Paperwhites are a bulb that is commonly grown indoors around Christmas time along with amaryllis and sometimes tulips and crocuses. You can often find kits to grow these flowers throughout the winter months, which given our snow cover can be a really nice treat.
In the past, I've had some paperwhites from a kit. They grew easily and very well. So well, in fact, that the plant outgrew its container and constantly toppled over from the sheer height of the plant.
I ran across this article the other day: Drunken Paperwhites. My first thought was that it had to do with the top-heaviness of the plant and its tendency to tip over after a certain point. And it was to a point, but it was so much more than that. The author sited a study that found watering paperwhites with an alcohol solution stunted the growth of the foliage without stunting flower production making them more suitable to indoor containers. Brilliant! The study used any hard spirit (vodka, gin, whiskey) but will also work with a solution of rubbing alcohol. Whew! 'Cause who wants to waste the good stuff on a plant!
Apparently, it works! The only difference was that bulbs in a shallower container weren't as stunted. Curious. Still, an easy solution to have manageable indoor bulbs that don't topple over every time you walk by and lots of blooms, too!
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