We grow tulips by March 8 at home

International Women's Day on March 8 is associated with bouquets. Tulips are one of the first spring flowers with a fresh scent. It is pleasant for any woman to get 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 a very popular activity. 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. It is necessary to be guided by the following characteristics:

• petal color;
• plant class;
• flowering time;
• stem height;
• disease resistance.

The last criterion is very important, because due to the disease, the appearance of the flower will not be so attractive. May appear dots, spots or dashes on the petals... Identifying diseased bulbs is not easy. 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 color of the petals. 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 way out 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 nurturing 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.

It is necessary to select bulbs 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 outside and then stored in a cool room at a temperature of 18-20 ° C.

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 + 5 ° C and an air humidity 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 of up to + 5 ° C and a humidity of 85% in a dark place. When the soil dries up, it should be moistened every 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 + 18 ° C. 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, the pots or special boxes are brought into the greenhouse with a temperature of 14 ° C and maintained 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 only be watered 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

The growth of flowers can be controlled by using room temperature, lowering or raising 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 the lighting, the stems of the plant begin to stretch, for this additional lighting is needed. 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 1-2 ° C for 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 open and fade.
• It makes sense to apply fertilizers in the form of calcium nitrate only at the very beginning of the growing season, then there is no need for this. 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 with the aim of collecting a beautiful bouquet, but in order 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 to be restored 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 taken out and dried, freeing them 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 the 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 also bring additional income, which can serve as the beginning for a big business.

Spring flowers tulips are primarily associated with International Women's Day on 8 March. On this holiday, men delight their women with bouquets of flowers, choosing mainly tulips smelling of spring and freshness. But not everyone knows that an original spring bouquet can be grown at home and presented to your loved ones with flowers in a pot. This process is not very complicated, you just need to carefully study it and do everything rules for forcing tulips at home.

Selection of tulip bulbs for distillation

When to plant tulips in pots at home? To get a spring bouquet in a pot by March 8, you should start forcing tulips at home in late October or early November. However, planting material should be purchased in September. For this, varieties of late forcing are selected, which include:

• Eric Hofsier;
• Kis Nelis,
• London;
• Vivex;
• Diplomat;
• Parade.

Forcing tulips at home is easy, but first you need to find the right bulbs. They must meet the following requirements:

1. Bulbs weighing less than 25 grams are not suitable for forcing. If they have a flower bud, then the bulbs must be heavy.
2. For growing tulips in a pot at home, bulbs of the first or second analysis are selected with a circumference of 30 to 40 mm, or with an extra diameter, which means that the diameter of the bulb is from 40 mm or more. The size of the flower that will grow directly depends on the size of the diameter.
3. The bulbs must be round, firm and free from any defects.

You can use bulbs from plants that you grow in your summer cottage. To do this, they are dug out when the ground part of the flower turns yellow by two-thirds. This usually happens by July.

The planting material is well dried and stored for a month in a room with an air temperature of about +20 degrees, and then until September at a temperature of +17 degrees.

How to grow tulips at home - preparing the bulbs

Having chosen the onions of the varieties you like, you need to prepare them before planting:

1. In September, place the bulbs on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where they should lie for a month.
2. In October, the planting material is taken out and cleaned of scales.
3. For the prevention of diseases, it is treated with a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate.

To plant the bulbs in pots, you must first prepare a substrate suitable for forcing tulips. To do this, mix:

• garden land - 2 parts;
• rotted manure or compost - 1 part;
• river sand - 1 part;
• some wood ash.

Fill two thirds of the pot with the mixture, which needs to be compacted a little. On its surface, at a distance of two centimeters from each other, bulbs should be planted. They are slightly pressed into the substrate and covered with sand or the same soil from above. Planting must be watered with 2% calcium nitrate solution. The onions should be covered with soil on top so that only their tops are visible. If the sand settles after watering, then it will need to be refilled.

How to grow tulips at home?

After you have planted the bulbs, the pots are placed in a dark place.Until February, they need to be kept at an air temperature of + 5 ... + 9 degrees. In this case, the humidity should be about 75%. For this, you can use the cellar.

All these months, you need to monitor the moisture content of the soil, which should not dry out. However, it is also impossible to overmoisten it, otherwise the planting material will begin to rot.

Around the beginning of January (it all depends on the planting date) sprouts should appear. At this time, the air temperature must be reduced to +2 degrees.

Three weeks before the holiday, the pots are brought into a room with an air temperature of +13 degrees. There should already be twilight here.

After another four days, it is time to grow tulips at home. The containers are placed in a room with an air temperature of about + 16 ... + 18 degrees.

In order for the forcing of tulips by March 8 to succeed and the flowers to grow beautiful, they need 10 hour daylight hours. In February, the days are short, so additional lighting is needed.

