Enjoy Paperwhites Indoors
Paperwhites will remain beautiful throughout the holidays and beyond, making them great gifts for friends and family (and, of course, schoolteachers). Paperwhites are easy to force into bloom indoors. The bulbs do NOT need to be placed in cold storage to bloom. Paperwhite bulbs begin to grow as soon as they are planted, with fragrant flowers appearing in 4-6 weeks.
Each tall flower stem produces several small, snowy-white flowers. Make your flowers last longer by keeping the plant in a cool location. Blooms will look fresh for 3-4 weeks if kept at a maximum of 65°F/18°C.
When purchasing paperwhites choose bulbs that are firm, not soft or mushy. There are a couple popular varieties I recommend: ‘Ziva’ is a prolific bloomer… and ‘Erlicheer’ is a multi flowering double daffodil with white petals and creamy yellow centers. Brighten your home in the winter months by pairing Paperwhites with Amaryllis bulbs.
Steps to Forcing Paperwhites in Soil
- Plant paperwhite bulbs in a shallow pot filled with potting mix. Set as many bulbs as will fit in the pot, as close together as possible without touching. Top with potting mix, leaving the tips of the bulbs exposed.
- Water thoroughly to moisten the soil.
- Place in a cool (50-60°F/10-24°C) low-light location until shoots appear, usually in 2-3 weeks. Then move pot into warmer temperatures and a brighter location, but out of direct sun. Turn the pot once in a while so that all the stems get equal light. They’re fast growers, with blossoms appearing in 4-6 weeks from time of planting.
How to Grow Paperwhites in Pebbles
- Cover the bottom of a shallow container with pebbles (or glass marbles) about 2-3 inches deep. Set the paperwhite bulbs on the pebbles with their tips pointed up. Cover the bulbs with more pebbles, leaving their tips exposed.
- Add just enough water to reach the bottoms of the bulbs.
- Set them in a cool location and give them the same care as described in #3 above.
Paperwhite Tips Indoors, you may need to stake your paperwhites at some point. These flowers can get leggy with insufficient light. Stake with bamboo or cut branches from your garden. American sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) creates a rustic look, and redtwig dogwood (Cornus sericea) offers bold, Christmas-red stems. Use willow (Salix sp.) after New Year’s, as the yellow-green stems help warm up the winter months.
Keeping Paperwhites Short with Alcohol
When paperwhite bulbs are grown in a dilute solution of alcohol, the plants reach a height of 1/3 to ½ their normally expected growth – but the flowers remain normal size and last just as long. Why they thought of giving their paperwhites a nip remains a mystery, but it appears that the resulting water stress on the plants is just enough to stunt their growth, but not interfere otherwise.
- The alcohol content needs to be less than 10%, or your plants will overdose and severe growth problems will occur. Check the bottle for the percentage alcohol. Many liquors are only labeled as “proof”, not percentage of alcohol. Don’t confuse the two. To determine what percentage alcohol you have, divide the proof in half, So and 86 proof bourbon is 43% alcohol.
- You can use any hard liquor (vodka, tequila, whiskey…) or rubbing alcohol. Don’t use wine or beer because they are too high in sugar.
- You will have to do some math to get the different concentrations of alcohol down to 4-6%.
- To convert your booze to 5% alcohol, just divide the percentage alcohol by 5 and then subtract 1. That will tell you how many parts water to mix with your 1 part alcohol. Ex: 40 divided by 5 = 8: 8 minus 1 = 7… 7 parts water to 1 part alcohol.
10% Alcohol = 1 Part Water to 1 Part Alcohol
15% Alcohol = 2 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
20% Alcohol = 3 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
25% Alcohol = 4 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
30% Alcohol = 5 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
35% Alcohol = 6 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
40% Alcohol = 7 Parts Water to 1 Part Alcohol
Paperwhite Bloom Calendar
Planted Week of Blooms week of
November 5 ………………………… December 17
November 12…………………………December 24
November 19…………………………December 31
November 26…………………………January 7
December 3………………………….January 14
December 10…………………………January 21
December 17………………………..January 28
