Possible Move...Help Please

[Kristl Walek]

This may be too general of a question--but my property is for sale, and I am not yet sure if it will sell, or not. In anticipation of the possibility, I want to ensure that I dig as many of the bulbous species while I still roughly know where they are in the garden. The question is what next?

Right now I am staring at bowls full of Corydalis bulbs that I dug yesterday. But all sorts of other bulb genera are in question as well.

Do I pot them or do something else with them? I am thinking about all the possible scenarios including ease of moving (bulk), happiness of plants.
What to do if I don't move by the fall? What to do if I do move by fall or late fall?

I have plenty of fridges, I also have a large sand plunge bed here (and could quickly construct one at the other end if I do move)....

Your ideas?

[mark smyth]

I would have thought pot up and bring together all bulbs that are the same into one pot. I mean all bulbs of the same species or cultivar

[ranunculus]

Hi Kristl,
May I suggest potting up as many as possible into much larger, deeper containers (i.e. plasterers mixing baths perhaps or large plastic barrels) that could be moved quite easily but will not require emptying until you are good and ready. Layering the bulbs to their normal planting depths will accommodate a huge number of bulbs and they MAY (cross fingers) survive your tremendous frosts.  Leaving them in fridges or dry storage MAY result in dessication or pest problems.

[Kristl Walek]

Thank you---that is exactly what I needed to know. I was trying to figure out if one could *safely* put them inside plastic bags in slightly moist peat/spaghnum/etc. just to have less bulk to move and then keeping them in fridge over winter and replanting next spring....

While I often do this with tender Arisaema, etc, I know it is a tricky business balancing the too dry/too moist equation- dessication or rot. And I think I am safer with pots (which could be plunged over winter either here or in the new location).

Soon I will have to do the Galanthus (seed still ripening)....and many others.

[Paddy Tobin]

Kristi,

Been there, done that!

Certainly putting the bulbs into pots is the safest bet - you cannot be sure when you will be able/want to plant the bulbs out. If in pots they have a good chance of growing away even if left in the pots. If left in plastic bags you will be under pressure to get them out and into the soil, probably rushing the whole affair, planting them in the incorrect position, losing labels, too much rush, not enough time for thought and planning etc. etc.  a certain recipe for disaster and these plants are precious to you so why take such risks.

Paddy

[Susan Band]

Krystal, rather than pots you could 'pot' them in some sort of stackable containers, they won't be showing above ground til the spring and you could keep in a shed or something if necessary. As Paddy said make sure you protect them from rodents. If and when you do find space for a sand bed they could be plunged in that provided you have drainage holes. Polystyrene boxes would be ideal especially if you have a lot of one kind.
Susan

[Lesley Cox]

In general I'd agree with what's said above. Don't store dry or in plastic bags as they could dessicate if left dry (or in paper bags) and if not planted at the right time, the ones in plastic will make roots and tops which are desperate to find a way out of the bags and will be lank and floppy, yellowish.
I'd also go with Susan's stackable container suggestion - to a degree with a warning. Beware of the growing times for those underneath, as I forgot about, in the summer. In January a tray with Cyclamen libanoticum tubers was stacked with others above and below. By March, the following horrible result.