FFA Floriculture Practice Test

What practice involves planting bulbs out of season to have a year-round supply of cut flowers?

1. Harvesting

2. Forcing

3. Grafting

4. Cross-pollinating

The correct answer is: Forcing

Forcing is a horticultural practice designed to manipulate the growing conditions of plants, particularly bulbs, so they bloom out of their normal season. This technique involves providing the bulbs with an artificial environment that mimics the conditions they would typically experience in their natural habitat during their growing season. By controlling factors such as temperature, light, and moisture, growers can stimulate the bulbs to sprout and flower at specific times, allowing for a continual supply of cut flowers throughout the year, regardless of the natural blooming season. This practice is particularly valuable in the floriculture industry, where consistent availability of flowers is crucial for meeting market demands. Other options do not align with this specific practice: harvesting refers to the collection of mature plants or flowers, grafting is a method of joining two plants together to grow as one, and cross-pollinating involves transferring pollen from one flower to the stigma of another to produce seeds. None of these practices focus on the timing of blooming through environmental manipulation like forcing does.