On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:33:57 -0000, "K"
wrote:

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...

: Pot them in sand, water *once*, and park the pot somewhere
: sheltered from the wind and rain. The bulbs are quite weak now
: from being out of the ground too long, and if you put them into
: soil many of them may rot. In sand, they have a better chance of
: plumping up and coming to life.
:
: If all goes well and they send up leaves in the spring, then feed
: them with a *weak* liquid fertilizer a few times -- about 1/4 as
: strong as normal. This will help them build up strength; sand
: isn't an awfully nutritious growing medium by itself.
:
: When the foliage yellows and dies down (June?), tip out the
: contents of the pot and plant out the resuscitated bulbs then and
: there.

Does this apply to other bulbs/corms? I have some tulips - which I gather
will be OK as they are late planters anyway. The others I have are anemone
de caen and dwarf lilies.

The method is one I learned (iirc) from one of E B Anderson's
books. I used to have plunge frames for my terra cotta seed pots
and would put weak and excessively desiccated bulbs directly into
the sand plunge; a surprising number eventually revived. To this
day I will pot up weak, flabby bulbs in sand for a season. Of
course, you can not expect 100% success, but it seems a better
course of action than planting them out directly in the garden.

The advantage of sand over soil is that it is more or less free
of pathogens: molds, fungi, bacteria, etc. And being inorganic
won't become infected with these during the winter.

As you already know, tulips can be planted quite late. They can
take quite a lot of drying off, as can many narcissus. But
Fritillaria meleagris, Leucojum vernuum, Anemone nemorosa,
lilies, and Eranthis hyemalis (to name a few examples) detest the
usually drying off given to bulbs. It is perhaps better to give
all such as these the treatment I described.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada