Failure is part of my job...

Sometimes when flower growing isn't going well, I have to tell myself that this is part of the job I chose.

I wish that flower growing was always the perfect pictures painted on social media, but it certainly isn't.

Let's talk about tulips for a minute. In my previous blog I mentioned that when tulip bulbs are used as cut flowers the math generally goes like this 1 bulb = 1 flower.

However, I realized this week that the math I did there is quite misleading. It really is something closer to 1.5 bulbs = 1 flower in the field and 2 bulbs = 1 flower when forced. Hydroponics may even be smaller margins. I am beginning to think it is 2.5 bulbs = 1 flower.

That may be a bit confusing, so let me explain...

First of all, especially when buying bulbs in bulk, many came this year that were completely rotted. They were soft and even when I carefully sorted through them about 1/3 had to be thrown away as not being a viable bulb.

That about broke my heart.

Gathering up all my courage, I moved forward with my tulip plan. This year 1/2 of my bulbs were planted outside and 1/2 of them I am forcing hydroponically.

Once bulbs are tucked into the ground, I thought they would be safe and sound for a few months until bloom time. However, so many bulbs are being found in my walk ways and grass. 

We are just beginning to realize tulips planted in my gardens are being packed away by squirrels and/or mice who think they are delicious.

I am fairly confident that I now have at least 25% fewer bulbs out there right now.

Also, with all the excessive rain we received overnight I have been digging trenches to guide water away from the remaining bulbs.

Bulb rot is not something we have to worry about too much in dry Idaho, but when our annual rain expectancy comes all at once, all bets are off. 

So that is what's happening with the outside tulips.

Hydroponic growing is not for the faint of heart either.

I took it on knowing it was going to be a challenge. All conditions have to be just right in order to trick the bulbs into thinking they have already experienced enough Winter to flower and that it is now Spring.

One thing that I monitor closely is humidity.

Honestly, we have such a dry climate, that needing to monitor the humidity took me completely by surprise. Tulips will get either leaf topple or stem topple if they experience humidity over 90% - even for just a few minutes. 

Imagine my horror to come home one day and find the humidity in my grow space had spiked to 99%.

I worked as quickly as possible to get the humidity down and soon it was well below the 90% danger zone.

At first the tulips did not look like they suffered too much from it, but now I know that 2 weeks later, their leaves began to split and some stems have caved in. The stems that were most susceptible to stem topple are not able to hold up their blooms.

So... here is the good - Winter tulips when they bloom are stunningly awesome!!

Here is the bad - It is a bit heart wrenching to see potential flowers lost so easily after so much work.

Here is the ugly - At this point Winter Tulip growing isn't looking like it will be a sustainable part of my business. I'll have to wait until May and crunch all the numbers. It is best said by my mother when I was growing up. "We never need to go to Vegas. Farming is the biggest gamble of a lifetime."

As we witness strange Winter storms hitting all across the United States, my little flower experiment is nothing in comparison. However, it does give me a little taste of what that gamble is doing to our food farms and domestic food supply.

If you are the praying type, please pray for America. If you are not the praying type, maybe you will consider praying for America anyway.

Be Blessed,
Ella