Howdy, Thanks for your responses. I have a number of cybister seedlings and they are in a gritty mix. I find they are hesitant to become dormant and tolerate a little more moisture. The larger bulb I have is thoroughly intolerate of extra moisture. One or two waterings when it is dormant is enough to set in the rot. It should be noted that my climate is subtropical and quite wet nearlly all year. In fact my worsleya is a walk in the park to look after compared to H. cybister. The mix these came in when I purchased them appears to have beens: gritty small pebbles (2-3m) and sand (maybe river sand), vermiculite or perlite, and possibly a very small proportion of compost. Also slow release fertilizer had been added. Over-all the mixture was dense yet light and well draining. The pot for the larger bulb was the typical size in depth and circumference for a hippeastrum and the bulb seems to have done well (had put out a runner and was putting up a scarpe last year). It was planted with the shoulders just below the surface. After I accidently overwater this bulb I repotted it into a sharp mix of woodchips, pinebark, sand and compost however this year it grew OK but did not flourish as well as it had. I would not attempt to keep these growing after the leaves start dying back as they are not very forgiving of extra water. Also do not water them when leaves first appear, let them get a bit into growth before giving them a light watering. I have H. calyptratum growing from seed. I started them by wedging them into a sandy mix (50% sand, 50% compost) and they have been growing for over a year very happily. I trust they will determine at what depth they will go based on the mix and the environment. I'm told by others growing them that they are not epiipyhtic in this locality when in culture. Rgds, David. Central Coast, NSW, Australia. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.