On 2 Sep 2012, at 22:06, Richard wrote: > Holding Fritillaria corms ? > > F. affinis, pudica and camschatcensis > Currently, I'm holding in moistened wood shavings at 60 - 64 degrees F. > Can I hold them under these conditions until early spring (April) ? > Suggestions? Too warm, and the wood shavings may harbor fungi and encourage rotting. Pot them up and park the pots in a cold frame for the winter. Do it now. Water once, and let it go at that. In fact, having lost F. pudica myself more than once, I'd say to pot it in barely damp soil and give it no water at all until you see leaves. It's very close to being a snowmelt plant that compresses its entire life cycle into a few short weeks in spring and is dormant the rest of the year. F. affinis can withstand considerable summer drought. F. camschatensis prefers damper conditions. If you don't have a cold frame, just parking the pots under the eaves where the rain can't get at them may suffice. If you are apartment bound so pots are out of the question, store the bulbs in clean washed sand, nearly dry for F. pudica, dampish for F. affinis, slightly damper for F. camschatensis and keep them in the refrigerator. This is why God invented Ziploc bags. In general frits are delicately sensitive to summer moisture levels. Too much and they'll rot, too little and the bulbs will shrivel. The late Molly Grothaus down in the Portland area used to grow her frit collection in upended flue tiles near a cherry tree that gave light summer shade. When she lifted the bulbs in summer, if they were shrivelled, she'd move them a little close to the tree where they'd get more shade. Each species had its own preference. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate