How to Grow Hyacinth Seeds? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods
Hyacinths originate from southern Europe, southern Africa and parts of Asia, with the Netherlands cultivating the most; they are grown throughout China and are excellent perennial flowers for arranging spring flower beds and lawn edges, and can also be grown in pots, in water, or used as cut flowers. Let's take a look below at how to grow hyacinth seeds!
Preparation Work for Planting Hyacinths
1. Prepare a basin of water. It is recommended that the basin not be too large, though of course the water depth must be enough to submerge each bulb.
2. Each portion comes with a bag of carbendazim powder, with instructions on the back of the package: mix each bag with 3-4 jin of water. I personally have no real sense of weight, and I have tried carbendazim solutions of different concentrations without any problems, so I suggest pouring in about half a bag or slightly more than half; if the water basin is relatively large, you can pour in more. But no matter how much you pour, please keep a small amount, as it may still be needed during the growing period.
Disinfection Treatment of Hyacinth Seeds
1. Peeling. Some friends worry about why the skin falls off as soon as they receive the bulbs, but actually there is no problem at all. Just like an onion, once the old skin comes off, just peel it away; I even peel off a bit more until the white is exposed. Of course you can choose not to peel, and theoretically there is no problem.
2. Clean the base of the bulb. Leaving the old roots and last year's layer of scales at the base of the bulb uncleaned will not have much effect, but if growing in water, these things will make the water dirty and hinder the appearance.
3. About mold. Things that travel across the ocean inevitably carry some mold; some may not be obvious, and some may hide under several layers of old skin. This is why in the first point I wanted to peel off a few more layers of old skin; I have one like this on hand. But this does not affect its growth and flowering at all. This layer of mold has not actually corroded the fresh scales inside, and it disappears after washing. If some friends receive bulbs with mold worse than mine, please do not worry at all; even if you peel off a few layers of fresh scales, it will not affect flowering.
4. Soak in the carbendazim solution for 15-20 minutes. I want to compare and observe different varieties during the planting process and do not want to mix up the labels, so I arranged the labels outside the basin in the order the bulbs were placed. You can use other methods; this is just for reference.
5. Air-dry. After soaking, take them out, wipe them with an absorbent cloth (paper towel), then place them in a cool, ventilated place to dry naturally. After 1 day they can be planted in pots.
Planting Methods for Hyacinth Seeds
1. Side buds: Most plants reproduce by seed, but hyacinths reproduce vegetatively, producing the next generation by dividing bulbs. It is very normal for hyacinths in this season to have side buds (small bulbs); especially, several varieties in our group purchase are relatively large in size, and some bulbs carry one or two or even five or six side buds. I personally suggest that beginners can remove the side buds and discard them completely, because given our domestic climate and environment, it is almost impossible to cultivate a small hyacinth bulb under natural conditions to flowering size. But if you have good planting experience and facilities, then you can keep them for cultivation and propagation. I personally do not have the ability or interest to cultivate small bulbs, so I removed them.
2. Water culture: Water culture is convenient and clean. Friends who live in apartments and pursue a refined lifestyle are advised to use water culture; just one cup is enough. The cup opening should not be too large, and it must be able to support the bulb. Professional water culture bottles are of course best, and a water culture basket is also good. This cup of mine is only to demonstrate for everyone; you cannot choose such a small cup, as root growth will be restricted. Moreover, water culture baskets come in different sizes for you to choose from.
3. Water amount: I believe many friends have grown narcissus in water. For narcissus, a shallow basin is used, the bulb is placed on it, small stones are added to fix it, and then water is added to submerge the bulb. Personally, I do not completely oppose this method, but I hope everyone can avoid it. Hyacinths may rot more easily than domestic Zhangzhou narcissus, so when growing in water, the water should not submerge the bulb; it is best if the water surface just touches the bottom of the bulb.
4. Adding water and changing water: Some friends ask whether the water should be changed. This is also a problem many friends often encounter with water culture. Actually, water-cultured plants should not have their water changed too frequently, to avoid damaging the roots. After a few days, when the water evaporates and the water level drops, you can appropriately add water; even when it drops a little, you can ignore it. The humidity evaporated from this cup of water in such a small space is already enough for rooting. Once root growth begins to become normal, the water level can continue to drop appropriately, to about 2/3 of the roots being submerged. When changing water, especially after roots have already grown, it is best not to take the whole bulb out, otherwise when you stuff the roots back into the bottle you will more or less damage them. You only need to lift the bulb slightly so there is a gap for the water to flow out; when adding water, do the same, slowly pouring water in through the gap.
