>Those findings dealt mainly with >Narcissus, Tulip, and a few other varieties of bulbs that are produced >commercially in huge quantities. We have to extrapolate from those to >other bulbs. > >Essentially, all bulbs need to be fed only once or twice a year: when the >roots are active and when the tops are actively growing. Respectfully disagree with how Jim states this. There are other bulbs on which a very great deal is known. For instance, try a websearch on "Easter Lilies + fertilizing" or go to Walter Britton's Website http://camosun.bc.ca/~jbritton/netlil/… and follow some of the links. There are numerous studies of lilies showing when roots grow, nitrogen is translocated, etc, etc. They aren't necessarily all in one place or published on the internet. Different bulbs have different growth cycles. Your goal as a grower of any bulb is to have the fertilizer available to the roots as or just before the roots are ready to take up nutrients. You also have to factor in the fact that nutrients move through the soil/potting mix at different rates, and are absorbed differently at different pHs. Nitrogen for instance is moved as much as 18" into the soil by ONE inch of rain or irrigation. A pot or container is usually highly leached, at least for nitrogen, but other, less mobile fertilizers can build up to toxic levels. Note the white deposits of salts on the insides of even plastic pots. The top growth of the bulb is already contained within the bulb, and fertilizing by the appearance of the top growth is useless. (The top growth does need water, and nitrogen may be taken up by the roots and translocated, but the topgrowth can be completed even if you grow the bulb in marbles, without any nutrient but moisture.) The exception is when a particular plant is unable to absorb nutrients from the soil, due to poor roots or whatever, and foliar feeding can provide some improvement, particularly in appearance. Fortunately, most potting mixes contain organic matter, which can absorb the nitrogen and later release it as the organic matter decays. Peat moss has an extremely high capacity to do this (CEC or cation exchange capacity). Osmocote, Nutricote and similiar fertilizers have a coating which slows the absorbtion of water and thus the release of fertilizer. This works well for plants which need an even supply of nutrients, or a temperature related supply, such as, say, petunias. It may not be a good choice for the specialized growth cycle of flowering bulbs. It may work well for seedling (juvenile) bulbs however. In the end, you have to take the best advice you can get, and adapt it to your own conditions, bulbs you grow, rainfall and temperture patterns, etc. Ken