To arrange a bright and colorful garden full of tulips and other flowers on the windowsill in the middle of winter is everyone’s dream. Making it a reality is not so difficult. To do this, it is enough to follow simple rules: it is better to choose early varieties of tulip bulbs for distillation, observe the necessary
temperature conditions when storing and germinating the bulbs, make an optimal soil mixture, and then the result in the form of fresh flowers will not take long. All these tricks used to make the flower bloom at an uncharacteristic time for it are called forcing.
We grow tulips
Forcing at home or in the greenhouse for the holidays on February 14 or March 8 begins a few months before these dates. The most optimal time for planting plant bulbs, so that they bloom for the holidays, is October-November. For a festive surprise, first of all, you need to choose high-quality tulips. Forcing at home requires a very responsible attitude.
For planting, only large and dense bulbs weighing about 30 g are selected, they are cleaned of scales and planted in specially prepared soil. Experienced gardeners take in equal shares sawdust of conifers and a special soil mixture "Terra Vita", which can be bought in specialized stores that sell bulb plants: crocuses, daffodils, tulips.
Forcing at home should be carried out using bulbs that have already been treated with special preparations to prevent the development of rot or various bacterial infections. For good flowering, Fertika Lux powder fertilizer is added to the prepared earth mixture at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 10 liters. Tulip bulbs are planted at a distance of about 1.5 cm from each other, squeezing them a little into the substrate, cover with a mixture of about 2 cm on top and put in a well-ventilated room (underground, basement, etc.)
A very important point for the process of forcing tulips is to maintain a certain temperature regime.
Until mid-December, pots with planted bulbs should be at a temperature of about 10 ° C and a relative humidity of 70-80% - these are optimal indicators for building up the root mass. During this period, it is very important to keep the soil moist, without overdrying it. About three weeks before the expected flowering, a warmer room with a temperature of about 12-14 ° C will be the best place to place grown tulips.
Distillation at home in the future consists in the gradual accustoming of leaves to light. To do this, for several days, the leaves protect from strong sunlight. The green shoots of plants are a signal in order to increase the air temperature to 20 ° C. For the development of a strong plant with a long stem, it is very important to periodically spray the leaves. And the last trick: for flowers to please you with their beauty longer, during flowering it is necessary to lower the ambient temperature to 12 ° C. Tulips are forced out in the greenhouse using a similar technology.