Mathew, In Holland they are very good at that. The bulbs are planted in the spring, lifted the end of the summer and put in warm storage (to simulate the summer dormancy) These bulbs are offered for sale in the spring. The species concerned are Moraeas, Tritonia, Sparaxis, but I suppose that this procedure may also apply to Haemanthus coccineus. For this experiment you better buy bulbs grown in th southern hemisphere. Bonne chance Lauw de Jager BULB'ARGENCE Mas d'Argence 30300 FOURQUES, France tel 33(0)466 016 519 ou 33(0)877 733 970 fax (0)466 011 245 Code Skype telephone: dejagerlauw http://www.bulbargence.com/ mailto: dejager@bulbargence.com > I guess this is a strange topic, since most of us try very hard to simulate > the conditions our bulbs experience in the wild, but has anyone successfully > encouraged winter-growing Haemanthus to grow during the summer in the > northern hemisphere? I guess there would be very little point for those of > you living in California, but what about the people who live in less > sun-kissed climates? > > I often think about how much easier it would be if my winter growing > Haemanthus would just grow in the summer when the light would be better. > I've never tried to get them to grow in the summer instead, primarily > because I'm not sure about what triggers dormancy and growth in Haemanthus. > I used to think it was drought followed by moisture, but I now keep the base > of the pots damp during dormancy in order to keep the roots in good > condition and have, occasionally, had accidents with watering during > dormancy which don't seem to cause the plants to spring into growth. Is > temperature the trigger, or a combination of both? > > Has anyone got any thoughts on this? > > Matthew > UK > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >