Hyacinth: Learn How to Care for Hyacinth

Lush, perky inflorescences of hyacinth are an outlet for everyone who, after a long winter, lacks optimism and juicy spring colors. This plant belongs to primroses and is cultivated even in open ground, even in indoor conditions. Like all bulbous flowers, hyacinth tends to be capricious, so if you decorate your garden or windowsill with this wayward handsome man, the theoretical base will definitely come in handy.

Types of Hyacinths

Initially, botanists included hyacinth (Hyacinthus) in the lily family, then they allocated it its own niche – hyacinths, and now it is called a perennial asparagus plant.

Hyacinth Characteristics :

• Flowers are simple, bell-shaped, waxy, or terry, grow on peduncles 10-40 cm high, and are collected in rare or dense inflorescences of 20-75 pieces, which have an ovoid narrow or wide conical shape.
• Leaves are basal, belt-like, fleshy, grooved, dark green, or emerald, reaching 20 cm in length.
• Hyacinth bulbs are on average 4-6 cm in diameter, overgrown with new scales annually.

Note: Hyacinths growing in the open field bloom and delight the eye with abundant flowering from the second decade of April to the first decade of June. Indoor specimens can be distilled at any time of the year. Cut flowers, barely blossoming, will stand in bouquets for 5-7 days.

Hyacinth originated in the Mediterranean, in the Middle East, and in North African expanses, but you need to thank the Dutch masters for the miracles of selection. New extraordinary varieties are being brought to flower markets around the world from the city of Haarlem. Just look at the photo of the flowers of Dutch hyacinths.

The color range of hyacinths is varied, and they can be:

• blue
• blue
• azure
• purple
• lilac
• pink
• crimson
• purple
• coral
• scarlet
• black
• white
• with several shades

Hyacinth Litvinova is a Red Book perennial named after its discoverer growing in the wild in Central Asia. It has oval bulbs, modest growth (12-24 cm), pale gray-green spreading leaves, and one or two peduncles with a dozen bells on each.

The flowers are pale lilac-blue in color with a dark stripe in the middle of the petals that do not have an aroma, which appears in April. Although the species tolerate the harsh, sharply continental winter well, it has no decorative varieties, and it looks inconspicuous.

The Transcaspian Hyacinth is also listed in the Red Book, grows in the foothills of the Kopetdag, stretches no more than 20 cm in height, has light grassy green leaves, and 1-2 peduncles with a sparse brush, consisting of 5-10 pale blue flowers. The Transcaspian hyacinth loves to hide in the shade, blooms in May, has almost no smell, and is not used by breeders.

Oriental Hyacinth is the most common species, giving rise to over 400 ornamental varieties. It grows up to 35 cm, always has one peduncle, but dense, curly inflorescences are formed on it with an average of fifty flowers. Particularly chic brushes reach 8-10 cm in diameter.

The natural color of the leaves of the oriental hyacinth is dark green, and the petals are bright blue and snow-white. The bulbs are purple-pink. It blooms longer than its counterparts, from April to May, while exuding a thick, captivating aroma.

At the end of flowering, all varieties of hyacinths give fruit in a box containing small black seeds, and a baby is formed on the bulb.

Note: You should not touch hyacinth seeds and bulbs with bare hands due to the high concentration of poisonous oxalic acid.

How to Care Hyacinth?

Growing hyacinths will not be difficult if you choose a good place for them and do not deviate from the recommendations of the florists. High-quality hyacinth care at home and in the garden, maintaining a comfortable temperature, humidity and light is the key to their health.

Location

The ideal place for this culture is an open, elevated, or slightly sloping area, warmed by the sun’s rays and dries quickly after massive rainfall. Unfortunately, like most bulbous hyacinths do not tolerate waterlogging, they begin to rot from excess moisture.

The soil is needed light, loose. Sandy loam with a neutral reaction, flavored with mineral dressings and hummus, is well suited. Fresh organic matter, such as manure or bird droppings, cannot be brought in – it will rot, increase the temperature, promote decay, reproduce pests, and develop diseases. If the soil is acidified, it must be calcified six months before the organization of the hyacinth flower bed.

Note: You should not break a flower garden around spreading trees – the roots will suck all valuable substances from the ground, and the crown will create an unnecessary shadow.

You can safely leave pots with homemade hyacinths for the growing season, budding and flowering on a well-lit windowsill, and as they fade, it is recommended to remove them in the shade.

