What varieties of hyacinths to choose? How to plant a hyacinth bulb? How to care for a plant? You will find out about this by reading this article. What varieties of hyacinths to choose? In what soil and how to plant the hyacinth bulb? How to care for a plant? The article will answer these and other questions.
Hyacinth varieties
By color, these plants are divided into:
- white;
- pink and red;
- blue, purple and blue;
- orange and yellow.
Flowers are double and non-double. Here are some of the most popular varieties that allow you to get plants of various colors.
White varieties:
- Edelweiss (Edelweiss) has a peduncle 20-25 cm long, on which wide inflorescences are formed. The variety is early, flowering already in mid-April.
- L'Innocence is also an early variety, peduncle height 18-26 cm. This old Dutch variety is still very popular.
- Carnegie (Carnegie) of medium flowering, with a peduncle height of up to 22 cm, is also an old variety with more than 100 years of history.
Pink, red varieties:
- Pink Perl is a very effective early variety. These hyacinths have bright pink flowers, and the narrow perianth lobes have darker stripes.
- La Victoire also belongs to the early varieties. The stem, which is 20-25cm in height, is covered with shiny red-pink flowers.
Blue, blue, purple varieties:
- Queen of the Blues (Yaueen of the Blues) - medium flowering. Peduncles 30 cm high will delight you with light blue blossoming buds, which have a weak aroma.
- Marie (Mary, Marie) has an early disbandment date. The flower arrow rushes upward by 18–25 cm, the flowers are dark blue with a white throat.
- Woodstock (Woodstock). On a low (10-15 cm) inflorescence, large purple-crimson flowers with a delicate pleasant aroma are formed. This variety is perfect for forcing.
Orange and yellow varieties:
- Yellow Hammer (Yellow Hammer). This late-ripening variety has a faint aroma and large, bright yellow flowers.
- Oranje Boven (Orange Boven). Hyacinth salmon-apricot color dark pink at the edges - medium budding time. Peduncle height - 22-24 cm.
Forcing hyacinths
The beauty of these plants can be admired not only in spring, but also at other times of the year. If you properly prepare the hyacinth bulbs for planting, you can grow an amazing flower at home for the New Year, March 8 or another holiday, event.
If you use the plants of your backyard, then in the spring, see which of them will release the largest flower stalks, from which you will need to take the bulbs. But you can't let the flower stalk bloom, cut it off. Then the plant will give all its unused power to the bulb, it will have enough nutrients to push the peduncle at the scheduled time and please you with an amazing sight.
If you are planning to forcing hyacinths for the New Year and at a later date, then do not dig the bulbs out of the ground until the end of July. If you want to see the blossoming buds earlier, then you need to get the planting material from the soil in early or mid-July. By this time, the leaves will dry out, and the hyacinth bulbs will have time to ripen well.
Please note that they must be healthy, firm, without signs of damage, infections. Large and medium-sized bulbs with a diameter of at least 5 cm are suitable. First, they must be dried at a temperature of + 20– + 25 ° C for at least three weeks, and then immersed in a state of artificial dormancy, placed in a cool place.
For this, vegetable boxes of the refrigerator, a cellar, where there is no high humidity, are suitable. Planting material should be kept at a temperature of + 2– + 9 ° С for 3 months. Therefore, calculate the desired flowering time, subtract 3 months from them, as well as the time for the rooting of the hyacinth and the extension of the peduncle (3-4 weeks).
After removing the plant from where it has cooled, plant it in a loose, damp substrate with the top of the bulb above soil level. At the same time, she does not need a spacious pot, a small one is suitable, the diameter of which is 2-3 cm larger than the diameter of the bulb. You can plant the onion directly in the soil and cool it in it at + 5– + 8 ° С, put it in a dark room for 10–12 weeks or cover it with an inverted pot. After that, put on the windowsill, but gradually teach the light and first avoid direct sunlight. Flowering will come in 3-4 weeks.
It is possible to achieve hyacinth flowering not only in the ground, but also in the water. To do this, you will need an hourglass-shaped container. Pour water into its lower part, and put an onion into the upper part (previously cooled for 3 months). Its bottom should not reach the water level by 5 mm. The bulb will take root and then bloom. After its completion, do not throw it away, but drop it into the garden. Then, after 2 years, you can again start forcing the plant or admire its flowering in the country in May.
