As is my sad habit, I’ve purchased my annual sacrificial hyacinth for Easter. I love the smell of them, but I’m terrible with plants to the point of being a black thumb. Can anyone out there please give me advice on how to prolong this poor innocent victim’s life?
Here are the facts:
[ul]
[li]Bought today at a local supermarket[/li][li]Currently located on a stool in front of an east-facing patio window[/li][li]First watered here about 45 minutes ago; soil is wet but not muddy[/li][li]Soil was damp on one side, dry on the other when I brought it home[/li][li]Current height is @7" or 17cm[/li][li]No flowers have appeared yet, but there are a lot of buds (it should be a lovely purple)[/li][li]General appearance is healthy for now.[/li][/ul]
It will be too cold next week to put it outside, but where it is it will get plenty of sunshine. I’ve lost hyacinths in the past to both over and under watering, as well as causes unknown. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Hyacinths which are bought in bud or flower are generally treated as disposable annuals; they have been built up to flowering size and are producing flowers from the stored food reserves in the bulb, rather than from any fertiliser in the compost (in fact they can be grown in a special hyacinth glass using only tapwater).
They should be kept as cool as possible (spending most of their time on a cool window ledge is good) and watered carefully; the pot may not have any drainage holes and if more than the very base of the bulb is wet for a prolonged period, rot will set in; you will have to judge whether this is happening and water accordingly.
After flowering, the bulb can be planted out in the garden, but if it survives, it is unlikely to produce good flowers next year (if it does produce flower buds next spring, steel yourself and remove them as soon as they appear, so that the plant can rebuild its strength) tickle a tablespoonful of bonemeal into the soil in each planting hole to give them a fighting chance.
In addition, you might be able to coax a few extra days out of it if you keep it in the fridge at night, heat is the biggest enemy of forced blooming bulbs. I plant them in the garden after bloom, when I can dig, and leaving them in the pot for a few months after Easter (ground thaws late up north here) hasn’t hurt them. Mangetout must baby his bulbs, I just stick them in the ground and forget about them until they bloom the next spring- I don’t bother taking off the flower stalks, and most of mine have bloomed just fine the first year after forcing. Tulips, OTOH, are pickier and are better off either tossed in the compost heap or planted out of the way after forcing. I’ve got a whole patch of bulbs that have been forced and planted out that I use for cut flowers.
Well, three years ago I got hyacinths as a “favor” after a baby shower. I kept them inside and then once the foilage started to die back, I planted it in my garden. Surprisingly enough, for the last two springs it has bloomed again and the flowers have been lovely. Go figure.
I hope you have success making it last so you can enjoy it inside. But if you’re lucky, yoy can also enjoy them outside next year, even though (as mangetout noted) they’re not always expected to do well the next year.
Thanks for the advice. **Mangetout, **, especially for letting me know I’m not unusual in having them die. I’m in an apartment, but I have passed hyacinths on to my mother after they’re spent, which is why she now has a few in the backyard.
I had a pot of hyacinths from last year that I put out in a pile of leaf mulch and forgot about them. Then this year I noticed the buds sticking out of the mulch. I brought them inside and got decent blooms off of them. They’re back out now and will be transplanted properly. I use the wooded part of my prop. for bulbs.
It appears to me that the formerly forced bulbs do better than the regular garden store bulbs that were planted straight to soil. Better variety?
I have never lost an indoor hyacinth and they are definitely not annuals to me.
FtG’s rule for watering most houseplants: stick your finger in the soil. If it’s dry water them, if it’s wet don’t. (Exceps. include succulents, orchids etc.) Many people go “ick” over this. But you’re a farmer, get your hands dirty.