Temperature Regime

On the street, you don’t have to choose the weather, but the hyacinth cannot be called “frozen.”

At home, you need to try to maintain the optimal temperature, about 20-23 degrees. Hyacinths do not like heat, and if you are lucky enough to get a flower in the middle of winter, do not put a pot with it near the heating radiator.

Note: This culture also does not like drafts, so do not keep it on tables in walk-through rooms, near ajar windows and balcony doors.

Lighting

If the place for planting hyacinths in the ground is chosen correctly, the desired light will be enough for them, and at home, you should illuminate the flowers for at least 15 hours daily. When the sun is not enough, you need to resort to the help of special lamps.

Note: To ensure that your hyacinth greenhouse gets the full attention of the sun’s rays, arrange it on the south or southeast side.

Watering

It is important to find a balance because hyacinths are equally sensitive to waterlogging and overdrying of the soil. In the first case, the rhizomes rot, and the buds fall off, and in the second, the leaves turn yellow, and the peduncles wither.

At the beginning of autumn, the bulbs are planted in the ground, and they need to be well watered to take root. A couple of times a week, you need to spend 5-15 liters of water for each square meter of the flower garden, depending on the weather. The filamentous roots leave the bulbs by 18-20 cm into the soil, which means that it needs to be soaked at least to that depth.

In early spring, when hyacinths wake up after wintering and are in dire need of water to stimulate growth, the ground is usually wet, so they do not need to be watered. And then it all depends on the situation – you need to take up the watering can as soon as you notice that the bed is dry.

In summer, after flowering, it is better to reduce the frequency of watering to a minimum. But it is impossible to allow the formation of a crust on the surface of the soil. It must be loosened more often and deeper so that the root system of hyacinths has enough air.

Note: Chlorinated tap water is not suitable for hyacinths; you must defend it for at least a couple of hours. Meltwater or well water is great, but it must first be allowed to warm to room temperature. Watering flowers with warm water is not worth it.

Indoor plants are watered every 3-4 days, but always check the substrate before that – if it is wet, you should postpone the procedure. Next, water is poured either into a tray, from where the roots will take it through the drainage system, or into a pot, but carefully to not wet the bulbs, leaves, and flowers. Finally, the excess water is drained from the pan. Sprinkling is unnecessary and even harmful.

Indoor hyacinths are most actively watered during the flowering period. Otherwise, you will reduce this time. But even a flower entering the resting phase should not be deprived of regular moisture early and abruptly because it will bloom worse in the coming season.

Topdressing

Hyacinths growing in the open field must be fed 3 times :

• At the beginning of the growing season – superphosphates and nitrate.
• During the formation of buds – superphosphates and potassium sulfate.
• Finally, at the end of flowering – with the same fertilizers.

You can add additives in dry or liquid form, and the soil must be well shed before that.

Note: It is advisable to feed indoor hyacinths with a universal mixture of bulbous flowers weekly from the beginning of the growing season to flowering.

Transplant

When a blooming store hyacinth is presented to a person who is ignorant of floristry, the question arises: should it be transplanted? Absolutely not. The plant should not be disturbed in this phase. If you want to save the bulbs and plant them in the flower bed next season, wait until all the leaves dry and prepare for growing hyacinths correctly.

If you cannot avoid a transplant, proceed as follows:

• In a pot at least 15 cm deep with a drainage hole in the bottom, pour expanded clay, pebbles, or vermiculite with a layer of 5 cm, add 2 cm of sand on top.
• Carefully remove the onion from the original container along with the earthen clod and lightly drown in the sand.
• Cover the bulb with potting medium so that it is halfway up.
• Pour with settled clean water without getting on the bulb.
• Place the pot away from drafts and direct sunlight.
• If the hyacinth is getting ready to bloom, cover the sprout with a paper cap or bag so that the peduncle grows and gets stronger.
• After the buds appear, remove the cap and enjoy the flowering.

Note: For garden hyacinths, an annual transplant is critically necessary. If they are not transplanted, they will stop blooming, or they may die.

The procedure is carried out in stages:

• June – dig up the bulbs.
• July – disinfect them with a solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate.
• August – dry the planting material at 24-26 degrees for storage, reduce the temperature to 16-18 degrees, and 2 weeks before disembarkation, start keeping it in conditions close to the street.
• September – October – planting bulbs.

