Hello Robert, whatever you are told here, I'll be interested to read too as my friend Bill in Tauranga very recently gave me a large selection of Lachenalia species, both dormant bulbs and seeds and my experience with both is somewhat limited and not recent. So far I've sown the seed (just yesterday) as I do for Narcissus, Crocus and other small bulbs, on the surface of small pots and covered with grit. Though everything usually goes outside and stays there through the winter, with Lachenalia I think I'll bring the pots undercover when the frosts start, especially if anything has germinated by then.
I've potted the bulbs and again they are outside for now but will be brought under shelter as soon as there's any visible growth. A very few are hardy here but most succumb to more than a couple of degrees of frost. I've used just my ordinary potting mix with some grit in it, harder stuff like pine bark fines, a little compost and a sprinkle of general fertilizer including some sulphate of potash. The tops of the bulbs are about 3-4cms below the pot surfaces. With luck I'll have some photos to show in the spring. The colours of the range Bill gave me include yellows/orange/reds/lavender/blues and greens and turquoise. I think there's a white one as well.
I should have said, the dormant bulbs were quite dry and I think Bill had had them in airy trays for some time but they were very firm and plump and in excellent condition. I suspect though, that those we can buy from garden centres, in packets are TOO dry and have been out of the ground too long as they are usually looking a bit shrivelled by the time we get them. For seedlings I would tend to replant them right away even if keeping the compost dry or almost dry for a time until roots were expected to start, then giving them a water. Like tiny fritillarias I think they would deteriorate very quickly as they have no outer thick coat such as a daffodil or tulip has.
