Pleione humilis: small bulbils

[JPB]

Hi, I was able to harvest some 50 small 1-2 mm bulbils. How to hibernate them properly? Any suggestions? Thanks , HAns

[mark smyth]

most people over here store them almost dry in a frost free place until after January. A few people, including me, keep them outside all year. Mine are in troughs and the peat bed. Someone else I know grows them in a very gritty raised bed.

I think you will have to keep such small pseudobulbs somewhere where they will not dessicate

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I've experienced that the trick to keep the smallest bulbils going is to make sure they are not kept too dry over winter.
I've succesfully tried small plastic bags with very sparingly moistened moss, in the fruit container of the fridge. 

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Luc, that is what we used to do. Even in a fridge we use as a "seed fridge", where sometimes it would be switched off, but still provide a steady cool temperature. ( This fridge is in a shed)

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I'm not as well equipped as you Maggi...
I have to be very friendly to the Mrs (which I always am of course  ) and rent some space in the kitchen fridge..  .

[Maggi Young]

I'm not as well equipped as you Maggi...

well, Luc, we are well equipped... you might even say fully equipped; of course, we are not necessarily fully functioning!
Ian was good enough to buy me my own  electric cement mixer, also very handy for mixing potting compost, so I thought the least I could do was to buy him his own seed fridge. I got one very cheap, it had a couple of dents and scratches on the outside so no-one else wanted it!

[JPB]

Thanks, I'll try the trick with the slightly moistened moss in the fridge. At least some will survive, I guess...

Hans

[lkelly]

Hi,

Did you have any success with the humilis bulbils?

The only time I had success with getting the going and over wintering was to spread them over the moss the parents were growing in and just leave them to it.