Pathetic hyacinth

[Alicay]

This is the hyacinth I grew from a bulb. First attempt, total novice. I kept it in a dark garage for a few weeks, made sure it was topped up with water, spoke to it nicely etc. It never thrived, looked like this the entire time really. Any ideas where I went wrong?

You didn't grow enough of them

They occasionally dud out like this but if you have a few it matters less!

Mostly it's caused by them not having long enough in the cold, or being rushed to flower too quickly. Try leaving them out a little bit longer before bringing them indoors. I aim to bring mine in when I can already see about 1/4 of the growth I am expecting.

Thanks! How long do you usually keep them in the cold. Mine had maybe a month...

Longer than that. I normally pot mine up and put them in the garage around Oct. I then take them out in the New Year, around Jan time but only when I see the growth. Some years it's early Jan, other years it's a bit later.

Around 12 weeks (ish!)

I could never get mine to grow roots in those type of vases unless I briefly wetted the root disc. They'd grow like that, very disappointing with no (or very few) roots, but I'd plant them out afterwards anyway. They are flowering in the pots now and look fine.

Yes but more than one - I tend to pot mine up and out at bottom of airing cupboard late October ish, check on them now and again and sometimes they've flowered at Christmas Time but mostly from mid Jan onwards

I had several of these M&S ones and they were all great, but they’re meant to be in the cold and dark for 10 weeks.