$2,000 in lost sales: Failure with late winter tulips

All good things must come to an end. After what I consider to be quite a successful early winter tulip forcing program, things took a turn after Valentine's Day.
We spend alot of time talking about attrition, what is a generally acceptable attrition for tulips and what this failure meant for me $$ wise. We also touch upon high level what happened and what this means for my 2025 winter forcing program plans.
Videos mentioned:
Brynhill Flower Farm: Year 2 growth, expansion to CSA & flower holiday logistics: • Brynhill Flower Farm: ...
Winter Tulips Costs & Profits Uncovered!: • Costs & profitability ...
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[@tuskegeehoney]

It's good to hear about success and failure. So many other videos don't talk about the failures and then when you fail, you can feel like you did something wrong, when it's actually just the learning process! Good information! Thanks

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thanks for this. Totally a part of the learning process. Failure is so important and necessary because without it, we fall under the illusion that we're successful even though it may actually have been more luck than anything else!

[@OregonShearwater]

Thank you for your transparency, Jess.❤

[@HikeMichigan]

One of the reasons I appreciate you so much is that you are problem solving and sharing it with us. Often, the answer is to pivot. And Christmas tulips? Yeah!!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you find value in the problem-solving content :)

[@jessicawoodruff3078]

So helpful to see the failure along with all the successes.

[@bareflowerfarm]

For sure! It’s not rainbows and butterflies 🤪

[@SPGOG]

Really like your honest post. Lot to learn. Sorry for your loss.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I appreciate this! I know it comes with the territory!

[@lisalott7646]

I am so sorry, this is so sad! I love your videos, thanks for sharing!

[@michellebeatty7899]

Great analysis and planning for next year. 😊

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thanks Michelle!

[@lindasowash7054]

So sorry to hear this but it’s the nature of the beast in our business. Losses and wins. That’s what we have. Enjoy the wins and learn from the losses. I took the tulip workshop and I’m quite nervous but I won’t know if I don’t try. Chin up. Better days (flowers) coming.

[@bareflowerfarm]

For sure. Success without failure in this realm is an illusion. Forcing tulips is an advanced technique and one even the pro's are constantly still gaining knowledge in. I wish you luck- a ton are quite successful so don't be nervous!

[@NicholeElizabeth]

Great vid 👍🏻

[@bareflowerfarm]

Glad you enjoyed

[@fionavietje2430]

This was so interesting to hear! I love the analysis and pivoting thought processes you’re sharing. Thank you for that! Can you share what is the max and minimum percentage of humidity tulip bulbs can handle when they’re in the cooler?

[@bareflowerfarm]

I'm glad you found it interesting! Technically the guides say that humidity should be no more than like 80% but my Govee has shown it to be above 80% in the fridge. Alot also depends on the health of the bulb itself when it arrives!

[@josephgiangrande9892]

Sorry to hear the bad news. Stay strong. Joe The Grower

[@bareflowerfarm]

Appreciate the kind words :)

[@jesi89]

"Slow as molasses" is definitely a saying

[@bareflowerfarm]

Haha i was close!!! I always butcher sayings 🫠

[@fabioisidoro5375]

I think humidity is not a problem, in Holland tulips are cultivated near the sea without humidity problems. Mold grows on dead tissues, it's normal, the problem is to understand why part of the bulb or the whole bulb is dead. Tulips are difficult.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Humidity is definitely a problem when storing and even cooling. The reason why the Dutch are successful is because they have complex systems in place to control humidity to the optimal level. To your point though, understanding what happened with the bulb is key. In normal circumstances, I would send a sample to my local extension office but since I'm not quite sure what I would do with the information (outside of satisfying my curiosity), I didn't.

[@chuffman24]

Curious to see how much the rev from this video about the loss will offset the loss. Is the supplier giving you any sort of credit for next season or making amends another way?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Realistically, a couple of bouquets at best in terms of offsetting the loss. Feedback was provided to the supplier but none of us expect any form of compensation since the bulbs all arrived quite healthy and we're all thinking it must be farm production related. The bigger lesson for me that I care about is figuring out why it happened and I do feel I potentially got some learnings to avoid this from happening on a bigger scale.

[@lindatweedie5700]

How many made it ? Will you try this again next year?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Definitely trying again next year. Still worth forcing!

[@donnabauerofbrilliancebyde1178]

Who did you buy your bulbs from?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Mostly from little farmhouse flowers

[@roebuckmountainfarm196]

💐 No disrespect, but your grow lights are weak, get a HPS system or a full spectrum LED with a adjustable dimmer, good luck 💐

[@bareflowerfarm]

The grow lights here for tulips are actually sufficient! When you start trying to grow things like fruiting vegetables, then a full spectrum set up is definitely beneficial!

[@donnabauerofbrilliancebyde1178]

Why would you encourage the deer to come to your yard….yikes

[@bareflowerfarm]

What would you suggest I do with the bulbs in this case then? The deer are coming whether I have bulbs or not.

[@robertbates6494]

I’m sorry to hear that you had so much attrition in the latter part of your season. I have a similar stalled tray I started Jan 1 and it still hasn’t bloomed. Will you be doing similar stats on you in field tulips? I wonder if attrition in the field is the same as in hydro.