Hi all, This is an interesting discussion. I have far too many bulbs to repot them every year. I grow in a gritty mix (Promix BX Biofungicide + sand + Granite chick starter grit, 2 : 1 : 1 ) mainly in plastic pots (1/2-gal. = 5.5 in. sq. X 6 in. deep; 1-gal. round black plastic; 2-gal. round black plastic = 22 cm diameter X 22 cm deep). Many of the summer dormant bulbs stay in their pots inside the greenhouse, where the summer temperatures on sunny afternoons can reach 125°F with shade and exhaust fans running. Many of those that couldn't take this much heat have passed on to their eternal rewards. Most of the Lachenalia and the winter-growing Haemanthus have done just fine. Massonia and Androcymbium also tolerate this treatment. Only 2 bulbs of Brunsvigia littoralis have survived the regimen, out of many Brunsvigia species I have started from seeds over the years. If I am going to repot some bulbs, I try to do it just a few weeks before they are expected to come out of dormancy. For the summer-dormant bulbs, that means mainly in August and September here in the Northern Hemisphere. I have too many bulbs in pots to repot more often than every 3 to 6 years. I run somewhat of a "Darwinian" greenhouse for bulbs -- survival of the fittest only. There are very, very few bulbs requiring individual treatment and special conditions that I have time to fuss with. Best regards, Jim Shields At 06:08 PM 7/8/2008 -0700, you wrote: >I know that some growers prefer to repot each year but for all my geophytes >I allow them to remain in their containers. Typically a pot of bulbs or a >single bulb will stay in the same (very lean and sandy) mix for several >years. This scenario provides for excellent insulation against heat and >desiccation and other damage; I keep all containers shaded over the summer. >This approach has worked well for me in two key areas: saving time and >effort, and keeping the plants happy. > >One year I decided to store my lachenalias in small paper bags over the >summer and it was a disaster. A type of "bulb mealybug" (not root mealy) got >into almost every bag due to the ease of access, and I did not discover the >damage until fall. > >Dylan Hannon > >Dylan Hannon Rare Bulbs > >On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:08 PM, Jim McKenney <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> >wrote: > > > This year I'm making an effort to get all of my summer dormant bulb > > collection out of the ground (or out of their pots) for a census followed > > by > > storage in the house until they are replanted in late summer or early fall. > > > > It's obvious that not all bulbs need the same summer treatment. For > > instance > > tunicated bulbs such as tulips generally store without problems while > > un-tunicated bulbs such as frits can be very touchy about moisture levels. > > In fact, in my experience Fritillaria are subject to injurious desiccation > > when stored dry and exposed to air. > > > > One potentially useful aid is the use of plastic bags. But I've learned the > > hard way that there is a right way to do it. Janis Ruksans in his Buried > > Treasures advises caution in the use of plastic bags, and he's right: many > > bulbs will quickly rot if taken moist from the ground as they are entering > > dormancy and placed in plastic bags. > > > > But I'm convinced that frits need an artificial tunic if they are to > > withstand dry storage. For the big frits such as Fritillaria imperialis and > > F. persica, I wrap the individual bulbs in newspaper. This not only > > prevents > > too much drying, but the newspaper cushions the tender bulbs. For small > > frits I put them in envelopes of newspaper for two or three weeks, checking > > them occasionally to see how things are going. Once I'm convinced that they > > are no longer losing water and are thoroughly dry, I move them into plastic > > bags for the rest of the storage period. > > > > These plastic storage bags have several advantages, the most interesting > > one > > being that one can easily observe the bulbs as they undergo subtle changes > > during dormancy. They also make it easy to quickly spot problems such as > > mold or rot. And if the bulbs begin to look too dry, it's easy to give them > > a light spritz of water. I think that to do this early in the storage > > period > > would kill them; but later in the summer it seems to help them. > > > > After reading the above, I realized that I've been puffing away as if I > > were > > an expert about this. But I'm still feeling my way, and luckily enjoying > > some successes. Don't take this as advice. I'm really just fishing for > > responses here: what do the rest of you do? > > > > I mentioned Janis Ruksan's Buried Treasures above. I was lucky to meet and > > spend hours alone with Janis during the Washington, D.C. leg of his tour. I > > took a real liking to him. But now that I've spent some time with his book, > > I sincerely and respectfully wish his publisher had taken up Jane McGary's > > offer to edit the book. The occasionally clumsy English is not the problem. > > A sympathetic, experienced, knowledgeable editor with a backbone would have > > avoided other infelicities, such as the irritating and seemingly > > irrelevant > > blocks of text touting plants easily available in the current trade. Whose > > idea was that? > > > > Jim McKenney > > jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com > > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA > > zone > > 7, where seed is about to ripen on Sprekelia formosissima. > > My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ > > BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ > > > > Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS > > Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ > > > > Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA