Hello! I know this post is very old but if someone can reply please do. I live in northern India and rain lilies grow here like crazy. I have rain lilies in many colors as well, but only the yellow one (Zephyranthes citrina) sets seed, why is that so? Anyways, I planted those seeds and they germinated with 3-4 days, its been a year but still the leaves remain thin and the mature, broader leaves and blooms are no where to be seen, can someone help me out? what am I doing wrong in this case? Also if other varieties cannot set seed, can I cross pollinate my pink and white rain lilies with the yellow ones to get some hybrids?

Time consuming, these may take as long as 18 months to germinate and will germinate erratically, meaning not all seedlings will appear at the same time. Surface sow then top pot with some grit, expose the seed pot to a range of temperatures by sowing outdoors in a cold frame. You can also alternate 12 weeks of moist cold in your refrigerator with 12 weeks at room temp, recycling until germination begins. Rock Garden Society adds this note - "dry storage of seed for 6 months is fatal, grow seedlings at cool temperature, leave in pot for 2 years". If you were looking for flowers sooner than 4 years from now, Brent and Becky's has the bulbs reasonably priced for Fall shipment (- as comparison, 3 blooming bulbs in a pot early this Spring were selling for $3.99 here when I bought two pots). I ordered a red flowering corydalis from them last Fall and was very pleased with my order - prompt, with healthy corms. Here is a link that might be useful: fritillaria meleagris bulbs

Hi Otis, nice to meet you and welcome to the FN forum. The Marts are doing good. Yeah, its a long time but you sure do save $ sowing by seed but most of all the anticipation of what they'll look like. Mart bulbs can be very expensive but I do seem to buy a few each year. I got my seed from various sources, Gardens North, North American Lily Society seed sale and a wonderful lily grower named Darm that gardens in the NWT. To buy various Martagon and species bulbs, try Parkland Perennals, Plantlilies.com, Hillcrest Harmony Flowers, The Lily Nook and S-W Gardens, Fraser's Thimble Farm here in Canada. Sharon

You can feed them with a little dilute general purpose fertiliser to speed up growth (try half-strength and twice as long between applications as recommended), but I'd expect to see more leaves after about 4/6 weeks. Give them as much light as you can without baking them. Extremes of temperature and over-watering/drought are what you need to avoid most, since you need to keep them growing for as long as possible. Next time try to use larger pots or even a styrofoam box, to increase the soil volume and make it easier to keep soil conditions stable. Your potting mix looks as if it will drain well, though vermiculite does tend to disintegrate faster than something like perlite over time - aim to keep it moist but not wet if that makes any sense. At the end of the season I'd pot them up to something larger (deeper). Keeping them in shallow pots will run the risk that the bulbs pull themselves down into the bottom of the pot which is usually a little wetter (perched water table) and runs the risk of basal rot appearing. Good Luck