Features of Distillation

Hyacinths are easy to distill and are often subjected to it because they bloom for a short time and only in spring, but you want to admire them and breathe in their delicate aroma at other times of the year.

Preparation begins during the budding period. Experienced gardeners notice powerful flower stalks and cut them as soon as the buds are colored so that all the potential goes into the bulb. From such material, the healthiest and strongest, with a 5-6 cm diameter, it will be easy to drive out hyacinth for any solemn date, starting with the New Year, ending on March 8 or Easter.

Applying is done like this:

• Selected dried and disinfected bulbs are planted in pots or boxes on a 4-5 cm drainage layer, sprinkled with fertile soil 2/3 of the height, watered well once, and hidden in a dark, cold place where they will stay for 2-3 months (temperature 4- 8 degrees, you can use a regular refrigerator).
• When arrows 5-6 cm high appear, pots or boxes with hyacinths are moved to a warmer and brighter place, for example, on a windowsill, where the temperature during the day is at around 13-15 degrees, and covered with paper caps.
• After stretching the peduncles to a height of 8-12 cm, the protective caps are removed, the plants are transferred to a well-lit and moderately warm place (up to 20-22 degrees), and they begin to water regularly.

Note: From the moment of transfer to a warm room until flowering, 3-4 weeks pass, and the whole process takes 2.5-3.5 months. Given this, you can drive the plant out by the required date. If you want hyacinth to bloom in February, start forcing in mid-October, in March – mid-November.

You can drive out hyacinth in water. To do this, select a container with a neck about 4 cm in diameter, put a couple of pieces of charcoal on the bottom to prevent rotting, and so that it does not float up, they cover it with coarse sand. Next, the container is filled with soft water, rain, or melt, and the bulb is lowered there, and the distance between its bottom and the surface of the water should be 1-2 cm.

Store such a blank in the fall wrapped in dark paper or cloth at a temperature of 4-8 degrees, periodically checking the condition and adding water. The root system will stretch out in a few months, the leaves will develop, and a peduncle will appear. Then you can plant the bulb in the ground and proceed according to the above scheme.

How to Plant Correctly?

It is best to plant hyacinths in the garden from late September – early October. If you do this earlier, at the wrong time, the activated plant may not withstand frosts. If later, the bulb will root poorly.

Theoretically, it is possible to plant hyacinths in early spring, but for them to bloom in the same season, the bulbs will have to be stressed – sent to the freezer an hour before planting. This measure will stimulate the flower bud.

Planting hyacinths :

• 2 weeks before the deadline, they dig holes or a trench of the required depth so that the soil has time to sit down.
• The depth for large bulbs with a diameter of 4-8 cm is 16-20 cm. For small ones, up to 1 cm – 4-6 cm.
• A complex fertilizer is evenly distributed along the bottom at the rate of 20-50 g for each bulb.
• A planting “pie” is formed – 3-4 cm of fertile soil, 2-3 cm of ash, then a handful of river sand, in which onion is planted and sprinkled on top of another 1-2 cm, and, finally, a mixture of peat and turf soil flush with the surface of the garden.
• Planting is mulched, lightly watered, and covered with agro fiber, if the climate requires it.

What do you need to know about Hyacinths Breeding?

Seeds and children carry out the reproduction of hyacinths. The first method is the lot of breeders, it is quite complicated, but the second also requires time, experience, and patience. The flower gives 1-2 babies annually. It would help if you did not separate them, and it is better to dry them and plant them for one more season for growing. After a couple of years, the children will be ready for independent development, but the hyacinths that have grown from them will bloom for the first time in another 2 years.

It can accelerate the development of children. To do this, the mother bulb is cut crosswise from below, or a tapered cut of the bottom is made, thereby destroying the growth point. They begin to grow in early summer, immediately after digging up and take healthy, large bulbs at the age of 3-4 years for reproduction.

Places of incisions are sprinkled with crushed coal, and the bulbs are laid out in wooden boxes with their bottoms up and taken for healing in a dark, dry, and warm place (24-26 degrees). After a month and a half, you need to bring the air humidity in the room to 80-85%.

As a result, in 2-3 months, several dozen babies will appear on each mother’s bulb. Then, in October, these families need to be planted, without dividing, with their bottoms up to a depth of 10-12 cm. And only after 2 years can the brood be separated and used.

