Re problems with Calochortus seeds, Jim planted all fall and winter - though of course he was planting more than Calochortus - he did Allium, Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, Triteleia, and even Erythronium, Fritillaria, and Lilium, so he had a lot on his plate (I helped him as much as I could). As a result he tended to try to get any "wet-growing" species in the ground earliest. This was in Sonoma County, where rainfall averaged 30-35 inches a year, but varied from 20 to 60+ in the years we were there. Particularly he discovered that the Mariposa-type Calochortus did just as well or better when he planted them in January or even early February, before the rains stopped. He thus began to advise people who purchased seeds of them to plant those species in "late winter." You might indeed do better with them following that plan. You don't indicate which species you are working with, but if you confine early planting to wet-growers only (C. nudus, C. uniflorus, and C. minimus, for example) and do the others later, you might well have better results. It's certainly worth a try ! The only time Jim used any fungicide was to dip Lilium bulbs before shipping them. So I can't offer any ideas about cinnamon or chamomile as "non-chemical fungicides". Perhaps someone else will advise you about those. Diana will be visiting me at Thanksgiving, so I will try to get her "on-line" at my computer long enough to add her own thoughts on this question.