Research on paperwhites, or how to grow shorter flowers

Do you like to force bulbs like paperwhites? I certainly enjoy the flowers but get frustrated by floppy plants and tipped over pots. The Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell University is coming to our rescue!

What to do
We suggest planting your paperwhite bulbs in stones, gravel, marbles, glass beads, etc. as
usual. Add water as you normally would, then wait about 1 week until roots are growing,
and the shoot is green and growing about 1-2” above the top of the bulb. At this point,
pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 4 to 6% alcohol, made from just about
any “hard” liquor. You can do the calculations to figure the dilution, but, as an example,
to get a 5% solution from a 40% distilled spirit (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila),
you add 1 part of the booze to 7 parts of water. This is an 8-fold dilution yielding 5%
alcohol.

Then you just grow the plant as normal while watering with the alcohol solution. (click the link above for complete instructions and explanation) This is really clever. I may have to try forcing bulbs again.