Storing Dormant Snowdrop Bulbs

[Alan_b]

It is generally agreed that if you buy dry snowdrop bulbs from a garden centre you may experience limited success because some of the bulbs dry-out beyond the point of revival.  But I want to save some dormant bulbs from late May until a sale in August and I also have a scheme to plant early snowdrops late so that they flower late and I can cross-breed them with other snowdrops they would not normally meet.  What is the best way to store snowdrop bulbs keeping them sufficiently moist that they do not dry-out but sufficiently dry that they do not start to send-out roots?   

[Matt T]

You just want to reduce the rate that they lose water. There are many ways to do this, all basically entail not exposing them to the air.

Clean dry bulbs in bags of dry sand (as Ian Y stores bulb seed over the summer) kept in a cool place might work?

Or, pot them up in dry compost, put them somewhere shady and don't water them? My potted snowdrops successfully over-summer this way and this would be my preferred method.

[Alan_b]

Thanks Matt.  I have lots of snowdrops in pots and they over-summer in the dry conditions of south Cambridgeshire (drier than Mexico) without, usually, getting extra water.  But by mid August some of them may have started to root and that is what I want to prevent.  Dry sand sounds like quite a good idea but there is quite dry and egg-timer dry (where the sand will flow like a liquid).  I cannot believe egg-timer dry is good but then how dry is quite dry?

[Darren]

Are you sure moisture is the only trigger? Possibly a combination of this and cooler nights so I wondered if keeping them at a constant temperature to deny them this trigger might also help?

[johnw]

We store potted ones from June through latre Oct at a constant 65-68F. Making sure the pots are bone-dry as the leaves die down is the snag.  June here is humid and wet so we put lids over the pots or move them in to dry out; still some refuse to dry and then we plant a few seeds of rye grass - never again - or sunflower seeds in the pots and that works brilliantly.  Dry sand works quite well and I think Darren is quite correct that cool sparks rooting as last year I got lazy and left watering till Nov., caught them in the nick of time, some had .5" roots in dry medium.  Nerines on the other hand detect the tiniest drop in temps and are off and away in September.

Alan why not leave in pots or pot one or a few per pot and should they start to root sell them potted? 

john

[Alan_b]

I want to sell some at a dry bulb sale that takes place in August; others I want to force to flower later than they would normally.  For convenience I want to store the bulbs with the smallest possible volume of "packing" so maybe dry sand in a plastic bag in a cupboard in the house is the best answer.  Is the dry sand a protection against humidity in the air?  Is the problem with storing bulbs in the air that they can start to send out roots and then dry-out again so the roots die?

[Maggi Young]

Storage in the house might be too warm, Alan.   It is  dessication that does the most damage to 'drops I reckon, so indoors is too risky.

[Alan_b]

I'm getting mixed messages here.  Surely dry sand is a pretty effective desiccant?

[Maggi Young]

Yes, but  in a steady environment/ coolish temperature the sand will not draw all the moisture from the bulb and will allow the bulb to retain it's  starting moisture level  over time - so the bulb will not get over dry or  too damp via  rotting from transpired moisture... I may  not (  probably not) be expressing this very scientifically -  hope someone who understands the science better will help out!

 It is the same idea that results in seed stored in sand  being less dessicated than seed stored in paper bags

[johnw]

Sand as Maggi says reduces transpiration but there comes a point  - Nov/Dec - when the roots will come regardless of the conditions as they did one year in a missed flat, and mild temps . That's my experience. 

[partisangardener]

Maybe cool storage would do the job. They start to grow roots after a warm period getting cooler nights. Maybe the stay a while in waiting position for warmer temperatures if they miss out the warming up of the ground?

The ground is not yet warmed up here.

I always try to look at things from a different angle.