Tulip forcing in 2002 was difficult. In many greenhouses, tulip crops were uneven, and overall, very short. Upon flowering, many pots had one or more stems with blind shoots, where the bud may have been aborted at a relatively late stage (perhaps when it was 1/2” long), or at a much earlier stage, where only a blackened stump and tiny remnants of a very small flower were present (Figure 1). In ...