Doc, I think 34 degrees is too low...seems like I read that temps below 40 could cause them to abort flowers but that is just my memory...you could check that out or perhaps someone else will know.

As to potted plants not being allowed, did you know that Amies make great cut flowers? I run a business producing cut flowers and we grow amaryllis specially for winter cuts.
They are gorgeous in bouquets mixed with evergreens, bare branches like red twig dog wood, and winter flowering shrubs like winter honeysuckle or viburnum Dawn. I have to provide two matching bouquets of flowers for a church tomorrow and they will be San Remo flowers with red twig dogwood, Clematis armandii leaves (Vines)which are evergreen here, pine branches and white flowered winter honeysuckle. In colder climates then mine (8b) you can still find bare branches, perhaps covered with lichen, or showing beautiful winter color like coral bark maple, forced branches of forsythia, viburnums, or other early flowers, conifer branches or other evergreen shrubs. They can be mixed with forced narcissus or tulips, or other blooming house plants...the possible arrangements are endless and exciting and unique!

We needed to supply 2 matching pots for 2 churches tomorrow...I only had 2 blooming amies of two different sizes and my business partner had one big double orangey pink one. I also have 2 in pots that I do not want to cut, and I had two I had picked already so I could retire the pots back to the greenhouse. We started playing around with them and the ones that go to the church I attend will stay in their pots but have pine and red twig dogwood pushed into the soil around the roots (Just for the morning service) and then branches of white flowered honeysuckle worked through, leaves of clematis armandii will give it a tropical touch, and I will wrap the pots in some gold fabric I have and pin them. After church, out will come the extra items, back into a vase of their own, off will come the gold party coat and I will then enjoy the blooms for the rest of their time!

I have pondered a branch of my business called "Rent a potted plant" of blooming flowers (Rose bushes, or amaryllis, or others) where people just want something for a party or wedding, and then to send it back before they have to take care of it! "The earth friendly way to decorate"!

45F with 80% humidity and good air circulation are the prefered conditions for long cool storage. This does not guarantee that they will perform the same as when they are planted asap. It can go a little bit down or up if constantly maintaining those condions are impossible. I currently have a lot of bulbs stored in my unheated garage that has a temp range of 40-50F. Sometimes it can go down to 35F but only for a few hours.

If you plant them now they will make great Valentine's gifts. If you plant them around middle of March, they will be great Easter gifts. If you plant them around first week of April, they will be perfect Mother's Day gifts.

Of course this will all be dependent on the variety and the condition of the bulb. If scapes are peaking out, too cold and dry conditions WILL dry out the scape.

Wish I could fined some for $1.25,
I would buy them and plant me a
big ole bed of them! Lol!
Susan

I wish our local Walmart would quit being so stingy and put their bulbs on sale! I'd like to grab a bunch of Minervas and Red Lions for the garden beds!

Lizalily, I think a rent-a-flowering-plant is a good idea! I know there must be some weddings or other parties, or perhaps even offices, that would like to conserve and use live flowering plants that they could then return. I think the only way to know is to advertise the notion, and see what kind of response you get. It could work!

Appreciate the advice and ideas lizalily and mariava7.
I did go back and pick up 20 boxes. Potting up some to probably give away and already gave some to people at church. We leave for Haiti 7 January for three weeks so I hope the new little ammies that are shooting up will slow down for the next three weeks and await our return.

Green Dragon and Evergreen are now blooming for the first time with at least nine blossoms on one scape for evergreen.

If I don't get rid of more of these new ones, I'll have over 70 and that is ridiculous as my wife is already suggesting. I'll check out the ammys in Haiti if they are blooming. Will have to see if I can bring some back, or at least some seed. I suppose the ag people won't like bulbs coming in. I worry about bringing back something too. I have never had problems with the amaryllis. We have thousands of daffodils planted about and have never noted the bulb fly. Hope I am not putting a curse on things. Does anyone know the the bulb fly is in this part of the country (NE Indiana south of Ft. Wayne?

Have a wonderful and safe trip! It will be interesting to see if you can find out any information on the little Hippeastrum bulbs grown there. If you can't bring back bulbs or seeds, you can always bring back photos!

I'm not sure exactly what the range of the narcissus bulb fly is, but I'm not taking any chances! If I can't find any fine netting to throw over my bulbs, they're not going outside! I'm too paranoid!