Reproduction of hyacinths
You can get new specimens if you grow hyacinths with seeds, from bulbs or children. The first method is mainly used by breeders who want to get new varieties. But the seeds rarely convey the characteristics of the mother plant. If you want to propagate hyacinth by seed, then prepare a light substrate, consisting of the same amount:
- peat;
- sand;
- turf land.
Water the soil, spread the seeds on its surface, sprinkle them with a small layer of the same substrate. The hyacinth grown in this way will bloom only for 5-6 years, therefore it is most often bred in a vegetative way. For 3-4 years after planting the bulb, babies appear, they are carefully separated in the fall and planted in the ground.
Planting hyacinths
For a good lush flowering, the plant needs certain growing conditions. Hyacinth does not like acidic soils, such must be deoxidized by adding slaked lime, dolomite flour, chalk or wood ash in advance. On clay soil, hyacinth will also feel bad, so sand and soil rich in rotted organic matter must be added to this.
It is necessary to consider each onion, discard sick and damaged ones. Before planting, the bulbs must be soaked for 30 minutes in a solution of fungicide or potassium permanganate, dried and only then planted.
The plant needs a bright place that is well lit by the sun. Make a depression equal to three diameters of the bulb, usually 15–18 cm. It is best to plant hyacinths in a so-called sand jacket. To do this, make a depression 3 cm larger than what you intended, pour 3 cm of clean river sand on the bottom, slightly press the hyacinth bulb into it, sprinkle it with sand on the sides as well. Such a technique will improve air exchange and prevent water from stagnating, which these plants absolutely cannot stand.
If you want to reduce the amount of dressing during the growing season, then mix the sand with a small amount of complete mineral or flower fertilizer. Usually, half a teaspoon of such a dry substance is poured into one hole. Then they plant it, sprinkle the bulb on top with light fertile soil. Hyacinths are planted at a distance of 15–20 cm from each other.
The best planting time is the first half of autumn. Hyacinths are planted in September or early October, in such a way that before frost they have time to take root well, but cannot germinate.
Hyacinth care
These plants may not withstand the cold, snowless winter, so after planting it is better to mulch with a layer of peat 5 cm thick. You can sprinkle this place with fallen leaves, sawdust, but immediately after the snow melts, in the spring, you need to remove the shelter so that the peduncle can grow unhindered. If the mulch layer has become small, it is left.
At the same time, do the first feeding of the hyacinths if you have not fertilized the holes. In 10 liters of water, 1 tbsp is diluted. l. ammonium nitrate or urea and double superphosphate. The second feeding is carried out during the budding period, diluting 30–35 g of superphosphate and 15–20 g of potassium sulfate in 10 liters of water. The third time they are fed after the end of flowering, using 30–35 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate. The soil around the hyacinths is kept loose and free of weeds.
You can not dissolve fertilizers in water, but sprinkle them around the plant and water. As for watering, this is done in dry weather, moisture should be abundant in order to soak the soil layer to a depth of 17 cm. Watering is needed for hyacinths during the growing season, during the ripening period of the bulb, when the leaves of the plant begin to dry out, watering is gradually reduced and reduced to nothing.
2 months after the end of flowering, the bulbs are carefully dug up, freed from the ground, listened for two weeks in a dry place, where there is good ventilation and the sun's rays do not penetrate. After that, the hyacinths are put in boxes and the containers are taken out to a room where the air temperature is + 20– + 25 ° C, so they are stored until planting.
Pests and diseases of hyacinths
Hyacinths get sick quite rarely, if this trouble suddenly happened to your plant, think about what you did wrong in order to prevent such mistakes in the future. There may be several reasons:
- dense planting of plants;
- heavy acidic soil;
- unfavorable predecessors;
- infected planting material, diseased bulb;
- the use of fresh organic matter, which is unacceptable.
Such mistakes can lead to a disease of hyacinths called yellow bacterial rot. External signs are as follows: hyacinth lags behind in growth, and stripes and spots appear on the leaves and peduncles, the bulbs of such a plant rot and smell foul. Infected specimens must be dug up and burned.
Another hyacinth disease called penicillus rot can be defeated. If you see that the aerial part of the plant is covered with bloom, urgently spray it with a copper-containing preparation. If this is not done, then soon the flowers will begin to dry, the plant will begin to rot. The preparations "Mukhoed", "Tabazol", "Aktara" will help the hyacinth from the flower fly.
If you follow the rules of agricultural technology, timely fertilize, water, and loosen, then your hyacinths will delight you with flowers of various colors and a pleasant aroma.
It clearly shows how to plant hyacinth, video:
