Transplanting Already

The Lisianthus I started the first week of January have reached transplant size so during the past few days I moved all of them from 200 cell plug trays they were started in, to 12x6 liners. About 75% of them come up and survive this long so that about doubles the amount of space they occupy under the lights. In addition, I've also got seedlings for onions, pimentos, delphiniums, several Camnpanulas and Lady's Mantle, but all of those are still small.

I'm going to move some of this stuff to the greenhouse about the beginning of March, but right now the greenhouse is still unheated and freezing cold.

Another thing I am doing differently this year is I am not forcing lilies for May. I decided that they take up too much greenhouse space, plus the crates are really heavy and too much work to be schlepping them in and out of the greenhouse during hot and cold spells in May. I originally started doing this in hopes of avoiding having to buy flowers in late May, but I ended up buying flowers anyway (a lily stem or two does not create a bouquet, as far as I am concerned). They are nice but given my very limited greenhouse space, they are really costly.

I still plan on buying frozen lily bulbs from Ednie during the summer and planting those in crates, so there will still be lilies out of season in the summer, just no lilies in May.

Lily Forcing Update

These lilies were planted in their crates about 5 1/2 weeks ago. After about 3 weeks in the garage at around 50F, the lilies started to sprout and the crates were moved to my tiny greenhouse.

If the greenhouse were kept at a constant 70F, the lilies would develop more quickly, but I can’t keep it that warm at night so the lilies have to get by with 70F during late morning to late-afternoon and then down to 45-55F at night. This slows down the forcing by at least a couple weeks and also makes the stems longer.

Forcing Lilies

My friend, Melanie, says she prefers to say "coaxing" rather than "forcing" bulbs. I do see her point but still say "forcing" to avoid confusion. Whether coaxing or forcing, what you are doing is providing the bulbs with conditions that give them the opportunity to bloom out of season. How does that sound?Most people think of forcing spring bulbs like tulips and daffodils so you can have a pot of them blooming in the house in March. But, you can also force lilies all year around if you provide the right conditions. This is possible because bulb wholesalers store the lilies in coolers at a constant 28 degrees F and ship them to growers throughout the year. The bulbs are then typically planted in bulb crates and grown in a greenhouse.

Bulb crates with 300 lily bulbs

I force a few hundred lilies each year to help supply me with flowers in late May. I just got the lilies yesterday and will plant them in their crates today. The process is as follows:

1. Line the crates with newspaper or landscape fabric. I use landscape fabric because I don't take the newspaper and it can be reused over and over.
2. Fill the crates with a couple inches of potting soil. A commercial mix is better than garden soil because it is much lighter and these crates will be moved around quite a bit.
3. Set the bulbs on top of the mix. You can usually fit about 20 or even 25 per 18'x24" crate. This is much closer than they would be planted outside in a garden bed but after they bloom they will either be thrown out or replanted outside so it is not an issue.
4. Cover the bulbs with another 4-5 inches of grow mix and water them.
5. Store the crates at around 50 degrees F until the lilies begin to poke out of the soil. This cool temperature is necessary so that the lilies will develop good root systems. While the lilies are sprouting the crates can be stacked to save space.
6. Once sprouts appear the crates are moved to a greenhouse and grown on at 65-70 degrees F.

If the bulbs I planted today were moved to 70 degrees as soon as they sprouted, they would bloom in in about 10 or 11 weeks. Mine always take longer because I don't keep my greenhouse that warm. Hopefully they will begin blooming in late May.

The varieites I am forcing for May are 'Salmon Classic', 'Courier' and 'Monte Negro'.