I was searching through the extra fridge in the back room just now and came
across a happy surprise. I came across a plastic Lowes bag and inside was
one lone hyacinth bulb!! Gathering up the things I had removed to start
with, and the bag, I proceeded to go to the kitchen and hunt under the sink
and found my blue glass hyacinth forcer. Filled with clean, cold, well
water, the bulb carefully set in it's perfect position on the hyacinth jar,
it now sits in my nook in bright indirect Eastern and Southern sunlight to
start forcing. Now we'll see just which bulb it is....(I had to handle the
bulb with a paper towel as there is something coating these particular bulbs
that itch me like itching powder!!) I'll let you all know what color it is
when the buds break. This will be a first for me! (I suspect it might be
"Woodstock" which is a dark magenta purple with red highlights, but we'll
see). The fairies have been jokesters with me on this one. I actually went
back to Lowes to deliberately purchase some reduced hyacinth bulbs just for
the purpose of forcing and they were all gone...........

madgardener up on the cold ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

I have never heard of hyacinth bulbs making some itch like you say.
Chuckie in the frozen north, zone 5

I have never heard of hyacinth bulbs making some itch like you say.
Chuckie in the frozen north, zone 5

"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have never heard of hyacinth bulbs making some itch like you say.
Chuckie in the frozen north, zone 5


It's not the bulb, it's the anti rot they were treated with.

Tom J

I hadn't either. But one year after moving here to Eastern Tennessee, I
purchased for the first time ever, (loose in an individual bin) two yellow
hyacinth's to plant. I had never grown hyacinths before, but the picture on
the box was so cheerful, and they were about 39c each, so I got two of them.
I remember I had a short sleeve shirt on, and about halfway into wandering
the unique hardware store looking at all the neat things, I started really
itching on the opposite arm. The lady who worked the garden part of the
store was close by, and I asked her what on earth would be causing me to
itch so badly, and did they have a restroom where I could wash my arm with.
The arm was turning red and starting to rise up a little bit. She looked at
my arm, and back at the counter where I'd laid the two bulbs to purchase
while I was looking around and she asked me "are those hyacinth bulbs over
there?" when I affirmed that they were, she nodded her head and remarked,
"yep, some people really itch and swell like you're doing right now if they
handle these bulbs. I don't know why they do that, something on them I
suppose, but I'd say wash your arm where you've rubbed it after handling
them bulbs, and you'll stop itching". I did. It did, and I put the thought
back until later.

The next year I was at a Lowes where they too had loose hyacinth bulbs to
sell, and I picked up a couple, put them down, touched my hand to my arm on
the opposite side (these were bright red hyacinth bulbs, not yellow). Just
a few minutes later, my arm started itching really badly, and getting red
and only when I rinsed my arm off with their watering hose in the garden
center did it stop.

I have experimented on this idea with bagged bulbs throughout the years
since this first happened 13 years ago, and I have the same reaction. Not
with narcissus bulbs. Or tulips. Only hyacinth bulbs. And as a last test, I
did it with my Woodstock hyacinth bulbs last year and got the same reaction.
People I've asked about this tell me they don't have the same reaction as I
do, but occaisonally I find one person who does. So chances are that it's a
rare thing, most people don't itch after contact with these bulbs, but it's
probably like how some people handle and touch poison ivy and aren't
affected at all. Which I am not anymore. I can pull poison ivy out with my
hands, pick up a handfull of dirt and "wash" my hands with it, and go about
my business and never break out. But let my son do the same thing, minus
washing his hands off with the dirt and he's breaking out in a matter of a
few hours.

Probably just one of those odd things that some people experience. Or maybe
it's just me................................................ ..........(if
son hadn't seen me turn red and swell last year he wouldn't have believed me
either. I would love to see if he itches and turns red after touching
hyacinth bulbs, but he already things I'm strange and wierd....)

madgardener
"Chuckie" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have never heard of hyacinth bulbs making some itch like you say.
Chuckie in the frozen north, zone 5

writes
I have experimented on this idea with bagged bulbs throughout the years
since this first happened 13 years ago, and I have the same reaction. Not
with narcissus bulbs. Or tulips. Only hyacinth bulbs. And as a last test, I
did it with my Woodstock hyacinth bulbs last year and got the same reaction.

Did you ever try it with bulbs from the ground, not from the store?

