Bulb Bowls

Bulb bowls have their pros and cons. The first bulb bowl I took out of the dark end of November looked pretty good with all the bulbs at a similar stage of development (see below). These bulb bowls have hyacinths that vary quite a lot. Some of the hyacinths really need to come out of the dark, some could do with longer in the dark. Difficult if they're in the same bulb bowl. A lot of the roots were growing outwards rather that through the hole into the water. I tried to push some back in but they just broke so only did that with one bowl.

hyacinth bulb bowl

That one bulb in the green Davidson bulb bowl that is not growing is soft and rotten so I disposed of that and examined the other two bulbs from that bowl and see that the roots are rotting, soft and transparent. Usually hyacinth roots are white and brittle. I removed the soft rotting roots and there are still some white brittle roots left so thought they'd be worth planting in compost.

forced hyacinth with rotting roots

checking the bulbs that aren't very well developed in the other bowls reveals they don't have roots

hyacinth bulb bowls

this pot had 3 bulbs but one not growing so removed it - it's soft and oozing

I decided to just leave the roots however they were after the failed attempt to push them into the water. Below they are growing into one of the small ventilation holes, sure the hyacinth will bloom just fine with the roots as they are.

hyacinth bulb bowl

I have never seen hyacinth roots like this with brown on the tips of the roots. Intriguing as I've been forcing hyacinths for years and thought I'd seen it all.

hyacinth roots with brown tips