Here is an article on the effects of pre-chilling tulip bulbs http://wwwlib.com/ .http://teiep.gr/images/stories/… Note that it is *not* the initiation of the flower bud which is effected, it is the shoot growth, it's rate of growth to flowering, and the production of offsets. Perhaps, in warmer climates, the increased speed of growth may be critical to get the Tulips to flowering before summer aborts the buds with premature dormancy? I failed to get Tulipa sprengeri to flower from seeds several times. It dives very deep in the pots and the bulbs would not get bigger. pPanting pots of two year old seedlings in the ground was much more successful. Peter (UK) On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote: > Since I prechill the tulips > I grow every year since it doesn't get very cold here and otherwise > they don't bloom, I've never been sure what to do with seedlings and > have just left them in the pots in the shade until they were bigger > so perhaps that too could be a problem. This year the sprengeri bulbs > I still have left (the survival rate has not been good) are in the > refrigerator with the rest of my tulips, but they are very small. > Makiko Goto-Widerman makikogotowiderman@me.com via<http://support.google.com/mail/bin/…> > lists.ibiblio.org > 6:47 PM (22 hours ago) > > to Pacific > Mary Sue, > I also live in Southern California, Orange County. I used to keep tulipbulbs in floral refrigerator > in fall before planing them in December. It is too warm to set flowers > here. >