addition to beauty, they can bring additional income, which can serve as the beginning for a big business.