5. Soil culture: Traditional soil culture is still believed to be the mainstream for potted flowers. Hyacinths, like the Zhangzhou narcissus we are familiar with, are bulbs that have accumulated nutrients over many years, and a cup of clear water is already enough for them to flower, so when growing in soil, even if there is only a small pot and a small amount of soil, it will not greatly affect flowering. Of course, we do not recommend using too small a flowerpot, to avoid restricting root growth. This is one of the flowerpots I use; for a hyacinth it already counts as relatively large. Do not forget to block the hole at the bottom of the pot before adding soil. When adding soil, note that you should first fill half the soil, then place the hyacinth, then continue filling with soil until more than half of the bulb is covered. As for how much is left exposed on top, you can do as you please, but I personally suggest that beginners leave a little more exposed, because during the growth process the bulb may split, or may become moldy again due to incomplete disinfection, and then we can see it very intuitively. Many people cover the entire bulb when filling soil, but in the end the flower does not bloom, and when they dig it up, the bulb has already rotted. At this time, the little bit of carbendazim we kept during disinfection can come in handy. You can mix another solution and use a cotton swab to dip it and wipe the moldy areas of the bulb, minimizing the possibility of rot as much as possible.
6. Watering: After potting, water for the first time. For this pot of mine, the amount of water needed is about one full cup of this kind. Do not water too much, or the bulb will rot. Later watering should also be like this: better dry than wet. About one small cup per week is enough. The bulb has sufficient moisture and will not die just because you do not water it for one or two weeks, so please relax when visiting relatives during the Spring Festival.
7. Fertilizing: What I use is purchased nutrient soil, so I do not plan to fertilize for now. If the soil on hand does not have enough nutrients, it is recommended to apply base fertilizer. Apart from pure nitrogen fertilizer, other fertilizers can all be chosen. I personally think that for indoor potted plants, granular fertilizer is better, to avoid unnecessary pests, diseases and foul odors caused by applying homemade organic fertilizer and the like. The order of fertilizer and soil from bottom to top is: soil—fertilizer—soil—bulb. Be sure to separate the fertilizer from the hyacinth bulb to avoid sitting on fertilizer (for the concept, please search online). For later fertilization, beginners should still use it cautiously; the bulb itself has enough nutrients for flowering. For water culture, it is not recommended to use nutrient solution indiscriminately.
8. Shading (dark treatment): During the rooting process, the hyacinth bulb does not need light; in a dark environment it is even more conducive to root growth, so when growing in water, especially if using a transparent container, pay attention to the dark treatment in the early stage, for about one month to one and a half months. Soil culture may not require shading, but appropriate dark treatment will certainly give better results. This one is a New Year goods packaging basket I got at my grandmother's house during last year's Spring Festival. The quality is average and not enough to bear too much weight, but it works fairly well for dark treatment: cover the hyacinth and the water culture container completely, and place it in a cool, ventilated place, and that is fine. You can choose a small cardboard box; if it can stand when turned upside down, that is enough. Try to avoid black plastic bags, to avoid poor ventilation.
9. When to expose to light: The early growth of hyacinths is actually relatively slow, and in this season it may not yet have ended its dormancy period, so during the more than one month of dark treatment, you do not need to impatiently observe it every day. If you want to check the rooting condition, be very careful not to knock over the flowerpot. After 1 month, you can observe whether the roots are healthy; if they grow evenly and can fill more than half of the water culture container, they are considered healthy, and at this point you can move them out to the balcony for normal management. Although the roots of soil-cultured plants cannot be seen, generally when the roots have grown about enough, buds will appear at the top of the bulb.
How to Grow Hyacinths
1. Bulb selection: The nutrients needed for hyacinths to flower depend first on the nutrients stored in the scale leaves of the bulb. Only by selecting bulbs with undamaged skin, fleshy scales that are not shriveled, relatively firm and very heavy, and plump, can they produce full and gorgeous flowers.
2. Open-field cultivation: It is suitable to carry out from October to November. Choose soil with good drainage, and apply sufficient base fertilizer before planting. For field cultivation, avoid continuous cropping. Generally no other management is done before flowering. After flowering, if you do not plan to collect seeds, the flower stem should be cut off to promote bulb development; the cutting position should be as high on the flower stem as possible. In early June, the bulbs can be dug out, spread out, graded and stored in cold storage. The summer temperature should not exceed 28°C.
3. Pot cultivation: In late autumn, select well-grown hyacinth bulbs from the market and plant them in loose culture soil. Use a mixture of loam, leaf mold, fine sand, etc. as nutrients. When planting, note that the upper end of the bulb should be exposed above the potting soil. After planting, place it in sunlight and keep the potting soil moist. The temperature required for forcing is 5-10°C.
4. Water culture: You can choose a glass vessel with a mouth slightly smaller than the bulb, place the bulb on the mouth of the bottle, and add water to about 1 cm from the bulb base plate. You can also, like with narcissus, plant several bulbs together in a shallow basin for water culture.
5. Forcing cultivation: After late September, treat the bulbs with a low temperature of 8C for 70-75 days, then pot them in early October and cultivate them in a greenhouse, which can make them bloom at the end of the year. Because the forcing sensitivity of cultivated varieties differs greatly, varieties suitable for forcing should be selected when carrying out forcing cultivation.