Planting tulips by March 8: deadlines, rules, step-by-step instructions for forcing

Planting tulips by March 8 allows you to please women you know or even make money by selling flowers. In order for the buds to bloom on time, you must carefully follow proven technology.

Features of growing tulips by March 8

Under natural conditions, tulip buds begin to bloom en masse only at the end of April.The more valuable the flowers received ahead of schedule become.

Germination by March 8 has several features:

1. For forcing in March, it is necessary to select strictly defined varieties with early flowering periods. All bulbs must be large, dense, without signs of damage by diseases and pests.
2. It is impossible to get tulips from scratch in a couple of weeks; you need to prepare for March forcing in advance. Flower bulbs are harvested in the fall, and germination begins in mid-winter.

Preparations for forcing tulips by March 8 begin in the fall.

To grow tulips at home by March 8, you need to make sure that the perennials bloom no later, but not earlier than the required date. To do this, experienced gardeners regulate the amount of daylight and increase or decrease the temperature.

General technology for forcing tulips by March 8

Spring germination is carried out in different types of soil, not only in soil, but also in stones, sawdust, and hydrogel. However, the forcing technology remains the same. It looks like this:

• large and healthy bulbs of early varieties are chosen for planting;
• in autumn in October they are planted in the substrate;
• after this, the bulbs are stored in the refrigerator for a long time; cooling should take at least 16 weeks;
• at the beginning of February, the containers are removed from the refrigerator and transferred to a warm room;
• Over the next 3 weeks, the tulips are kept at a stable temperature and sufficient lighting.

If all conditions are met, by March 8, perennials will bear beautiful and large flowers.

Varieties of tulips for forcing by March 8

The best results are shown by early forcing of the following varieties:

• London;
  
  

  London is one of the brightest tulip varieties

• Diplomat;
  
  

  The variety Diplomat shows good early germination

• Oxford;
  
  

  Early yellow tulips can be grown from Oxford bulbs

• Kis Nelis.
  
  

  Kis Nelis - a spectacular early variety with two-tone color

The listed varieties have increased endurance and are distinguished by early flowering periods.

When to plant tulips by March 8

In order for perennials to please with beautiful flowers on time, it is necessary to plant tulips by the eighth of March in the fall. Typically, laying in the ground is carried out no later than October.

When to drive out tulips by March 8

The actual forcing begins in early February. Before the 14th, containers with perennials must be removed from the refrigerator and transferred to a warm place.

Methods for forcing tulip bulbs by March 8

The simplest and most common method is forcing tulips in a box by March 8th. However, if you wish, you can plant perennials in another substrate - in sawdust, hydrogel, in drainage stones, or simply in water.

How to grow tulips in the ground by March 8

Forcing in the ground is a simple and popular method. It is in the soil that it is easiest to organize optimal conditions for perennials.

Preparing containers and soil

You can grow tulips at home by March 8th in spacious wooden boxes. They should be selected in width in accordance with your convenience, and in depth so that the container can be filled with a layer of soil of at least 10 cm. There must be drainage holes at the bottom of the containers.

The depth of the boxes for forcing tulips should be at least 15 cm

It is recommended to use a light, breathable, but nutritious mixture as a substrate. For example, you can mix:

• sand, humus, peat and turf soil in a ratio of 1:1:1:2;
• turf soil, humus soil and sand in a ratio of 2:2:1.

In both cases, you can add a little ash - 1 cup per bucket of soil mixture.

To prevent perennial bulbs from being damaged by harmful microorganisms, it is recommended to disinfect the substrate before planting - pour boiling water on it or place it in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

Preparation of planting material

Even with the most careful selection, bulbs can still be infected with fungi or pests. To successfully plant tulips at home by March 8, it is recommended to first disinfect the material, for example:

• soak for half an hour in a weak light pink manganese solution;
• Immerse for 20 minutes in the Fitosporin solution prepared according to the instructions.

Without brown scales, tulip bulbs will germinate faster

Before planting tulips at home by March 8, it is recommended to clear the bulbs of brown scales. First of all, this will allow you to see if there are any spots underneath that indicate fungal diseases. In addition, the purified material germinates faster.

How to plant tulips in the ground by March 8

The prepared soil is poured into boxes in a layer of at least 10 cm. Disinfected planting material is laid to a depth of 3 cm, not forgetting to leave 2 cm of space between adjacent bulbs.

When planting, you need to leave free space between tulips.

