Dee RAnders is referring to the bulletin Board of the ASCFG. I have posted the topic entitled "Succession Planting Lillies" - each poster begins with >>>> and ends in >>>I'm guessing that when pre-cooled lily bulbs are shipped, they "wake up," and cannot be further delayed by placing in a cooler for a few weeks. In other words, I can't receive a shipment of 200, and immediately plant just 50 in crates and store the rest in the cooler to plant in batches every couple of weeks or so. Has anyone been able to do this?>>>zone 5 Nebraska on Tues, September 27, 2011 Yes, you can do it! There is of course a limit to how long you can hold them and that can vary by variety.They can also be planted into bulb crates and put into the cooler and then pulled out at intervals to stagger them out.>>>>Zone 7, MD on Tues, September 27, 2011 Depending on how long lily bulbs are in transit, and the temperature during transit, lily bulbs may still be partially frozen when they arrive. You'll want to let them thaw completely before planting - don't try to pull them apart while frozen. Once they thaw out, the'll "wake up". You can plant some and hold some in the cooler for a short period of time. You want to get them planted before stem shoots start to sprout. Every variety is different, with some sprouting in a few days, and some taking much longer. The same variety can change throughout the year depending how long they have been held at the suppliers freezer. If you hold some bulbs in the cooler to extend your planting time, be sure to keep an eye on them and be ready to plant them if they start to sprout.>>>>>>> >>>>>Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - 02:09 am: Can someone advise me on a lily problem I had? I received some lily bulbs several weeks back, but didn't check each bag thoroughly upon arrival. I immediatly did open the crate and set each variety out in a dark air-conditioned room. Upon opening a couple of the varieties a couple of days later, some of the bulbs looked dry and freezer burned. Needless to say most of those didn't come up and the ones that did turned brown. I planted them in Promix-BX in very clean/bleached crates. The other lilies are doing good. In the 106-110 F. weather that they arrived in, the bulbs on the outside edges of the crate were warm. Can someone advise me if I should have done something differently? Could the freezer burn have been from the shipping conditions? Should I accept bulbs like this in the future? Since I didn't inspect them closely enough the 1st day, I didn't bother to call the supplier. I am not always sure what should be acceptable.>>>>> Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - Does anyone have experience with programming their own lily bulbs? I can no longer use the pre-programmed ones until I find an organic source. What are my chances of success if I re-plant those I have in crates, put them outside, place in cooler probably Feb/March,and bring out in succession? Any resources you can point me to? Experience with this? Not sure I'll have a big enough cooler!>>>>>>>Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - If you replant the lilium bulbs you have outside then they will naturalize/perenialize and will be starting to bloom in their natural cycle next spring. Most of the lilies bloom from late spring into the early summer period. If you want to time crops, then you have to give lilium bulbs a minimum of 1000 hours of cooling and after that you need to freeze them in at 28-29 fahrenheit to keep them stored for a prolonged period, and bring them out on a planned forcing schedule. A BIG enough freezer is what you will need, NOT just a big enough cooler. The cooler you will need for your flower storage. And for the question above about the lilybulbs, by all means please contact your supplier and discuss the issue you have. The day when a customer thinks that a supplier should not be bothered, is NOT the day that I want to see happen.>>>>>Thursday, September 29, 2011 - I get a shipment of lily bulbs every two weeks. I plant all the bulbs into crates as soon as they arrive. During warmer months I put half the crates into the cooler for one to two weeks and half the crates go into the greenhouse. The cooler slows down the time the lilies take to sprout which helps stagger their bloom time. The longest I've kept planted lilies in the cooler has been three weeks. I have noticed that some varieties, especially when it's very hot catch up to the other lilies and they all bloom at once anyway. Sorry, I don't know which varieties.>>>>>Iowa, Zone 5 on Friday, September 30, 2011 - We do the same as K..., except that we put all of them in the cooler for two weeks as that gives them more time to develop roots before they hit the heat. This year because we had a very cool time, which slowed the early ones, and then a very hot spell which accelerated the later ones, we picked three separate plantings is about a weeks time. Nuts!!!!!!!>>>>>Zone 7, TN oanon Monday, October 03, 2011 - I also store in cooler a week or two and then plant out to stagger, but another method we use is to cut when in bud and store in refrigerator. I can delay bloom a couple weeks that way. We have to keep our cooler at 44 or it frosts over and lilies open at that temp so we use extra frig at lower setting >>>>>Iowa, Zone 5 on Tuesday, October 04, 2011 - ? at what 'bud stage' are you harvesting? I know that the ones that are brought in are usually cut green and are not as nice as 'vine ripened'. I usually try to harvest about the day before they open naturally and then can hold some varieties for over a week or two in the cooler (38). There are a few that do not like that treatment.

