Forcing
/FOR-sing/🧑🌾 Cultivation●● Intermediate
Also known as: bulb forcing
The horticultural practice of manipulating environmental conditions (temperature, light, water) to cause plants to bloom, fruit, or grow outside their natural schedule. Classic examples include forcing spring-blooming bulbs (tulips, hyacinths) to flower indoors in winter, forcing rhubarb in dark sheds for early tender stalks, and using greenhouse lighting to control flowering in chrysanthemums and poinsettias.
Etymology
Old French forcier (to force, compel)
Example
“Paperwhite narcissus bulbs can be forced indoors by placing them on pebbles with water, and they'll bloom within 4–6 weeks.”