How to control the flowering period of lilies

Super forcing

Bulb planting begins in August and undergoes vernalization before planting.

The method is to treat the large balls at 13-15°C for 42-49 days, and then transfer them to 8°C for 28-35 days. When the new shoots grow to 5 to 6 cm, they are transplanted. In this way, fresh cut flowers can be available on the market from October to November.

Forcing

It blooms from November to early February of the following year. Treat the medium bulbs at 13℃ for 2 weeks (14 days), and then at 3℃ for 4-5 weeks (28-36 days). This way, it can bloom in November and December.

If flowering is required in January or February, the plant can be treated at 13℃ for 2 weeks and then at 8℃ for 4-5 weeks (28-36 days). At this time, the night temperature is lower after planting, so it can be heated to maintain around 15℃.

In the forced cultivation of lilies, when the flower buds grow to 1-2 cm, if there is insufficient light, the buds are prone to atrophy. Bud loss usually occurs from the end of October to mid-March of the following year, and can be supplemented by artificial lighting.

The method is to hang a 40-watt high-pressure sodium lamp or an ordinary waterproof incandescent lamp every 8-10 square meters. The supplementary lighting starts from 0.5-1 cm before the flower buds are harvested. At a temperature of 16°C, maintaining light for about 6 weeks, from 8 pm to 4 am the next morning, is very effective in preventing bud loss, promoting early flowering and improving the quality of cut flowers.

Semi-forcing cultivation

Just use small balls. First treat it at 2-5℃ for 35-42 days, and plant it in late September to mid-October, so that the musk lily will bloom in February to April of the following year.

If you want it to bloom in February, the temperature should be kept at around 15℃; if you want it to bloom in March, the temperature should be kept at around 13℃. However, it does not need heating when it blooms from late April to May. To ensure uniform germination, the bulbs can be treated at 0-3℃ for 21 days.

Suppression of cultivation

Seal the bulbs in 100% nitrogen and store them in a 0-2℃ cold storage, or fill them with dry wood, wrap them with plastic paper and store them in a 0℃ cold storage. Plant them in June and they will bloom in August.

To obtain high-quality lily cut flowers, suitable light and temperature conditions are very important, especially during the flower bud differentiation and development period.

The suitable temperature for flower bud differentiation of musk lily is 15-20℃. If it is lower than 10℃ or higher than 30℃, the growth will be slow and calyx cracking will easily occur. If the Asian lily experiences low temperatures after bud formation, the buds will abort. Insufficient light will also cause the buds to abort. During the growth process, the best temperature is 21-23℃ during the day and 15-17℃ at night.

The bulbs for forced cultivation must be stored at a low temperature of 7-10℃ for 4-6 weeks. Controlling low temperature (9-13℃) in the early growth stage is beneficial to rooting.

However, in months with strong light, use 50% shading nets to provide shade until flowering, to prevent the temperature from exceeding 30℃, which would cause the flower stems to be too short and the quality of the flowers to decline.