At first, the buds on the plants will be green. As soon as they acquire their color, the room temperature drops by about two degrees. If it is too warm at home, tulips will quickly fade.

When caring for flowers, the soil should be watered and fertilized with potassium nitrate as needed.

Home-grown tulips can be presented on March 8 right in a pot or cut and make a bouquet of flowers.

Forcing tulips by March 8 in a greenhouse

In a heated greenhouse, bulbous flowers are easier to grow because the air temperature can be regulated there. In the southern regions, you can also use a simple greenhouse, since in February there is a suitable temperature for forcing tulips.

Containers with plantings are brought into the greenhouse three weeks before the scheduled date. At this time, the length of their shoots should be about 5 cm. The air temperature in the greenhouse should be +14 degrees. In three days, the sprouts should turn green and then the temperature rises to +18 degrees.

When growing tulips in a greenhouse, it is necessary to monitor soil moisture, temperature and air humidity.

Cutting and storing tulips

For growing a large number of tulips for bouquets at home or in a greenhouse, they should be planted in boxes or other wide containers. Cutting begins when the buds are in a half-colored and closed state. They need to be packed tightly, wrapped in cardboard and put in the refrigerator or placed tightly in a container with cold water (+ 1 ... + 4 degrees). For a week or more under these conditions, the flowers will retain their fresh appearance.

To make the buds grow, it will be enough to put them in a warm room in water at room temperature. In just a day or two, the flower will grow and acquire its color.

Some helpful tips

Even seemingly small trifles can affect the state of the flower:

1. When storing in the refrigerator, fresh fruit should not lie next to the planting material. They give off ethylene gas, which is harmful to the bulbs.
2. Use simple varieties for forcing. It is not easy to grow terry and "parrot" varieties at home and in a greenhouse.
3. If March 8 is already close, and the plants are still small, then for their faster ripening, it is enough to increase the temperature to +22 degrees. The growth of too fast growing flowers can be slowed down by lowering the temperature to +13 degrees.
4. Do not expose planting pots to direct sunlight. Only the stem will grow from their influence.

Possible problems when forcing tulips by March 8

At home and in greenhouses, when growing tulips, the temperature regime and the required air humidity should be strictly observed. Otherwise, you may run into some problems:

1. Weak and elongated peduncles - bulbs are planted too tightly or in the room where tulips grow, the air temperature is above +20 degrees.
2. Buds droop before or after cutting - there is a lot of calcium in the soil or in the greenhouse (house) there is a high temperature.
3. Yellowish and pale buds - poor ventilation or high air temperature.
4. The plant does not form a stem - small bulbs were planted.
5. The sprouts rot at the base and the bulbs become soft - overheating of the soil or planting material was sick.
6. No roots are formed on the bulbs - dry substrate or air may be the cause. If you used your own planting material, then you may have dug up the bulbs too early.

Bulb care after cutting tulips

As soon as the flowers are cut, the soil, in which the planting material remains, needs to be moistened half as often. After cutting the tulips, the bulbs will begin to grow rapidly and the remaining parts of the plant will wither. When the leaves turn yellow, the onions can be dug up. They are dried and stored until they are planted in open ground. This planting material is no longer suitable for forcing.

Forcing tulips by March 8 at home or in a greenhouse not everyone succeeds the first time. But there is no need to despair. The experience gained and the identification of errors will certainly become assistants for the next year. Be sure to follow all the rules for growing tulips at home and by the holiday you will delight your women with a spring bouquet in a pot or cut flowers.

It is pleasant for any woman to receive flowers on International Women's Day, it is even more pleasant when delicate buds bloom at home on the windowsill right for the holiday - such magic can be achieved by distilling tulips by March 8. And it doesn't matter if you haven't had to deal with tulips before, even beginner growers can learn how to drive these flowers at home.

Choosing a tulip variety and suitable forcing bulbs

In general, you can grow beautiful tulips at home by the New Year, by February 14, or by the May holidays, when tender sprouts have just appeared on the flowerbed. It is even customary to specifically subdivide the distillation of tulips into early, mid-early, medium and late, depending on the date by which fresh buds need to be obtained. Moreover, for each period, certain varieties of tulips are recommended.

In this article, we will tell you which tulips are better to grow by March 8, and how to do it correctly, from preparing the bulbs for planting to cutting graceful buds.

Video about forcing tulips by March 8

In order to get high-quality beautiful flowers with intense color at home, you need to pay attention to the following signs when choosing a variety:

• class of tulips;
• color of flowers;
• plant height;
• flowering time;
• susceptibility to disease.

