In the work reported here the mechanism of low temperature sensing is addressed and an attempt is made to clarify the role and possible interaction of both auxin and gibberellin in the regulation of cold‐induced stalk elongation in tulip. For this a simple in vitro system of tulip bottom internodes placed on tissue culture medium supplemented with various concentrations of the two hormones was used (a system adapted from Gabryszewska and Saniewski, 1983). The internodes were isolated from tulip bulbs that have been cooled for different periods of time to study the effect of a low temperature treatment on the ability to respond to the different hormones. The obtained dose–response curves are described in terms of a mathematical equation, adopted from the field of enzyme kinetics (as suggested by Weyers et al., 1987). The equation is fitted to the data using regression to obtain a working model for the regulation of stalk elongation by gibberellin, auxin and low temperature treatment. Possible analogies with stalk elongation in other plant species are discussed.