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/ >