Prepared Hyacinths

[FarmerTom]

A couple of years ago I stopped buying prepared hyacinth bulbs and started preparing my own.

I buy a couple of cheap bags of ordinary ones as soon as they appear in the shops and put them into my fridge vegetable drawer.
They stay there until about Early November when I pot them up individually in the garage and leave them in the dark for a month.
From the start of December I bring them into the house in groups of 5-6, eventually potting them up together into groups of three in a bowl.
Each time I select three ones which look like they'll flower around the same time. ( usually need to be the same colour).

Bringing them in in groups and staggering the groups by a couple of weeks means I have a succession of hyacinths throughout the Xmas period ( and usually beyond), The spares go into the greenhouse/garden to feed the early queen bees.

[Dod1010]

Good for you- and presumably you are successful. I have had varied success with prepared hyacinths over the years and I think it is because they are considerably warmed up when they reach the shops. Or of course they are not cool enough once they are potted up and kept in the dark.

You are not removing them from the fridge until early November and then potting them up? That seems very late considering the prepared ones are for sale at the end of August? Still if you are getting success, I may try that because there is nothing like the sight and smell of hyacinths in the current short dark days. Do not quite understand your technique though.

You first pot them up individually and then bring them into the house in groups of 5 or 6 and then do some more potting up (?) into groups of three to a bowl (by which time they will have roots forming) How do you do all that?

The principle seems fine but I am not clear what you are actually doing.

Surely buy your cheap bulbs, make sure they are segregated into the different variety/colour and put the bags in the fridge drawer. I would be experimenting from say mid October by potting them up in the usual way in groups of may three or five to a bowl (the same variety of course) and bring them into the heat in early December.

Dod

[melonfool]

Do they need a lot of garlic, or do you just chuck them straight into a casserole?

Mel

[FarmerTom]

Hmmm, haven't tried cooking with them yet. Would definitely look up whether they're edible or not first.


OK, what I'm doing is getting 40 odd hyacinths for £4 instead of paying around 50p each.
As I like having hyacinths for Xmas, I do buy rather a lot.

The downside of this technique is variability, so just potting them into bowls of three from the start usually ends up with one tall one, one short one and one in the middle, all flowering at differing times, - not what I'm after.
The two-stage potting-up allows me to bring a group of hyacinths into the warm, start them opening and then pick the best ( closest) three to pot on into
a bowl to give three flowering together. I pot into 3-4" pots initially, and find they don't sulk too much when transplanted, even when subjected to quite a a bit of root disturbance.

As you said Dod, different varieties progress at different speeds, so it's important not to mix them.
I suspect one source of my variability is the use of a fridge vegetable tray. Maybe I should try rotating them, as those nearest the door will get

[FarmerTom]

Upon reflection, I definitely wouldn't eat hyacinths.
They also have a reputation for giving people an allergic reaction, hence garden centres provide plastic gloves for handling them.