The bulbs are sprinkled with soil on top, then watered abundantly. If, as a result, the soil above the tops is washed away, it will need to be replenished.

Rules of care

Immediately after planting, the seedlings must be removed to a cool, dark place. If the containers are small, then the top shelf of the refrigerator is suitable; wide drawers are best placed in the basement or cool balcony.The main thing is that the bulbs are protected from light, and the constant temperature does not exceed 7 °C.

Cooling should take 16 weeks. During the “cold” period, plantings need to be moistened as the soil dries.

How to drive out tulips in the ground by March 8

After 16 weeks of cooling, the tulips must be moved to a warm place, by which time they should have produced their first shoots. The classic method is forcing in a greenhouse, where the bulbs begin to germinate especially quickly. However, this is not at all necessary; the procedure can be done at home.

Step-by-step instructions for forcing tulips by March 8 are as follows:

1. No later than February 14, the boxes with bulbs are removed from the basement or refrigerator and placed in a room with a temperature of about 12 ° C for several days. Lighting should be dim.
2. After 4 days, the temperature in the room with the plantings is raised to 16 °C during the day. At night, it is advisable to reduce it slightly to 14 °C. Lighting at this stage can be increased to 10 hours a day.
3. For three weeks, germinating tulips must be watered as the soil dries.
4. Plantings should be fed twice with calcium nitrate with a concentration of 0.2%.

Tulips are moved to light and warmth for forcing in early February.

After buds appear on the stems, the room temperature will need to be reduced again to 15 °C. If flowering is delayed in early March, you can hurry it up by raising the temperature to 20 °C.

How to grow tulips at home by March 8th in hydrogel

Soil mixture is not the only option for growing tulips.In addition to soil, you can use hydrogel for forcing - a modern polymer that perfectly absorbs both moisture and fertilizers.

Planting tulips in hydrogel by March 8

Hydrogel has some advantages over soil. The use of polymer allows you to save space; it also does not need to be specially prepared for planting tulips, much less disinfected. All you have to do is wet the granules with water.

In general, the process of forcing tulips by March 8 is very similar to the standard one. In October, cleaned and disinfected bulbs must be placed in a cool place. But there is no need to plant them in the ground. It is enough to place the planting material on the top shelf of the refrigerator on a damp cloth:

1. Over the next 16 weeks, keep the bulbs in the refrigerator, periodically wetting the cloth.
2. At the beginning of February, the planting material will need to be removed and transplanted into hydrogel. To do this, the granules are soaked generously in cold water and waited until they swell, and then poured into a glass vase or wide bowl.

Instead of soil for tulips, you can use hydrogel balls

Instead of soil for tulips, you can use hydrogel balls. The bulbs, which should already sprout by the beginning of February, are placed in a polymer substrate. The hydrogel should cover them only halfway - there is no need to completely immerse the tulips in the granules.

How to force tulips by March 8

After planting in the hydrogel, the growing ones are moved to a illuminated place, first away from bright light, and after 4 days directly onto the windowsill.

As the polymer dries, water is added to the container in small quantities to wet the granules.Twice from the beginning of February to the beginning of March you can apply fertilizer - a solution of calcium nitrate.

The temperature during forcing is maintained at 16-18 °C with a slight decrease at night. It is very important to provide good lighting for seedlings - at least 10 hours a day.

Alternative methods of forcing

The easiest way to plant tulips by March 8 is in soil and hydrogel. But you can use other growing methods.

Forcing tulips in sawdust on March 8

If you have neither suitable soil nor polymer granules at hand, you can use ordinary sawdust to germinate flowers. Their advantage is that they retain moisture well and can retain nutrients.

Tulips can be dried in sawdust

Germination in sawdust is carried out according to a standard algorithm - the bulbs are planted in containers filled with an unusual substrate in October, after which they are put in the refrigerator until February. A month before the planned flowering, the container is removed and transferred to a warm place. During cooling and distillation, it is important to periodically moisten the sawdust so that it does not dry out.

Forcing tulips in water by March 8

If desired, tulips can be forced using water alone. The growing algorithm is very simple:

1. In mid-autumn, the bulbs are sent to cool in the refrigerator on a damp cloth.
2. In early February, the planting material is removed from the refrigerator and the roots are soaked in warm water with a growth stimulator for 2 hours.
3. Cold water is poured into a tall vase with a wide base and a narrow neck, and then tulips are placed in it. The bulbs should be held by the neck, and their roots should go down, but not touch the water level.
4. The vase is placed in a room with diffused lighting and left until the roots begin to stretch down and green leaves appear on top.
5. After this, the vase is moved to a lighted windowsill.

