Winter bulb storage and handling of fleshy rooted bulbs

[petershaw]

I am trying to get my seedling and donated bulb pots divided and came across some with very fleshy roots.

Boophane, Brunsvigia josephine, Crossyne guttata. My hunch is to pot them up but keep them dry?

Lots of others seem pretty straightforward and will go into paper bags for the summer.

I had three Ferraria species that didn't come up from donated corms. Some pupated (which seems like a lack of chilling or dormancy?) but no vegetative growth. 

F. densepunctulata, F. divaricata and F. uncinata. 

Also Moraea polyanthos failed to sprout but the corms look fine.

Whats the idea planting depth for Ferraria?

I am behind and was hoping to get a number of packets of various species for the BX but may not make it.

[Arnold]

Peter

I find that my Ferrarias dive down to 5-6 inches in a black plastic pot.  I imagine even in a barely heated greenhouse the black plastic warms up.  When I've repotted them the corms are located below the parent corm in little runners.

[Robert_Parks]

I am trying to get my seedling and donated bulb pots divided and came across some with very fleshy roots.

Lots of others seem pretty straightforward and will go into paper bags for the summer.

I had three Ferraria species that didn't come up from donated corms. Some pupated (which seems like a lack of chilling or dormancy?) but no vegetative growth.

Also Moraea polyanthos failed to sprout but the corms look fine.

What's the idea planting depth for Ferraria?

I am behind and was hoping to get a number of packets of various species for the BX but may not make it.

Paper bags, lots and lots of small topless plastic containers on shelves, plastic compartment boxes. Or parked in dry potting mix in next year's pots on shelves.

Ferraria may require warm summer dormancy, I've had F. crispa corms dormant for years (until donated to BX).

Many winter bulbs do require warm dormancy, and will do a variety of things if they don't get it. Fail to break dormancy, grow poorly, don't flower or flower weakly, rot, proliferate into vast numbers of tiny bulblets, grow new bulbs without vegetation. 

I've removed most Lachenalia from my collection because I can't satisfy their summer dormancy easily. A few things get potted and parked on top of the grow lights inside. Other pots will get dry sun outdoors...I'll find out in the fall if that is enough.

Some bulbs love deep...and you have to notice in lifting or repotting, and use appropriate pots...which means you have to have an array of pots, from pan to tree pot.

Finally got the BX package done...today. So I can start prepping for the next BX because there are a lot of pots yet to be dormant.

Robert
in cool, sunny SF, still with geophyte flowers, moving from the winter growers to the summers, including a broad range of colors on potatoes (from true seed, Andean varieties).

[Uli]

My recommendation is to store bulbs in substrate especially if you live in hot and dry summer climates. Big mature bulbs can be stored in paper bags for some time but small seedling bulbs may shrivel away if stored that way. I keep my seedlings in their pots and give a light watering with a fine rose every 4 weeks or so. My summers are hot and very dry. Pots are kept in shade.

[Ottoline Clapham]

Hi Peter, I leave all my bulbs in there pots, seedlings , big bulbs, everything in there pots while dormant and then repot (if needed ) at the beginning of there growing season. Here we have a very hot dry summer and wet with occasional frost winter. My summer dormant bulbs get stacked into the potting bench box in the shade thus get the brunt of summer heat but in the shade. I am having great success with this method, and my Lachenalia are king. My winter dormant are subjected to the cold wind off the Sierras but protected from the rain all huddled under the table in out gazebo. I will try to add some pictures. 
Greetings Ottoline 
Zone 9b

[petershaw]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have left all my 2023 seedlings in their pots, and have tried to water them a tiny bit a few times. They are in my greenhouse in my propagator under the bench and are staying reasonably warm.

I had some 2 and 3 years seedling pots that had to be divided and I tried to get them bare rooted in time for the BX but could not, so now I have bags of bulbs .... Some still tiny and others quite big with roots.

I am now trying to decide how many of the almost 100 different ones I can keep. Some are going on Reddit as trades or cheap sales or gifts.