In the photo forcing tulips

When forcing tulips resistance to various viruses is of great importance, especially the variegated virus. It manifests itself in the form of a change in the color of flowers with the appearance of dashes, dots, spots, etc. on the petals. But the worst thing is that "blind" buds often grow from the bulbs affected by the virus, and it is impossible to determine the diseased bulb by its appearance.

There are few varieties resistant to variegation; the best are the tulips of Kaufman, Greig, Foster. Representatives of these classes, in addition, have an interesting color and are distinguished by strong, low stems with large flowers. Therefore, it is good to use them as forcing plants.

Most often, various varieties of Darwin hybrids are used for forcing (the best are Maurin and Forgotten Dream) and the Triumph group (especially Parade Record). And for medium distillation in the period from mid-February to mid-March, the most suitable varieties are: Keys Nelis, Oxford, Eric Hofsier, London, Vivex, Diplomat.

As for the bulbs, in stores specifically for distillation, Dutch bulbs marked "Giant", treated with stimulants, are offered. You can also buy domestic planting material or prepare bulbs from the summer on your own. Take 20% more bulbs for forcing than for planting in a flower bed.

In the photo tulips

Basic requirements for planting material for distillation: the bulbs must be the largest of the entire crop (not less than 3.5 cm), heavy, dense, round and perfectly healthy.

Preparatory work before forcing tulips

When self-harvesting planting material, dig up the bulbs from the garden bed when two-thirds of the ground part turns yellow. The dug out and sorted bulbs are stored for the first month at a temperature of about + 20, then the temperature is lowered to +17. Throughout September, the bulbs should be placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to allow them to cool down properly.

While the bulbs are in the refrigerator, prepare the substrate: it can be peat or garden soil with sand, just peat or just sand, or a mixture with the addition of perlite and vermiculite. The main thing is that the substrate is breathable, moisture-absorbing and neutral. Do not take greenhouse land in order to avoid contamination of tulips with diseases.

Photo of tulip bulbs

It is also necessary to prepare in advance the containers in which the tulips will grow. These can be containers, boxes, pots, or bowls. Ceramic low containers are best suited, but if they are new, you will first need to soak them in water for a day. Containers in which other plants previously grew should be thoroughly rinsed and disinfected.

How to plant the bulbs correctly, and what to do with them next?

Chilled bulbs are planted in a container with a substrate in early October. The boxes are filled two-thirds with the substrate, the bulbs are lightly pressed (but not screwed!) Into the soil one and a half centimeters apart and sprinkled on top with the substrate so that the tops of the bulbs are barely covered or even leave them sticking out above the surface of the earth. Planting the bulbs too closely is not recommended; also make sure that they do not touch the walls of the box.

After planting, the ground is slightly moistened and the boxes of tulips are sent to the refrigerator on the bottom shelf or in the storage. During this period, tulips need a temperature not higher than +5 degrees.

When storing planted tulips in the refrigerator, never wrap the boxes with plastic wrap, otherwise the soil will become moldy and the bulbs will quickly rot.

Photo forcing tulips

The bulbs planted in the ground at cool temperatures will begin to develop the root system, and in January they will give green sprouts. And in early February, when the sprouts reach a height of 5 cm, you can take the boxes out of the refrigerator and move them to a bright room with a temperature of +18 degrees. The tulips should bloom in about five weeks.

Growing tulips by March 8 - important points

When storing the boxes of bulbs in the refrigerator and throughout the growing season, make sure that the soil does not dry out. But it is also impossible to overmoisten it too much, in order to avoid the appearance of mold. If, however, you notice mold on the surface of the ground, carefully remove it and add fresh substrate.

Video about forcing tulips

Do not miss important pointsto get flawless tulips by March 8:

• when choosing varieties for distillation at home, be guided not only by the beautiful appearance of flowers, but also by the timing of tulip flowering, disease resistance and unpretentiousness;
• do not store bulbs in the refrigerator next to fresh fruits that emit ethylene;
• an increase in temperature during storage of planting material causes deformation of flowers;
• too long cooling of the planted bulbs can lead to curvature of the peduncles; with an insufficient cooling period, the peduncles are short;
• during the growth of the stems, do not expose the tulips to bright sunlight, as they will provoke strong growth of greenery, and the buds will not appear;
• you can put tulips in the sun after the delicate buds are formed, but keep in mind that in this case they will fade faster;
• if you need to get flowers earlier, increase the room temperature to + 20 + 22 degrees, lowering the temperature to +13 degrees will help to delay flowering;
• Fertilizers do not make much sense when forcing tulips, because the plants take all the nutrients from the bulb, but calcium nitrate (0.2% solution) will be very useful for the formation of tulips if it is applied at the beginning of the growing season.