When forced hydroponically, the tulip roots should not touch the water.

The temperature for germination in hydroponics should be 14-16 °C. The water needs to be changed from time to time; you can put an activated carbon tablet at the bottom of the vase so that the liquid does not spoil.

How to grow tulips without soil by March 8th

Another method suggests germinating tulips on drainage stones. The algorithm is almost no different from distillation in water. The difference is that you can use any glass container for bulbs, not just one with a narrow neck.

A layer of small stones is poured onto the bottom of the vessel; you need to fill it about a quarter. Pour clean cold water on top, which should completely cover the drainage. After this, the bulb is placed on the stones in a stable position so that it does not touch the water itself. But the roots that appear should descend into the liquid.

You can grow tulips on rocks, with only the roots going down into the water.

In the video about growing tulips by March 8, it is noticeable that forcing on drainage stones exactly repeats the standard procedure.Perennials are germinated at a stable temperature and in sufficient light, water is replaced with clean water as necessary.

How to care for tulips so that they bloom by March 8

To ensure flowering no later and no earlier than March 8, you must:

• control the temperature in the room; if the buds appear ahead of time, you can make the conditions a little cooler, and if flowering is late, increase the heat by 2-3 °C;
• monitor the lighting, tulips should receive sunlight for 10 hours a day, but if no buds appear, daylight hours can be increased to 12 hours;
• in early February, feed the plantings with nitrogen fertilizers, and during the period of bud formation, add potassium sulfate or calcium nitrate.

During the forcing process, tulips need to be fed with nitrogen and potassium.

The main condition for successful forcing remains compliance with planting deadlines.

When and how to cut

The timing of cutting depends on the purpose of cultivation. If you plan to give flowers to friends, then you can remove them from the bulbs 3 days before the holiday, when the buds have time to almost completely color. But tulips for sale usually need to be stored for about 2 weeks, so they are cut until they are fully colored.

The cut on the tulip stem is made diagonally - this way the flower will last longer

Cutting is carried out in the morning. In order for the flowers to last a long time, you need to cut off the stem diagonally.

Storing flowers after cutting

Without liquid, cut tulips fade very quickly. At home, for long-term storage, they are placed in a vase with very cold water, which is changed daily. You can add pieces of ice to the container; they will help maintain the desired temperature.

Tulips remain fresh for a long time in clean and very cold water

There is also a dry storage method, which is used when growing for subsequent sale. In this case, the tulips need to be wrapped in damp paper and sent to the refrigerator or cellar, making sure that the individual buds do not touch each other. The method allows you to preserve flowers for 2 weeks after cutting.

When stored dry in paper, tulips may not fade for another 2 weeks.

What to do with the bulbs after forcing

If the tulips were germinated in soil or in sawdust, the bulbs do not need to be thrown away after cutting, provided that there are leaves left on them.

It will not be possible to use planting material this season, since after forcing it will be depleted. But the bulbs can be treated in a solution of Fundazol or potassium permanganate, and then dried and stored in a cool, dry place until September. In autumn they are planted in the ground.

Possible reasons for failure

It is not always possible to carry out successful forcing the first time. But it is quite easy to determine the reason for the failure:

1. If tulips gain green mass but do not bloom, then most likely they do not have enough sunlight.
2. If the flowers are reluctant to develop and by March 8 they do not even have time to grow leaves, then the reason may be a lack of heat or a lack of nutrients.
3. Flowering too early usually occurs if the room temperature is above 16 °C. At low temperatures, the opposite situation is observed - the buds open later than March 8.

During the forcing process, most problems can be noticed in a timely manner and your own mistakes can be corrected.

Advice from professionals

For early forcing, no later than March 8, experts recommend choosing only the largest bulbs. Small planting material can germinate successfully, but not produce buds.

If cooling the bulbs is carried out in the refrigerator, they should be kept away from fresh fruit. The latter emit ethylene, which is harmful to flowers.

The first March tulips are grown from the largest bulbs

During the cooling process and during forcing, it is important not to over-water the tulips. If the soil is too wet, the bulbs will simply rot. You also need to observe moderation in feeding; in particular, bursting leaves indicate an excess of nutrients.

Conclusion

Planting tulips by March 8 is not particularly difficult if you adhere to the correct timing. To obtain early flowers, the bulbs must first be cooled for a long time, and only then transferred to a warm and well-lit place.

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