Experience forcing tulips for a SPECIFIC date?

Anyone on the forum have any experience forcing bulbs for a SPECIFIC date? I have a few hundred tulips (all the same variety, but different colors) that I've potted up and am preparing to store for the winter. I need to have them in bloom for the first week in June. The daffs are planted on site as I don't expect any problem from the animals with them.

Yes, it would be nice if I could put them in the ground, but the critter pressure at the site is unbelievable. They would just become a critter buffet if planted in the ground. It's for a historical site bicentennial celebration - so the pressure is on to have the site looking great for the event. And here in Northeastern Vermont (Zone 3 in the US), early June is too early for most things except bulbs to be putting on much of a show.

I have a walk-in cooler for the winter storage but haven't found much in the way of "timetables" regarding forcing for specific dates.

Labor of Love,
I have 2 books on forcing bulbs--one is for amatuers( Flowering Bulbs for Winter Windows--Easy schedules for four months of color by Walker) and one for professionals (Holland Bulb Forcers Guide by Hertogh). I have not had any experience forcing tulips, myself, but I will D-mail you a couple of interesting pages .

Here's what I found in general: The important variables to control seem to be 1) the weeks of cooling at 35-40 degrees in darkness to root the bulbs , and 2)an ethylene free environment (no fruits or vegs in the cooler as the ethylene they give off will ruin/distort the buds.) Finally, 3) they need to be brought into bright light but cool(40-50 degree) temps for the last 3-4 wks to bud .

I can't give you specifics for your situation as the possible bloom dates vary with type/variety, and the last date listed in the Hertogh manual is May 8 -- quite a bit earlier than your requirements. Professional growers are most concerned with having blooming tulips for specific holidays like Valentines, Easter and Mother'sDay.

This sounds like quite a challenge that you have set yourself. But many of us gardeners have done things, on purpose or by accident, that the books don't recommend and have had surprisingly good results. I hope some others will add their comments and advice to this thread.

Chris

Do you know when these tulips would naturally bloom outside in your area? What kind are they?, typically Triumph tulips and Early singles are used for forcing, I think they both bloom close to the same time. I imagine temps will be pretty warm when you've got them growing in May, and the warmer, the faster they develop. If they're coming along too quickly, you can put them back in the walk in as they're starting to color up and hold them for a few days. When I worked at a florist shop we did that to have them in full bloom for Easter. The pots would arrive with green buds at the first of the week, and we'd set them in the sunny windows till they started coloring up, then they would go to the cooler. If they were coming along too slowly, we would turn the heat up a bit.