Tulip photography

Perhaps the first time you will not be able to accurately guess the flowering of tulips by March 8. If the flowers bloom too early, you can follow the recommendations on how to keep the tulips as long as possible. For example, cut them off as soon as the buds start to stain, wrap them dry in paper and put them in the refrigerator. Or, put the cut flowers still unopened in cold water with the addition of snow and put them in a dark, cool room (with a temperature of up to +2 degrees). These simple tricks will allow you to preserve the beauty of tulips for several weeks.

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I wonder if you can find a man in our country who grows tulips with his own hands for his beloved? This is not about the flowers in the beds, which the husband planted a few years ago, when his wife instructed him to do so. This question is about tulips in pots on the window, specially grown for March 8th. We hope that after carefully reading this article, many men will try to conduct a flower experiment. If they strictly follow the advice, then their loved ones will receive the most unusual and beautiful gift in the form of luxurious tulips for the holiday.

1 How to grow tulips by March 8 - selection of planting material

If you have a summer cottage, then when digging tulips from the ground, choose the largest and strongest bulbs. They should be at least 3.5 cm in size. Dig the tulips in the month of July, when the leaves of the plants are completely dry. Dry the selected bulbs under a canopy, and then transfer them to a dark room with a temperature of 18-20 degrees.

Digging and drying of home tulips can be replaced by buying seed from a specialized store. Ask your salesperson for advice on which varieties are best for indoor growing. You can also order the bulbs through the online store. Pay attention to tulips varieties: Abu Hassan (red-brown), Hibernia (white), Parade - Record (bright red), Aristocoat (bluish with a white border around the edges of the leaves), Maya (yellow). These flowers are considered the best for early spring forcing and are disease resistant.

2 How to grow tulips by March 8 - cooling the bulbs

At the beginning of September, transfer the bulbs to a place where the humidity and temperature are kept at this level: 85-90% and +5 degrees. An excellent solution in this case would be to place the bulbs on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Keep planting material here from 30 to 35 days. For storage in the refrigerator, thin nylon socks or cut pieces of tights are suitable - the bulbs will "breathe" in them.

3 How to grow tulips by March 8 - planting bulbs

Plant the bulbs in the ground in early October.

• Pick up pots or containers. Keep in mind that the bulbs will need to be planted 1 to 2 cm apart.
• Pour 1 cm of drainage (small pebbles) on the bottom of the pot, and on it - 3 cm of soil, which is prepared from a mixture of peat and coarse river sand (take sand and peat equally).
• Place the bulbs on the prepared pillow and press them lightly into the soil. Make sure that the bulbs do not touch each other.
• Sprinkle the bulbs lightly with water at room temperature. Its approximate consumption is 50 ml per bulb.
• Cover the moistened bulbs completely with coarse sand.
• Make a solution of 1 liter of water and 1 g of calcium nitrate (available in garden stores). With this solution, pour the sand with the bulbs inside well.
• Transfer pots or containers to a dark, cool, damp place. A basement with a temperature of +5 degrees and a humidity of 85% is suitable. If there is no basement, then place the pots on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
• Check the soil periodically for dryness. If the sand is too loose, then slightly moisten it with plain water, but do not overfill. With a lot of water, the bulbs can rot.

4 How to grow tulips by March 8 - forcing flower stalks

Somewhere in early January, you will see tender pale green sprouts in a pot. At this time, keep the tulips in the refrigerator and water them periodically. For a month, the sprouts should grow up to 3-4 cm. Do not be alarmed by their pallor - this is due to the lack of adequate lighting.

Numbers February 4-7, remove containers or pots with sprouts from the basement or refrigerator and place them on the bright window (east). Keep the temperature in the room at 17-18 degrees. Watch out for soil moisture and active sun. Water once a week with very little water. Protect plants from the sun with a protective screen made of thick white paper.

If the window on which you put the tulips faces north or west, then additionally highlight the plants with a special phytolamp.

5 How to grow tulips by March 8 - some helpful tips

For the first experience of growing tulips on the window to be successful, remember the following:

• Do not feed tulips with any additional fertilizer. It is enough for them that they received their portion of calcium nitrate when planting the bulbs.
• Be sure to keep the bulbs in the cold for at least one month (see point 2). If you shorten this time, the flower stalks will grow very low and the buds will learn to be small.
• Protect plants from direct sunlight at all times. During the leaf growth stage, the sun can damage the plant by producing a lot of leaves, but the bud will not grow. At the stage of bud development, the sun will harm by the fact that the tulip will bloom very early, i.e. from the heat, the flower will bloom prematurely.

Subject to all the rules, beautiful and strong tulips will bloom for the women's holiday. You can grow other bulbous plants in the same way as tulips. These are hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, snowdrops.