Because our winters are too warm for winter chilling I put 200 tulips in my garden refrigerator for 10 weeks before planting. I just throw the whole bag as they are shipped into the refrigerator. Al

Bulbs need cool weather to develop their roots before the top growth starts.
I plant pots of tulips and daffodils, dampen slightly, put a plastic bag losley around them, and put them in the "beer and pop refrig".
When I can see roots coming out of the drainage holes in the pots, I bring them into the room....place in a sunny window and enjoy the flowers.
Fir outdoor pots, you will need to put your very large pots in the garage or somewhere so they don't get too warm or too wet and icy.....and bring them outside at the first breath of spring.
In some areas you don't even need to keep the pot in the garage over the winter.
Linda C

In direct answer to your question, "I want to put ONLY bulbs in refrig (not planting in pots) and force them till late Feb to early March. Is it possible?"

BARE bulbs in the refrigerator are being CHILLED in preparation for planting in soil.

FORCING means bulbs planted in soil where they form roots in the soil and are tricked (forced) to believe that they've been through a winter's chill in the ground. Bare bulbs must have time in cool soil to form roots to complete their growth cycle.

The exception is bare bulbs over stones and water, as in forcing hyacinths and paperwhite narcissus. They will form roots in the refrigerator extending down into the water.
This is not recommended for other daffodils nor tulips.

Nell

Thank you for your advice. I didn't explain a lot, but I just don't have place to put big containers. Our basement and garage are too warm, go to 60F often. I tried last year, and all pots started to grow in a month or so. I ended up with lots of green buds in early Feb and bred a lot of bugs/insects....

I think I'll try Al's method (CHILLING) till late March, then FORCING bulbs in outside. Hope it isn't frozen so much...

It will work with some, but not all bulbs. It will work with hyacinths and tulips, but not much else. You can just put them in forcing jars after chilling them. It won't work with daffodils. If you want to force without chilling, paperwhites and amaryllis are the way to got because you can force them on water or soil without chilling.

Actually, prechilling daffodils does work. I've had success with Jenny, White Lion, and King Alfred. They need about 12 weeks of chilling at 35-45F (some varieties may need more -- do a search on the web for "daffodil forcing" to see if you can find the chilling times). After they're chilled, you can plant them in the containers and put them somewhere cool to root; 60F should be fine. Bring them into a cool sunny place when the shoots are about 1" long.

This will work for tulips as well, but most varieties require more like 14-16 weeks of chilling.

For absolutely best results with tulips, you should follow the temperatures and times listed in the "Holland Bulb Forcer's Guide", which is to store the bulbs at around 80-90% RH at 63F in August and Sept, 55F in September, and then 12-13 weeks at 41F, and at 55F during rooting in the container. I've found that 5 degree variances don't really affect the final results much, especially if you use 12+ bulbs instead of 10/11 or 11/12.

Also, the book suggests that you remove the tunic (skin) from the bulb before planting to allow for "rapid root emergence after planting."

patwood-

Interesting. I never have anything near the success with prechilling of daffodils, even though I follow the standard directions. They seem not to force, but wait until spring no matter what. Especially not King Alfreds and the larger ones. I have had some luck just putting them into pots outside and bringing them in from the coldframe early. How long after potting them up do you get blooms?

I chilled the bulbs for about 10 weeks in the fridge, then about four more weeks in an unheated garage after potting. I brought them in to bloom over a month or so to have a continuous show. From potting time, White Lion took two months to bloom (this could have bloomed sooner, but they were the last to come out of the garage), February Gold 6 weeks, and Jenny 6 weeks. From the time I brought them into warmer temps, they all took about two weeks to go from shoots to flowers.

The King Alfreds took 3 weeks from potting to bloom (these I ordered prechilled, and they arrived on March 14th, so they started blooming about the same time as my daffs outside).

Of these varieties, Feb Gold only bloomed on 75% of the bulbs; could be the variety, could be the supplier (Brecks). Jenny did nicely, with an average of two flowers per bulb, and lasted longer than the others (Feb 29th through Mar 7th, Scheepers). YMMV.

I have been all over trying to locate some instructions for forcing/growing FREESIAS. I have a greenhouse, I have a regular refrigerator and I want these for indoor showing. They grow in soil, I presume. Any info would be helpful.
Thanks, Anne

Anne12,

here is the link that might be helpful:
Easy To grow Bulbs

Irina

The biggest problem with freesia is too much water and bulb rot. They take a long time to bloom so be patient. Mine started in spring generally won't bloom until fall and I have had to bring them indoors to enjoy. I think they may possibly be daylight sensitive as is canna. Our 24 hour daylight causes hollyhock, canna, freesia and other things to wait until nights get darker to set buds.n This year we are having a late late fall and no frost yet so all bloomed and I got to enjoy them outdoors.