Re: Formalin and spring bulb harvests

In a message dated 7/22/98 1:40:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mtalt@clark.net
writes:

<< What is "formalin"?
 
 About the growers harvesting in spring.  This is new to me and makes me
 wonder since I've always thought the bulb needed to have its leaves to
 provide energy for making the flower bud for the next year.  Now, if
 growers harvest their bulbs in spring, how do the bulbs form the flower
 bud?  Most decent bulbs you buy and plant in fall bloom the following
 spring.  Does this mean that the bulbs are using stored reserves to create
 that flower bulb the first spring after sale?  And, if so, does this
 actually weaken the bulb?   >>

Formalin is formaldehyde.  Growers add it to the hot water (110 degrees) they
treat bulbs in.  It helps destroy the root and bulb nematode that can be so
destructive to daffodil bulbs.  It is such a curse that many say the only cure
is to move.

As to spring harvests, I guess it depends on how you define spring.  Growers
begin to dig as soon as they can, but not before foliage has done the job of
building next year's strength and bloom.  I don't know the precise timing, but
I think early cultivars could probably begin to be dug around late May and the
rest starting in June.  I know a grower in Michigan had done a lot of digging
before I arrived there on June 20.  Most of the foliage was down and nearly
gone by then, but you could still see it on the ground to identify location.

Bill Lee

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