At the moment my seedlings are on the 17th floor of my apartment building, under lights. We are experiencing freezing temperatures already both day and night and I won't get back to work in my garden now till spring as I'm having surgery on friday. Rick I know what you're saying about the moisture as I've had to take the bulbs I had in the fridge out and open them up to dry out more. There was a lot of condensation in the bags. I don't keep my bulbs in the fruit and vegetable compartment but I haven't been using freezer bags as I thought the bulbs had to be able to breathe. I have my seedlings under lights because this fall there were suddenly a bunch of seeds sprouting that hadn't all summer and I didn't think they would survive otherwise as it has gotten cold here very early this year. All the rest of my seedlings that have been growing all summer are not being watered so they will die back. I am keeping them cooler by putting them on the bottom shelf and leaving the balcony door open to let the cold air in.
Last year I'm sure the one that rotted did so because of poor drainage. I think I have my potting medium sorted out now. To let the seedlings my friend gave me go dormant on their own, should they be dried out under the lights? What if they decide they don't want to die back like the one last year didn't and start shrivelling from lack of water? I also had some henryi seedlings that decided to grow all winter last year (they went in the garden this fall). The seedlings have already been pulled from their pot and put in a baggie when my friend gave them to me so transplant shock is already a given. That is why I was asking if they should be potted up again.
Rereading this it seems like I'm not paying attention to what you guys are saying but I am, I just don't have the same circumstances you guys do. I'm at my apartment, it's freezing outside, these bulbs had no leaves when I put them in the fridge with the others but have sprouted in the fridge. I have the temp turned down as far as it can go in there without my food freezing. I can't plant them outside as my garden is three hours away and I won't be able to get there before my surgery and won't be able to work in the garden after it. I'm concerned about loosing them as they aren't from crosses that will be easy to repeat for various reasons. I guess I'm working my way back to option #1 and will have to make sure the mix drains well and I don't over water. I don't have years of experience with growing lilies from seed as last year was the first time I ever did it and met with both success and failure. This year I went totally crazy in the spring and planted far more than I have space to grow them.
Lorn, my name is Brian. I would really prefer people use my name as I've never liked that screen name but couldn't come up with one at the time I registered here. I must look into changing it.
