Forcing is the

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

practice of bringing a cultivated

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

into active growth outside of its natural growing season. Plants do not produce new growth or flowers (and hence fruit) during the winter, and many species only produce flowers or fruit for a very limited period. Forcing allows horticulturalists to produce these flowers and fruits at other times. This can be accomplished by cultural, physical, or chemical means, and is typically done to produce out-of-season

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

for display, consumption or sale. Forcing allows the more predictable production of products for sale, and can improve the quality of the products in some cases. Plants respond to different types of cues to break dormancy. Forcing usually involves manipulating the temperature of the plants. Forcing a certain plant may mean it needs a certain amount of time experiencing very cold weather, or experiencing hot weather prior to cold weather. They may also need to have a wet period or a dry period separately from or in conjunction with those temperature fluctuations. For example, exposing the dormant roots of some geophytic plants, such as tulips, to a combination of cold temperatures and moisture immediately prior to warm temperatures is an effective method of forcing them into flower. Exposing woody plants, such as fruit trees, to warmer conditions than are normal in the area--such as growing them in a warm microclimate--forces them to flower and fruit earlier than usual. Cuttings taken in the fall can be moved indoors to force them into bud break. Pruning during the growing season is an effective way to force some plants, such as

asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified ...

, which are grown for their new shoots. Forcing as a horticultural technique has been recorded as early as 1608. Historically, rotting manure was used to create

hotbed A hotbed is a biological term for an area of decaying organic matter that is warmer than its surroundings. The heat gradient is generated by the decomposition of organic substituents within the pile by microorganism metabolization. A hotbed cove ...

s which would provide warmer temperatures, allowing some or all of a farmer or gardener's crop to ripen earlier than it would in the open air.

Cold frames Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

and greenhouses are also methods of warming plants in order to force them. Greenhouses that were used specifically for growing off-season plants were sometimes known as forcing houses. In the Rhubarb Triangle area of West Yorkshire, England, forced

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of '' Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick r ...

is commercially grown in dark sheds and harvested by

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candl ...

light. The name "Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb" was granted Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

in 2010. Rhubarb plants can also be grown under a rhubarb forcer, traditionally a ceramic pot which excludes the light.

References

Horticultural techniques {{Horticulture-stub

See also

References