Dear All, We discussed Flotation on this list in great detail in November 2002. Lee Poulsen had a very complete response that I reposted from another list: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/… But anyone interested might want to read some of the other posts on this subject from the same time. The search on our archive page was working just now, but who knows for how long. I'm with Cynthia however about losing seeds in transplanting. I've tried flotation with all kinds of winged seeds and it does work and is very gratifying to see results so quickly. When I did three or four experiments (when I had enough seeds to try it two ways) of flotation and direct planting I had a lot more survivors from direct planting as I lost a lot of seeds after I potted them on. John Harris wrote an article about growing Hippeastrum from seed in the Spring 2000 issue of BULBS. Since I edited that article I remember it well. I have modified his method a little for myself and have had wonderful success using it for Hippeastrum, Rhodophiala, Cyrtanthus, etc. Very briefly for John's method: you add whatever soil you prefer to use to a pot and water it well. Add sand or grit to the top. Use a label or something like that to make a vertical slit and place the seeds on their sides in the slits with some of the seed out of the soil. Put the pot in a plastic bag and close it. He put his under lights and found seed sprouting in about 10 days. He left them in the bag without watering them until the green shoots were taller (7-15 cm., or 3-6 in.) and then removed the bag and watered enough to keep the moisture wet adding dilute fertilizer. He reported that at about 6-8 weeks he had to transplant as at that point the leaves were 25cm (10 in) long and the bulbs 1 cm (1/2 in ) wide. This method is really very easy and eliminates the worry about changing water and transplanting germinating seeds when they are tiny with brittle roots. For those people who want to try flotation I recommend reading Lee's post and some of the others in the archives for that month. Mary Sue