Add a little liquor and they’ll stay upright

Let’s get into the holiday spirit(s) a little early: Give your paperwhites a little nip of gin, vodka, whiskey, rum or tequila, and they won’t flop over, as leggy “Narcissus tazetta” are wont to do.

According to William B. Miller, director of the Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell University, one part booze to seven parts water yields a 5 percent alcohol solution that you can use instead of water. Make the switch after your paperwhites begin to sprout roots and a green shoot that’s an inch or 2 inches above the bulb.

Water normally till then.

“Watering” with alcohol after that, Miller says, will produce paperwhite stems that are one-third to one-half shorter than normal, making them much less likely to topple over.

The flowers will not be affected, and you won’t need to stake with chopsticks or twigs or anything else.

Miller suggests the alcohol makes it harder for the plant to absorb water. That reduces leaf and stem growth but isn’t enough to affect flower size or longevity.

You can also use rubbing alcohol in a solution that’s one part alcohol, 10 parts water.

But don’t use beer or wine. The sugars in them will cause problems.