Twin scaling

Twin-scaling is a method used primarily in commercial gardening to multiply plants. It is mainly used with densely built onions, such as those found in daffodils , snowdrops and hyacinths .

With twin scaling, the mother onion is divided in such a way that two onion scale segments are still connected by a piece of the onion base. After a treatment with fungicides, these segments are placed in a special nutrient medium and further cultivated there. Daffodils need about four years for these bulbs grown in this way to be able to flower. In this way, 25 to 35 spring onions can be grown from one large daffodil bulb.

There are special nurseries in Holland that specialize in this propagation of flower bulbs. Breeders of new varieties often send bulbs to these nurseries in order to grow a large variety of varieties.