I may have asked this but I forget the details of answers ;).
Costco and other retailers are now selling bulbs.
For a few reasons it would be good to be able to plant them in August or early September.
Are there (m)any reasons to not plant them so early?
Can one 'safely' plant bulbs now?
Rouge,
I'm very interested in hearing others input about this also.
I ordered some bulbs including lilies from 2 on line places...one estimated shipment mid Sept. I received my bulbs in early August from the other. I asked if I should refrigerate them and was told by someone on this site that Lily bulbs should be planted right away as the would dry out, unlike days etc.
What bulbs are you wanting to plant?
I also have another question for anyone who can answer.....so I planted my Lily bulbs on 8/8 and 2+ weeks later, about 50% -- or more -- are growing. Will the fact that they were planted on the early side be detrimental to blooms next yr? I'm assuming the first frosts will kill them before they blooms year?
Valal ~ Your Lily bulbs may be Spring planted bulbs if they are growing now. Fall planted lily bulbs have well established roots and will not grow again until next Spring after its dormancy period. ....
Although the lilies to grow out completely until frost....although I would transplant them into containers deep enough to get their roots established and bring the growing plants indoors to complete their growing cycle Once they have bloomed, allow the plant to die back naturally to allow the bulb to replenish its nutrients back to the bulb. Then place the containers outdoors - covered from critters along with around the pot to keep from freezing...You will be forcing the bulb to go through a quick growing cycle until it can settle in your garden next Spring.
Hope this helps.
Correction:
Allow the lilies to grow out completely until frost.
Thanks SP!
Anytime!
For spring flowering bulbs it is not wise to plant them until your soil is cool enough so the bulbs don't spout prematurely. I wait until our soil has dropped to 50 to 55 degrees as per suggestions in many books on bulbs. Planting them sooner will only zap energy from the bulb as it sends up premature foliage and lessen their blooming glory come spring. The bulbs do need time to root before a hard freeze. Sadly buying bulbs in a hot store in the summer is never a good idea. I have all the 3 to 4 thousands bulbs that we plant yearly shipped in October as that is best time for us to ensure that they don't arrive already cooked and sprouting in the box. The bulb vendors specializing in bulbs keep them in cool dark warehouses until the appropriate shipping dates for a particular zone. We watch the weather and often don't plant until late Nov and even later but we are in zone 6. Lillium can be planted as soon as you get them, but check to see that they are firm and not moldy when buying from any store. However we wait to plant ours when the soil temperature has cooled off and we have cleaned up all the beds of any plant litter.
Good luck. And planting any bulbs is better than no bulbs, so hopefully yours will do just fine. If you haven't planted them, just put them in a cool dark like a basement until the weather cools off. Patti
.
This message was edited Sep 3, 2014 12:41 AM
Thanks patti...I am not far from you.
I ordered on line expecting Sept shipping and got them 1st so of July. Won't order from them again but all are planted and will hope for the best
Valal, which place did you order from?
Don't know if I want to say....Lol
It was DirectGardening. Also they promised bulbs 2-4x the ones I received
Hmm...make sure you post about your experience in the Garden Watchdog.
Already done :-)
Wow, not much good to say about those people. I checked out the reviews and I don't think I've ever seen so much negative feedback. Terrible.