Jodi, just how fine would you need that netting to be? Would the fabric that is used on wedding veils be fine enough?

P.S. On an older thread you (Jodi) were posting about using plastic for your orchid's pots - clay was too cold. I wanted to mention that I use plastic, mainly because to transplant from clay was such a pain, the roots were like glued to the sides of the clay pot - so now I use clear plastic 750ml (3 cup quantity size) containers that held bulk items from the local grocery store (barbeque peanuts and some form of candy to be exact) and used my glue gun tip (heated up) to melt one hole in the bottom, along the rim edge. I plant my orchids in straight bark (fear of rot) and plug the hole with my finger, fill with warm water, then allow to drain after one minute. The roots get some sun and therefore can also do some photosynthesizing for the plant. Plus I can check up on their health, and the condensation (or lack of ) along the sides of these clear plastic pots tells me when to water again. Works for me, the three I have now are spiking, after having grown a new leaf over last October-December.

Apologies for stealing the direction of the thread. Wish I could find healthy bulbs for that price here. Walmart did have Red Lions for $8 back in the first week of November, big beautiful bulbs with healthy roots, end of December they were marked down to....$6! And not worth buying, the bulbs left there had sadly deteriorated.

Have fun planting, haitidoc.

No apologies necessary... we're a very informal group here, and we talk about many things, including things that have nothing whatsoever to do with bulbs! We all have families, pets, and other interests besides bulbs, and several of us have rather twisted senses of humor! It gets interesting here, that's for sure!

Anyway... I think tulle netting might just do the trick! I could buy several yards and make a nice large net to cover the area I'd place all the pots... that's a great idea! Finally, a use for my sewing machine! :-)

On the subject of orchid pots... I recently ran into a case of smoky colored, opaque plastic pots and saucers, given to me by a friend who had no use for them. They're fairly clear, and with a few holes melted into the sides, they make great orchid pots! I also use them for smaller bulbs, so I can watch the root progress. Every orchid I have aborted their spikes, except for a young Phal... I think it's the very first spike on this one. It's Phal equestris.

I prefer clay pots for all my bulbs, but the orchids are too fragile and sensitive to cold temperatures, so those go into plastic. I save deli containers and other plastic items to use for seed starting and seedlings. They make nice little covered greenhouses or terrariums for young plants and cuttings!

Getting back to bulbs and pricing... I don't understand why some stores would rather throw away rotten bulbs than offer them at discounted pricing... I know there are quite a few people who don't, or can't afford, to buy them unless they're discounted. I'd buy more if they were cheaper, but our Walmart squeezes every penny out of them!

It might be worth while to check the prices occasionally on the bulbs. Sometimes the price is marked down but the sign is not changed. I, too, am often amazed how things are not marked down and are just thrown out.

Haitidoc- Don't let your wife be a hater! haha! I think we all have folks that don't really understand our interest and in some cases addiction/obsession for these wonderful bulbs. The only thing we can do is pray for them to see the light...haha!

What a great idea to take them to the nursing home. That would be such a blessing for those people I am sure!

Enjoy your trip and yes, do try to snag some bulbs, seeds or whatever you can!

-Frank

Haitidoc, Enjoy your trip! Bon Voyage! (did I spell that correctly?) bringing back seed should not be a problem.
I dream of being able to pot up and bloom 70 bulbs. Wow

My great great grandmother was from Haiti, we don't know what town though. I was there once many years ago when I was a flight attendant, a different time, different economy. The country side was beautiful at that time I hope it still is.

I believe the bulb fly is spread throughout the 48 continental states, if narcissus, frittilaria, hyacinth can be grown there the chance of the bulb fly in the area is good. You may just be lucky and live in an area where they have not settled into. I never had a problem with them in NY/NJ but here in MA they have wiped out hundreds of Daffodils in my garden, most neighbors don't grow them. There is one clump of a really old variety that seems to not be bothered in a neighbors garden, she didn't plant them but says she doesn't want them disturbed either as she lost all her others.

I think the netting would have to be so tight that the fly could not lay an egg through the openings. Something like a screen or nylon/panyhose weave. These bugs are persistant. They will crawl under and into any opening they can to get to the plants of choice!