Forcing hyacinths

[Whitney168]

Well, that's sort of gardening, isn't it ... ?

Does anyone know if the timeframe for forcing hyacinths in soil is the same as for forcing them in water please?

By "forcing" do you mean a) growing already prepared hyacinth bulbs so that they flower at Christmas or b) preparing them so they are capable of flowering at Christmas? If a), then time frame is the same in water or soil as far as I'm aware.

If b) - that's something I know nothing about, but googling got me the following interesting information"

www.bulb.com/ibc/binaries/pdf-bestanden/hyacinth_forcing-guide.pdf

"Temperature treatment: Introduction
The growth cycle of the hyacinth bulb encompasses distinctive periods - leaf formation, flower formation and stem elongation. Forcing is achieved by advancing the flower-formation period and then providing the most effective type of cold period. This is why hyacinth bulbs grown in Mediterranean countries are used to produce very early flowers. The leaf-formation period is accelerated by higher temperature during the bulb’s cultivation stage, hereby starting the flower formation period earlier.
In contrast to other bulbous plants, early flower- formation in the hyacinth is achieved by providing specific temperatures. One way of achieving this is to increase the temperature of the soil in which the bulbs are grown (“Herald hyacinths”). Because of its expense, this
method is very rarely used. More commonly, the bulbs are lifted early and then given a temperature treatment in an air-conditioned chamber to advance flower formation. The lifting date and temperature treatment are the factors which separate the two methods of
production pot and cut flowers.

I will aim to buy prepared bulbs and had a good Google yesterday, and can't seem to find a time estimate for water method, so perhaps it's just the same as in soil. From your info above, it sounds that way.

I have a big glass vase that I can fit 9 or so bulbs in, usually do it in soil, and have ready for Christmas - but quite fancied trying pebbles and water.

Thank you.