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Avatar for Silverlake115
Oct 31, 2015 2:56 PM CST
Thread OP

Has anyone tried unpotting asiatic bulbs, packaging them somehow, and then putting them in the food freezer. Then in the spring, repotting them and growing them outside.
I have a variety of asiatic that I want to continue to grow in a pot, but can't think of a way to overwinter such bulbs.
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Oct 31, 2015 3:55 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Tracey
Midwest (Zone 5a)
Garden Photography Tomato Heads Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Pollen collector Forum moderator Hybridizer
Plant Database Moderator Cat Lover I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member Garden Ideas: Master Level Seed Starter
I pack mine in slightly damp peat moss in separate bags, each variety labeled and bagged. I place them all in a box, tightly/ firmly packed. I then take the box in November here and tightly wrap it in two towels and place it in my attached garage, where they will live until March. I then pot them up in my garage until late April, in my climate , when I can safely move them outdoors. Have done it 4 years like this with no loss of bulbs.
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Oct 31, 2015 3:59 PM CST
Name: Lorn (Roosterlorn)
S.E Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Bee Lover Lilies Pollen collector Seed Starter Region: Wisconsin
If you live in Zone 6, which I think you do, then you should have no trouble wintering over Asiatics outside in pots, provided they have proper drainage and get protection from early spring freeze-thaw cycles. To accomplish this, dig a hole a little larger than the pot (or a trench if more than one pot). Place pot ON IT'S SIDE in the hole and cover forming a mound on top with the extra soil. You won't even need to mulch; your bulbs will be just fine

Another way (since these are Asiatic) is to store the pots in an outdoor UNHEATED garage or shed. The soil will become quite dry but that's ok for the most part. You may add a little water in mid January. And then watch closely for growth starting in early March because things will start warming up pretty fast inside an outdoor shed in March. If you move the pots back outside in March, keep them upright but cover the top with a board to prevent the pot from becoming flooded with rain water and to minimize the affects of any freeze-thaw cycles. Smiling
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Oct 31, 2015 4:21 PM CST
Name: Lorn (Roosterlorn)
S.E Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Bee Lover Lilies Pollen collector Seed Starter Region: Wisconsin
Tracey, we should mention your garage, although attached, is unheated. A good chill cycle is more important with Asiatic types than most other common commercial types. Smiling
Avatar for Silverlake115
Oct 31, 2015 4:41 PM CST
Thread OP

Ok. I have an unheated garage. The reason I was a bit scared of that is that I'm on the warm side of zone 6 (you are so correct about that) and have some pretty wild temperature fluctuations in the winter....with some weeks of warm. Lake Erie is 80 miles away and acts like a heat sink.
Would wrapping the pot in a moving blanket be a reasonable idea? The variety is from H.W.Hyde.....the green double variety that really does not flower out, but stays green and looks sort of like a wheat stalk. It seems a bit temperamental.
What do you think?
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Oct 31, 2015 5:11 PM CST
Name: Lorn (Roosterlorn)
S.E Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Bee Lover Lilies Pollen collector Seed Starter Region: Wisconsin
What I would do is contact Richard Hyde using the private message system on his Facebook page and ask him. He always tries to answer back as soon as he can with helpful information. Yes, I've seen the one you're talking about and it's quite possible this one may require a little different care. Ask Richard and see what he says.
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Nov 11, 2015 9:06 PM CST
Name: aud/odd
Pennsylvania (Zone 6b)
Garden Ideas: Level 1
I grow a lot of Asiatic lilies in styrofoam coolers. I basically use the cooler as a garden replacement bulb Propagator.

I grow them in the coolers and they multiply faster in the cooler than they did in the garden. When I need more in the garden I take them out and put them in the garden from the cooler.

I do not move the pot inside. The cooler is in a area behind the garage out o site.
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