.Advice???

I bought a couple small boxes of Crocus bulbs before ALL spring bulbs at HD were gong
down the chute. I also p/u 2 boxes each of 20 Anemone bulbs. 20 each box. They are SOOO tiny!
I have never grown Anemones. Need some advice.

Ended up with lots of crocus bulbs. They sat down the Shop for a month--but they had started
sprouting. On a day like today (Thurs.) I could go out and plant them--but I don't feel like going outside
and digging around. SO---I potted them all up in a small-spaced tray of soil. Like a seed-starter tray.
Now they are sprouting a bit more.
I know I should (??) plant them outside by now.. but it will be hard to keep them safe. (squirrels)...
How about the Anemones? When can they be planted?? Would suirrels dig for those too?
I suppose the Anemones couls be potted in a shallow pot. What do you all think?

As it is, often, I got to throw all bulbs in bags down the chute. It killed me!
Big heavy bags of Daffodil bulbs--Lots of Crocus, Allium, etc..etc...
Darn my "must be honest" "Cannot steal"---upbringing. I could have snitched a few--but I am afraid to.

Anyway--I feel much better knowing that I did not take anything. Now--give me some advice, please.

Gita

We had anemone bulbs one year. They did ok, but didn't come back. But that was a long time ago.

Crocus... squirrel magnets! If you do put them outside, you will need to cover them with something. Especially as they aren't planted too deep in those trays. If you have any old screens, you could lay them over the top. Normally, I'd suggest the nylon net, but being so shallow, the squirrel might tear right through it. You could put the netting over them and then dump a bag or two of mulch on top. That would insulate the bulbs, but they'd still get water. And, if there's a couple of inches of mulch on top, it might be enough to discourage the squirrel.

I total get the heart-wrenching feeling that you get throwing those bulbs down the chute. I wonder, would they still get the same write-off if they were to 'donate' that kind of stuff to a farm? I'm not sure about the daffs, but other bulbs might make for good feed. (Not exactly what you want to see, but at least they wouldn't be going to the dump.)

gee Ric, you want to sit there and cut open all those bags of bulbs for your cows to munch on?
I grew anemone in pots one year, then moved them to in ground, where they are spreading a little each year. Mulched area under dogwood, they are cheerful in spring then disappear.

Rick--
The miser I am--I saved all the window screens when I had my windows replaced a couple years ago.

Last summer--I used them to shade my seedlings with by putting a screen over the emerging seedlings--
OR--later--using the screens to protect my new plants.
I suppose I could lay a screen over the area I will plant the Crocus in. Maybe--just elevated a bit so they can grow,
Is there a time of year when they are rooted enough so I don't have to protect them at all?

I have Crocus that are coming up in the same spot in my lawn every year. Nice pale purple ones.
No critter seems to be munching on them. Do you think, once they are 100% established--no one will be
digging them up?
I guess-in the long run--this spring will be an experiment. It will be---what it will be.... Gita

Here at least it's just the "giant" crocus (C. vernus) bulbs that get munched on, although desperate hungry bunnies will eat emerging shoots and buds. Joyanna's "crocus lawn" is snow crocus (C. crysanthus) and tommies (C. tommasinianus) and C. sieberi.

I've read to soak anemone bulbs before planting (they look like little rocks), but with the recent wet weather that's probably not needed!

It does say, on the box, to soak them for 2 hours.

Good luck with the Crocus, Gita. Mine were all eaten by squirrels.

@sallyg, what type of lemon tree do you have? It can stay outside now? I have a very small pink lemon tree. It has lovely variegated leaves and produces fragrant flowers over the winter, but it has to stay inside, competing with other plants for the limited number of sunny windows.

Donner, Meyer lemon. since I left the lemon out till just before frost, figured it would be OK for now. Haven't had frost here in over a week. I'm not leaving it out if there's a freeze. Not a normal January!

Lucky you, @sallyg. Wish I could move mine outside. When I first moved plants inside last fall, the place didn't look too crowded. Now all the little brug cuttings have become big plants. They are all competing for the limited window space.

Taking advantage of yesterday's warm weather, I potted up some of my brug cuttings.

lucky YOU, Donner. They look great. I just have them barely beginning to leaf out.

Well-Sally--If you have not read (in all her posts)mher secret to havinf full-sized Brugs
in the same year she did the cuttings...
She up-pots them regularly. Look at her pictures above. She keeps potting them up in bigger and bigger pots
until spring arrives. And--that is how you can see her full-grown Brugs in bloom in the same year she started out with a cutting.
I have not ever done this. Mine are still smallish--but fully rooted--in 8" pots.
Donner has these spacious beds that she can plant them in and move them up--and up---umtil summer.

My Brugs????????? The sit in my basement and I do not do anything-except dribble a bit of water on them.
Yet-beginning of summer--I will dig them out of their pots--give them a root-pruning--and plant them in their
permanent places. They still "make it"--but in much longer time than hers.

I could NEVER give them the richness of her soil and nutrition. I am in awe of her gardens--always....
Gita

I haven't started waking up any dormant tropicals (here, that mostly means plumerias), although my EE's and tropical waterlilies are only half-asleep this year since I have them under lights (and underwater).

Donner does have "the knack" when it comes to brugs & amaryllises!!

I noticed something odd on the leaves of my brugs this morning. May be tiny bugs, look like sand grains. Wiped the leaves with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip and the tiny things fell off. Any thoughts on what these might be?

sound like spider mites, the bane of my indoor winter garden existence. try Neem oil.

Oh, so I did take tip cuttings of that sick COleus, those look like they are rooting. And lo and behold, the base plant that I stuck in a corner on it's way out the door, has buds leafing out. You guys were right

Hooray!

I've been treating a jasmine for spider mites and several other plants for mealybugs. I've gone to spraying with diluted rubbing alcohol for either one -- most plants seem able to tolerate it, and the smell dissipates faster than neem. I use straight 70% on mealies for plants with waxy/shiny leaves, as those tough cuticles can take it.

I did not notice the squirrels digging my crocuses. But they dig my tulips, and if the tulip survives, they eat the flowers too. They also dig my tulips and planted them in my neighbor's front yard, right under the mailbox. Kind of funny, 2 pink tulips. I also planted fall crocuses, they are all gone, maybe eaten by the squirrels?

I better try the alcohol on some persistent mealy bugs bothering an Aglanonema. Insecticidal soap has only, maybe, slowed them down.

Brug bugs are gone but never did figure out what they were. They were tan colored. They were not mealy bugs--those bugs stay on my moth orchids. Didn't look like spider mites I saw on Google images either.
Beats me.

I have small mister bottles of alcohol everywhere I have plants including at work...LOL. The girls know at home if it has a big X on it - it is NOT water...everyone stays safe that way. I bought something recommended to me at an ACE a month or so ago...Captain Jack's dead bug brew https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VJ83LW/ Anyone have any thoughts on the product?