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:42:35 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote this (or the missive included this):

I was searching through the extra fridge in the back room just now and came
across a happy surprise. I came across a plastic Lowes bag and inside was
one lone hyacinth bulb!! Gathering up the things I had removed to start
with, and the bag, I proceeded to go to the kitchen and hunt under the sink
and found my blue glass hyacinth forcer. Filled with clean, cold, well
water, the bulb carefully set in it's perfect position on the hyacinth jar,
it now sits in my nook in bright indirect Eastern and Southern sunlight to
start forcing.

And I thought that bulbs started in this way should be placed in the
dark for some weeks before being brought into the light. At least
that's what the instructions said on one we acquired for Xmas.


--
®óñ© © ² * ¹°°³

"Klara" wrote in message
...
writes
I have experimented on this idea with bagged bulbs throughout the years
since this first happened 13 years ago, and I have the same reaction. Not
with narcissus bulbs. Or tulips. Only hyacinth bulbs. And as a last test,
I
did it with my Woodstock hyacinth bulbs last year and got the same
reaction.

Did you ever try it with bulbs from the ground, not from the store?

I've never had the opportunity to be either given or get hyacinth bulbs from
the ground. They've always been purchased. Kinda makes me wonder if the
thought that it's the stuff they dust the hyacinth bulbs is the culprit.
But then again, why would Maggie have known it was the hyacinth bulbs that
had caused me the intense itch and red swelling if someone else hadn't been
similarly affected? just one of those gardening mysteries I suppose. And
to let all ya'll know..........in just ONE DAY, there are tiny little ROOTS
coming off the bottom of the bulb!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! (at this rate, I might
have FLOWERS by the middle of February!!)
madgardener

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Ron Clark" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:42:35 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote this (or the missive included this):
and more snipped and whacked

And I thought that bulbs started in this way should be placed in the
dark for some weeks before being brought into the light. At least
that's what the instructions said on one we acquired for Xmas.

and what kind of bulbs were these? Paperwhites? Amaryllis? For hyacinths
(and I think paperwhites) the bulb after ten weeks of chilling of at least
40o F in the fridge (there can be NO fruit in the fridge, as ripening fruit
kills the blossom budlet inside the center of the bulb) can be started in
forcing. And where you might be thinking of one way of forcing, you DO have
to plant up your bulbs in pots of soil, place in a cold, dark spot for about
ten weeks and then bring out.

Here's what John Scheepers Beauty from Bulbs catalog says on the Paperwhite
Ziva: Pot up paperwhites from September through February for blooms in four
to six weeks. Prior to potting, store them at 50oF to 60o F in a dry, dark
spot. Plant in soil or pebbles, water and place in indirect sunlight until
foliage is 4 inches tall. Then, place in a brighter sunlight and keep
well-watered for lush trusses of fragrant flowers. And no, I don't work for
Sheepers, I just like their bulbs.................. www.johnscheepers.com

and the picture is a wonderful shot of a glass bowl (staged nicely, of
course against a window looking out over snow, as Scheepers is located in
Conneticut where they get winter) of Ziva paperwhites held securely by black
aquarium rock cradled in an iron support with three feet. Below in the
corner of that page with the various Amaryllis they have a picture of
someone's hand holding a few aquarium rocks, and paperwhite bulbs in pebbles
and water in a square ceramic non-draining container.




®óñ© © ² * ¹°°³

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:07:01 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote this (or the missive included this):


And I thought that bulbs started in this way should be placed in the
dark for some weeks before being brought into the light. At least
that's what the instructions said on one we acquired for Xmas.

and what kind of bulbs were these?

Hyacinths specifically prepared for growing on in hyacinth jars.

My quote is taken from the instructions on the pack, which goes on to
say "When flowering is completed and flowers fading, the bulb should
be discarded"

--
®óñ© © ² * ¹°°³

"Ron Clark" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:07:01 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote this (or the missive included this):

and what kind of bulbs were these?

Hyacinths specifically prepared for growing on in hyacinth jars.

My quote is taken from the instructions on the pack, which goes on to
say "When flowering is completed and flowers fading, the bulb should
be discarded"
Hyacinths specifically prepared for growing in jars?? LOL don't let them
fool you.........almost any of the large flowering hyacinths can be forced
in jars.......(those large blousy ones, not the woodland and species ones)
after they bloom, pinch the spent flower, plant the bulb with the leaves and
the roots about six or seven inches deep, and you MIGHT be surprised to see
the bulb return next spring at the proper time. (be sure to sprinkle a
tablespoon of granulated bulb food in the fall)
madgardener
--
®óñ© © ² * ¹°°³