You Can Easily Wax Your Own Flower Bulbs This Winter

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Credit: Amanda Blum

I have long loved forcing bulbs to flower inside my house all winter, but I am generally not great at remembering to water or upkeep them. Waxed bulbs appeal to me for a lot of reasons, mostly because they are hands off. You really can’t screw them up; you just put them someplace and walk away. They require no watering, just a little sunlight. 

How to wax flower bulbs for winter

You’ve likely seen waxed bulbs for sale, usually for around $20-30 a piece. Bulbs themselves, though, are actually quite inexpensive. Even this late in the season, I scored three giant amaryllis bulbs for $21 from Lowe’s. Amaryllis are generally what you use in these waxed bulbs, although you can force narcissus and tulips and all sorts of other bulbs as well this time of year—I just haven’t seen them waxed. 

My point is, you can save a lot of money by making your own waxed bulbs, and they make absolutely lovely gifts. All you need is the bulbs and some wax, and once you’ve waxed the bulbs, they don’t need any water or fertilizer; it already has everything it needs in it. 

A note worth mentioning: Bulbs are perennial, so they can come back again and again when planted outside, as long as when you cut the flowers that sprout, you leave enough leaves behind for the plant to power through to next year. Once you wax a bulb, it’s quite hard to convert to a bulb you plant outside, though; it would require scraping off all the wax and regrowing roots. Most people who force bulbs inside don’t actually end up planting them outside—they just get tossed after they bloom. It's also worth noting that if you wax the bulbs, you can’t ever compost them. 

Peel the bulbs

Wax won’t stick to the papery outer leaves of a bulb, so the first act is to peel them away until you reach the pale center of the bulb. Like an onion, you simply pull away the outside to reveal the center. 

Cut off the roots

Bulbs have what’s called a basal plate that the roots grow off of. If you cut that off, the bulb, in an effort to survive, gets the message that they should immediately go to flower and will send up a shoot. It’s also helpful to give the bulb a flat side to rest on. Using a serrated knife, cut above the roots but below the bulb sphere. 

Soak it, then dry it

The magic of the waxed bulb is that it keeps all the moisture in the bulb, so it never requires water once it is waxed. But first, you need to saturate the bulb, so take a bowl of warm water, and soak the bulbs for four to eight hours—but no more. You won’t want it waterlogged. 

Place the bulb on a towel and let it air dry for a few hours. Don’t worry, the bulb isn’t going to dry out; just its surface will. 

Prepare the wax

There are all kinds of wax out there, from soy to paraffin, or even the kind of wax you use for crayons. I’ve read reviews that suggest you can use any wax, but I prefer soy wax. You can get soy wax online easily; you won't need more than a pound or two, and you can color the wax using dyes made specifically for it. (Or you can use uncolored soy wax, which is is translucent.) You want to melt it in something you don't mind destroying, and I find plastic deli containers are the perfect size—they're just large enough for the bulb to fit in, so you're not wasting wax by melting too much. You probably have a few around, and they're microwaveable. Otherwise, getting the wax out of a pot you intend to use for something else will be miserable. Because you want to dip the bulb, you need to melt enough for the bulb to be mostly submerged. Fill the can with soy wax flakes, and let them melt; keep adding wax until the can is two-thirds of the way full.  The best way to melt them in the microwave is to fill the container with the flakes, then microwave in thirty second bursts, opening the microwave and checking between each burst. As the wax melts, you'll need to add more. In all, it took about six minutes of microwaving to get all the wax completely melted; it doesn't require any stirring.

Before you start dipping, you'll also need a container of the same size filled with cold water.

Dip the bulb

Hold the bulb by the shoot at the top and slowly dip it into the wax. You’re going to stop about an inch and a half from the shoot at the top. Count to five and then slowly pull the bulb back out, and let it drip above the container of wax. Once it stops dripping, move to the can of water and quickly dunk the bulb. Move fast or you’ll get lines in the wax. This should solidify the wax. Use a kitchen towel to gently dry it off. Water on the bulb won't let new wax stick to it.

In total, you'll want to dunk each bulb three or four times. On the last time, you’ll take the bulb out and instead of letting it drip off, quickly move the bulb to the tin foil, and set the flat size on the foil. The wax will pool a little at the base.  Hold it there until the wax solidifies enough for the bulb to stand on its own and then let the wax cool completely before peeling it off the tin foil. 

Now, place the bulb near a window and watch it grow. You’ll see the sprout happening within 10 days or so.