Storing Hyacynth Bulbs

Hi All

After flowering where and how should I store my Hyacynth bulbs so I can use them indoors again next year.

Thanks

Dave

 

Sadly the chances of them flowering again indoors is rather small. The best option is to plant them out in the garden now and they will flower there is subsequent years. For indoor flowering you need to buy new ones each year. We have a fantastic selection in the garden now from doing that.

 

Palustris - why should they flower outside, but not inside. Is it a matter of feeding them or light levels?

 

It is to do with food. Outdoors they can get as much food as they need into the bulb to build up strength to flower, probably not the following season, but the one after that. In a pot they just cannot get enough food to repeat the flowering. Even if they did flower the following season, the flower spike would be small and disappointing.

 

Thanks Palustris. It still leaves open the question of what happens if you actively feed them indoors. But nature has a way of getting it right. I am a great believer in giving indoor plants a summer holiday in the garden soil. It can transform them.

 

You would have to plant them in rich compost and feed them once they begin rooting, then they might repeat the flowering for you. Even so, the amount of energy needed to produce the kind of flower spike made by an indoor hycinth takes a lot of effort for a bulb and they often do not reproduce that for a few years afterwards, even in the soil!

 

Again thanks Palustris - you are the bulb king.

 

Palustris - some time ago you suggested that Allium bulbs should only be repotted after they had gone dormant because if the roots are disturbed they don't regrow as easily as normal perennial plants. Is this generally true for Hyacinths and all bulbs?

 

Obviously Pal really knows his onions.

 

Hi Palustris

Thanks for the info looks like they will be going in the garden then. I did ok with these really nice flowers

Thanks again

Dave

 

lovely photos