Expert: Kenneth Joergensen - 6/29/2006

Question
Hello,
I am having my wedding next year on June 9th, 2007 and wanted to give all of my guest a few tulip bulbs for favors.  Is this going to be possible in early June?  If not, can you recommend another flower bulb that's relatively inexpensive and available in late Spring?  Also, how should we package them and how far in advance can we do this before the wedding? Also, when should they be planted?  
Thank you in advance for your help!

Answer
It is very difficult to force tulips for a specific date. Forcing takes 15-18 weeks but there is a lot of variability before the plants flowers.

I recommend asiatic lilies if you do plant to try as they have a natural flowering date in june (you can move them into a hot room - with light - to advance by two weeks or so).

Your best chance is starting the bulbs in a cooler, and it almost certainly require the use of a greenhouse. I persume april and may are relatively cool where you live ? If not, then you need a cooler for these months also, and now it is getting tricky!!.

Your best choice are probably to buy potted lilies from a florist or garden center in early june (hyacinths is another option) and it helps if you talk to them this fall already so they can order specifically for your wedding.

If you are really interested in trying yourself, then I would recommend asiatic lilies (as mentioned) but it is not as straight forward as it may sound.

You can buy asiatic lily bulbs in late summer online (johnscheepers.com has a bag of 50 bulbs which are top quality. Buy the dwarf mixture because it is best for pot and easier to control indoors).

Plant in 6" perennial pots (not annual pots, perennial pots are deeper). There should be atleast 2" of soil above the bulbs to ensure adequate stem rooting.

Use a good quality potting mix; or preferably a seed starting mixture (available in bags, but may be difficult to come by in stores in fall, so regular potting soil is ok).

You need to plant the lily bulbs around April 1st, but lily bulbs are purchased in fall and must be stored at or very slightly above freezing temperatures (32-35F) to avoid premature growth. Do not store below 30F and not above 35F. Target 33F. A seperate refrigerator set at very cold temperature is best. Try to test it with a themometer in good time so you can adjust as needed (typically allow 48 hours between each adjustment).

Once you take the bulbs out of storage, plant immediately and water well after planting to settle the soil around the roots. The fertilizer in the potting soil (such as Miracle Grow potting soil) will be enough for the plant so no need to fertilize for the entire season.

For asiatic lilies this is the timing:
- when planted, place the lilies in cool temperatures (in the seperate refrigerator but with temperatures raised slightly to 35-40 deg F) for 2 weeks until the new shots are just out of the pot (1-2"). No more; at this time, the lilies must be brought into very bright light. Do make sure temperature is above 35F not no more than 40F.

The lilies require a lot of light. The brighter the light, the shorter (and nicer) the potted lily will be. Make sure the pots are placed in the greenhouse in very bright sun.

Best growing temperatures from this time onwards is 50-60F. 50F-55F nights and 60-70F days are required. This is the hardest part of forcing lilies. You can do this by growing them in a heated greenhouse which is vented if daytime temperatures go above 65F and which is kept to a minimum of 55F at nights. Do not allow to freeze.

Generally, as soon as bulbs comes out of cooler, the pots should be placed at the above temperatures for 30 days in order for buds to appear and then another 30 days until the first lower flowers open up.

E.g. a total of 75 days from planting to finish. This is March 26th planting, April 9th transfer to greenhouse and May 9th buds appear. However, since most greenhouses in spring could be warmer than above, it may be a good idea to delay planting until April 1st.

You can always speed up the process by keeping the plants very warm the last week (70-75F days and nights) which can be ackomplished by keeping the greenhouse warmer. Lowering or raising temperatures can slow down or speed up opening of the buds by as much as 15 days, so if two weeks before your wedding, the buds are not showing sign of color (the buds will change color from light green to the color of the flower which means they are about to open. At this time the buds also "puff" up and goes from tight to airy). You can do this by raising the temperatures inside the greenhouse.

As mentioned, there is a lot of work involved with this. I would probably recommend that you simply buy flower favors from a garden center that same week. In early june the availablity is generous.

Kenneth