Forcing Hyacynths

Occasionally I try to force a few bulbs for some flowers in the winter but I dont have a really good place to keep them during the rooting period (fridge is too small!) Last year I sank some pots in the veggie garden (double potted so I could get them out of the frozen ground in January! ) They didnt do very well - possible the really cold spell we had over Xmas was just too much. So this year I potted some up in October and sank them in the sand in an old cheap foam cooler ( occasionally used to store potatoes and onions over the winter)Then I filled in around the pots with dried leaves, put the lid on and put it out in the garden shed. And forgot about them! Yesterday I remembered they were there and went and dug them out. Lots of roots showing and green tips coming on most of the bulbs. Read that I am supposed to leave them until the shoots are an inch high but I ignored that and brought them into the house to thaw out and start growing! And here they are. That funny looking stuff on the top is just sand.

Cool! I think they need 12-16wks cold (using my very faulty memory) so you're probably
right that they've been cold long enough. I didn't get mine started until late Nov so I've
gotta wait longer. Of course we'll expect to see pictures when they bloom. :-)

I forced some Paperwhites a couple of years ago.
Hyacinths will surely perfume the entire house.
Fun project.
Take pics.
Andy P

I've forced tulips by sinking the pot in the ground and waiting till the green leaves just poke through. Once I see the leaves, I move the pot to a sunny window. I would usually have blooms in the house by mid March. I've also just left the pots in the ground then moved them around in April when they where blooming. The blooming pots make nice gifts.

I've tried forcing hyacinths. I left the the precooled bulbs in the fridge the correct amount of time. I then moved them to those special forcing vases just filled with water. I got stubby looking blooms. I asked this bulb guy from holland what I was doing wrong and he said put the vase filled with water just below the bulb in the fridge not just the bulb alone. Hyacinths I did that way turned out good.

Yep - I've done hyacinths in water many many years and you put the bulb in the water in the
refridgerator and then it grows roots, blooms etc. I have always planted out the bulbs I forced,
even those I forced in water. They look a little rangy the next year but they do survive. I always
read to throw them out - don't! They can & for me, do survive.

Ive done them in water too but I decided to do something different this year!

I always plant the bulbs in the garden the following spring - in an area which is a higher zone because it is between the house foundation and a brick patio so although they are not considered hardy here - I always have some blooming.

Oh dear - my Hyacinths are bubbling! Really! Check out these pics. This morning when I looked at them there were white or yellowish bubbles coming up beside the shoots(which are the yellow-green triangles in these pics) Anybody have any ideas?

Another view/different pot

3rd pot.

WOW! Never thought about it being too cold for them. Zone 3a must be a challenge.
Congrat's on the buds... soon your home will have that wonderful hyacinth scent. ummmm.

They are frozen......they will start smelling soon, but not the smell you want. The bulb probably is getting soft now....press gently and see.

Thanks Bleek. They are not soft .........yet!
Thought they would be fine sunk in the sand in the cooler in the shed. I do have hyacinth bulbs in the ground and that certainly freezes and they are still fine in the spring. Oh well live and learn!

I have some crocus I am forcing and hyacinths and they are doing well. I can't wait to see what I get.