Hey all, I just planted 18 mixed Asiatics outside in a rubbermaid container (with drainage holes) because where they are Supposed to end up is currently under construction... I've had them in the fridge for a couple of months and they have been sprouting -some have no sprouts, others have 2-3 inches already, so I'm taking a chance. Really hoping I don't kill them all -the soil I used was from the backyard and is very heavy and yet sandy -weird sand/clay mixture... (I shuddered as I buried them gently under that heavy stuff) I planted them as deep as I plan on putting them in the ground (about 6" -I'm in zone 6) and hope that the cool weather won't rot them out. Anyone have any suggestions about something I can do to 'help' keep them -or if I just did a big 'no-no' in anything, I did put some bone meal in with them... I'm new to lilies this will be my second year with them... Any general lily advice would be loved... I am using used coffee grounds sprinkled around my established plants to ward of slugs (I have a huge slug infestation that salting will not help as it just salts the ground and with as many as I have that's just not helpful) Thanks for any advice!

Welcome. I think you are referring to the buds about to bloom, the bulb is the part that is buried in the soil.. Over watering could cause the buds to wither or catching a cold draft could also do it. Cutting off the browned blooms and buds was good, even better was that you did not cut off leaves. I know some parts of Canada are zone 5, I don't know what your zone is. If you are zone 5 you may be able to get your oriental lily to rebloom next year by planting it outside when danger of frost is past. Generally most orientals don't bloom until July or August and in zone 4 or colder they often don't have enough time left after blooming for the leaves to replenish the bulb before a hard frost. In that case the bulbs of many orientals tend to dwindle away after 2 or 3 years. Having been forced your lily will yellow and then brown before other lilies growing and blooming in their normal cycle would. For now give it as much sun as possible, don't let it dry out completely but don't keep it soggy either. HOpe this answered some questions.

Maybe there is a misunderstanding ? Oriental lilies do not develop bulbils (offsets) on the stems. Typically asiatic lilies and tiger lilies will do this. Oriental lilies can develop seeds, however. The seeds develop inside the embryo of the flower (big puffy seed pods will develop where flower used to be). You can harvest the seeds when the pod turns brown (late fall). After you have harvested the seed pods, break them open over a piece of paper and you will find many disc like falkes. If you hold the flakes (seeds) up to light only some of them will have something "inside" them. If the flakes are clear (empty) then they are not fertile and should be discarded. Only some seeds (flakes) will be good. If the lily has not been visited by bees at all, none of the flakes may be any good. You will have to try and chance it. The best way is to put the seeds in a plastic bag (ziplock) of slightly moist seed starting mixture or cactus planting mixture. Leave plastic bag at 65-70F for 4 months keeping it barely moist. Then put in the fridge for 3 month at which time small bulbs develop. Finally bring out and plant the small bulbs 1/4" deep in small pots. Plant outdoors after last chance of frost. Oriental lilies will not create plants which are true to type (e.g. the offspring will most likely not look like the parent). It is often easier to simply scale the lily to create more lilies. You can use below link for an explanation how to do that. I started of by mentioning that some asiatic and tiger lilies (lilium lancifolium) produce bulbils at the leaf axis (along the leaves of the stem) and that orientals do not do that. Below you can see a picture of bulbils on a tiger lily. The bulbils are clones (100% identical to the mother plant) and can be planted shallowly in loose soil (mix compost or potting soil into the top 3" of soil and plant covered with 1/2" of amended soil. Then cover with 2" layer of shredded leaves in early winter, and remove this layer in early spring). The bulbils will create flowering lilies in 2-3 years. Note: bulbils are identical clones which occur on some asiatic and tiger lilies. Oriental lilies do not produce them. You have to reproduce them via seeds (which takes about 5 years to bloom) and which will not create identical results. You can also scale the oriental lily bulb as mentioned in the referenced article. Article link: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/18505/105602 Here is a picture of a lily with bulbils. The bulbils should be harvested and planted after flowering is complete. As mentioned, bulbils are not seeds but actually miniature (cloned) bulbs ready to be planted. Here is a link that might be useful: Scaling lily bulbs - article