A Detailed Guide to Forcing Tulips: Master the Techniques to Make Them Bloom Early
When tulips are planted in a natural environment, they usually bloom from March to May. To make tulips bloom at Spring Festival, the following technical measures should be taken.
Selection of bulbs: in October, choose plump, well-filled bulbs free of pests and diseases, and remove the brown outer skin.
Disinfection of bulbs: before cold treatment, soak them for 15-20 minutes in a 800-fold dilution of 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder, then let them dry naturally.
Cold treatment of bulbs: tulips grown in a natural environment all undergo a natural dormancy process. To make tulips bloom earlier at Spring Festival, they must go through a period of cold treatment. The method is to count back 3 months from the Spring Festival flowering date, wrap the selected bulbs for forcing in clean gauze, place them in a foam plastic box, and put the box in a cold storage room or refrigerator compartment at a low temperature of 1°C-3°C so that the bulbs undergo vernalization. After 45 days, take the bulbs out of the cold storage room and pot them in fertilized growing soil. The growing soil should be loose and airy and contain plenty of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer: use small pots with a diameter of 20 cm, and plant 4-5 bulbs per pot. When planting, the top of the bulb should be just slightly below the soil surface.
After the bulbs are potted, water them thoroughly and move them indoors, first placing them in a cool, semi-shaded spot. For the first seven days, keep the temperature at 8°C-12°C, then raise it slowly to between 15°C-20°C, and gradually move them to a spot with ample sunlight. During this period the leaf cluster grows rapidly, so keep the potting soil moist and apply fertilizer 2-3 times; they will soon send up shoots and form buds. During the budding period, the temperature should be 20°C-23°C, not lower than 20°C. Throughout the forcing period, the nighttime temperature should not be lower than 8°C. Under these conditions, tulips can bloom on schedule at Spring Festival.