The Paperwhites made quick progress during my holiday absence, and kept on trucking upwards in spite of the relatively little amount of direct sunlight they get on a daily basis. They may have fallen a bit in love with our shadeless lamp, but it could just be a fling. I don't know.
Just wait until you see them become flowers. Or wait. Do what you need to do.
7 comments:
You could have retarded that legginess with a shot of gin I'm told by my plant guru.
mcmc
You mentioned that...I just don't have gin in the house.
thoughts on paperwhite's fragrance? people have some strong opinions on these bad-boys. i'm kind of in the "meh" camp, but my sister-in-law is in the "get me the hell outta here" camp. she ran out of my living room when i had these growing last year. ran!
i'll assume you're in the "meh" or "like it" camp, since you're growing them and all! just wondering if you've had any similar encounters.
hm. the fragrance. i remember years back having some paperwhites and feeling kind of 'meh' about the smell but enjoying how quickly they became pretty.
this time around the roommate and i are both kind of digging the smell. it may just be that our living room smells like something sweet instead of like stale winter air, but whatever i found unappealing in the past is lacking this time around.
what other bulbs grow fast? i want to make millions of them so i will always be entertained.
Here is a reference about using a 5% alcohol solution to limit the height of paperwhites: http://flowergardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/alcohol_keeps_paperwhites_short
well, a lot of bulbs are fussy and need a long period of chilling in darkness, with a temp between 35-48 degrees! but wait, there are some that do not need chilling (besides paperwhites). there's a handy list of chilling-required vs. non-chilling-required bulbs at the bottom of the following site: http://www.thegardenhelper.com/forcing.html
if you see one on the list that strikes your fancy, you can look up more detailed instructions for your selection. i've only ever forced paperwhites and amaryllis. i start to force the amaryllis around halloween so it blooms around xmas. and i always have hyacinths indoors around easter, but i buy those potted, pre-chilled and already starting to sprout leafstalks (cheating!).
thanks for all the resources. now let's see if i actually get around to building my bulb army. :)
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