I learned a little lesson about bulb-growing this week, and wanted to pass it along. I grow about 300 pots of summer-dormant bulbs, in pots that rest on pallets on a hillside. Last winter I noticed that in some of the pots, the plants were suddenly turning yellow and dying back. I had done some Roundup spraying nearby a couple of weeks before, and I assumed I had accidentally gotten some spray on the plants. I was very mad at myself. But the problem continued to spread, with some of the pallets having more trouble than others. Finally I decided that it might be a fungus infection, so I watered the pots with fungicide. That immediately stopped the problem. But I couldn't figure out where the fungus came from. I hadn't changed the soil mix I use, or the fertilizer, and this is a problem I never had before. I wondered if maybe I had gotten a contaminated batch or perlite or something. Then this week, when I was repotting the bulbs, I noticed that underneath some of the pots the wooden pallets had dried white patches of rot on them. Although the pots are made of redwood (which resists rot) they are over ten years old and are starting to decay. Once I knew to look for it, I could see dried white patches inside some of the pots as well. I believe now that rot was starting in the wooden slats, and then spreading up into the pots, where it nailed the bulbs. Lesson learned; I am putting fiberglass sheets under the pots, and I'll also treat them with fungicide at the start of the growing season. I am also thinking about using pressure-treated lumber when I replace the pallets, but I worry that the chemicals might poison the bulbs. Any thoughts on that? Anyway, if you grow your bulbs on wooden benches or in wooden boxes, this may be something to watch out for. Mike San Jose, CA