Important Points about Hyacinth Diseases and Pests

The main pests of hyacinth:

• Hoverfly flower flies – their larvae penetrate the soil and feast on bulbs.
• Thrips and aphids – feed on juice from leaves.
• Mole crickets – large (up to 6 cm) Beetles, digging the ground, damage the root system.
• Onion mites – gnaw through the passages in the bulbs, having previously chewed the bottom.
• Stem and root nematodes – infect rhizomes and stems, cause deformities.

The most difficult thing is to cope with nematodes. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to do this. Aphids and thrips can be controlled by other predatory insects that are not dangerous for hyacinths, for example, ants, so do not rush to spray with poisons. A competent crop rotation will save from the invasion of ticks – you can plant legumes in front of the hyacinths on the site.

With the rest of the pests and in advanced cases, you will have to arm yourself with one of the effective drugs :

• Aktara
• “Mukhoed”
• Tabazol
• “Medvetox”
• Akarin
• Fitoverm

Non-infectious hyacinth diseases and their causes:

• Apical flowering – temperature drops during storage of bulbs.
• Loss of inflorescences – hypothermia of the bulbs, early planting, waterlogging of the soil.
• Tops rot – too high temperature and humidity at the beginning of the growing season.
• Green tops and curved inflorescences – short cooling period of the dugout bulbs.
• Sessile inflorescences – excess moisture and temperature, early disembarkation.

Symptoms of viral diseases :

• Tobacco curly streak virus – dark spots on the leaves and stems, necrotic areas inside the bulbs;
• On the leaves, Hyacinth mosaic virus has pale green streak-like spots that decrease and turn yellow. On the peduncles, there are whitish lines. On the petals, there are the same thin stripes.

Note: Unfortunately, it is unrealistic to cure a viral disease. In such a situation, it remains to destroy the affected plants and disinfect the garden tool.

Bacterial hyacinth infections and their signs:

• Yellow rot – a characteristic smell of decomposition of plant tissues, yellowish-brown or brown stripes of watery plaque on the leaves and peduncles, blackening and drying of the leaves from the tops, the gradual transformation of the bulbs into a sticky vitreous substance.
• Soft rot – growth retardation, lack of flowering, wilting of the aerial part, and wet rotting of the bulbs.

Sick plants need to be burned, and they should disinfect the soil in which they grew with a solution of manganese or bleach. Unfortunately, it is possible to plant hyacinths again in such a place only after 2-3 years.

Note: To prevent bacterial and fungal diseases, you need to prepare the planting material well: dry it and disinfect it.

Hyacinth fungal diseases and their symptoms:

• Pernicious rot – the aerial parts of the plant are covered with a greenish fluffy bloom and gradually rot;
• Gray rot – the leaves are covered with yellowish-brown spots, like the bulbs, between the scales of which blackish sclerotia (mycelium accumulations) are visible, then an abundant gray bloom appears and the plant roots;
• Sclerotial rot – the scales of the bulbs become transparent and white sclerotia are found between them, the leaves turn yellow, wither, and fall off;
• Rhizoctonia – reddish-brown dents appear on the leaves, and then the ends turn brown, the whole bush is entangled with harmful mycelium and dies;
• Fusarium – the flower lags in growth, the tips of the leaves turn yellow, a pale pink powdery bloom appears on the bottom of the bulbs, then they rot, and the plant dies with them.

Note: Mold loves excess moisture and heat. It must exclude these factors. For prevention, hyacinths can be sprayed with Topaz. Sick plants should be disposed of, and the soil should be disinfected, dug deep, and returned here in 5-6 years.

What to do and How to Care for Hyacinth Flowering?

After flowering, the most crucial period begins because the success of the further cultivation of these capricious plants depends on the correctness of the actions of the grower.

So, the hyacinth has faded – care consists of the following steps:

• Cut the peduncle to a height of 10-15 cm.
• Reduce watering frequency.
• In mid-May, stop watering and wait for the leaves to dry completely.
• Remove the bulbs, carefully peel from the ground, disinfect with potassium permanganate, and dry on paper in the shade at a temperature of 24-26 degrees.
• Send the material for storage in a cardboard or wooden container in a dry, dark, and cool place (18-20 degrees).

Hyacinths are flowers with character, but fans of this culture are ready to sacrifice time and energy for the opportunity to see these lush, fragrant inflorescences on their site and breathe spring in the full breast!