Hyacinths Flowering: Must Be Christmas!

The Christmas hyacinths have arrived a little late. Calculated to flower at Christmas, 10 weeks after planting, they are arriving now, approximately 10 weeks after Christmas - about the normal time. Why?

Obviously my fault. I must have bought normal hyacinth bulbs instead of specially treated 'Christmas' ones. I did give them 10 weeks of dark and cool treatment, but it must have been too late. Perhaps I should have started 10 weeks earlier and put the bulbs in the fridge to keep them cool and dark. Live and learn.

After-Christmas Hyacinths

I don't know about 'After-Christmas', these hyacinths might not even make it by February. So much for letting them grow in their own time to make stronger plants.

Temperatures have been running at little over the growing threshold for the past few weeks (most plants do not grow at temperatures below 6 deg C - this is why you will see your daffodils growing in spurts during the warmer spells of winter). I am surprised. For some unknown reason I had thought this temperature limit might not apply to hyacinths.

Of course, it's always possible they do not like the multi-purpose compost (I did not use bulb fibre, to keep costs down).

Hyacinth Shoots Through

I had almost forgotten about these hyacinths under a bucket in the garage. They are certainly going to have to get a move on if they are to flower for Christmas. No, seriously, there's not much chance of that; they are not developed enough, probably because it has been too cold. Of course, I could always warm them up and force them along. But I don't want to do this; they will turn spindly and thin. Better to wait and let them flower in their own time.

Plants have all sorts of ways to tell what time of year it is and where they are. Hyacinths need to go through a period of several weeks (preferably at least 10) of cool darkness, so they can be fooled into thinking they're underground and it's spring. Many seeds and storage organs need a prolonged period of temperatures around freezing before they will flower, a process called 'vernalisation' (some seeds need cold treatment before they will germinate; a process called 'stratification') . Fortunately, this fact has been accommodated by the retailers who have pre-treated their wares. Special 'Christmas' hyacinths have already been heat (cold) treated, so all we need do is plant them cool and dark till they come through, then place them gradually into a light.

Note that the shoots are just starting developing chlorophyll (the stuff they need for photosynthesis) and turning green in the light. The compost is mouldy and too damp. This could be because I used multi-purpose instead of bulb fibre. I know it's not ideal, but the idea of 'My Broken Garden' is one-size-fits-all, if possible, since this keeps the costs down.