What to do with Muscari bulbs?

Last December I planted about 30 muscari armeniacum bulbs. For the most part they did really well, but in this climate (it's already been 80f + for a few weeks now) they bloomed from the middle of march to mid april. Tonight I dug up a few bulbs just to see what was going on and to my (happy) suprise the bulbs are actually bigger than when they were planted. My girlfriend and I are moving in about a month and since these and freesia were really the only bulbs we had good luck with I want to dig all of them up and keep them in storage until planting again in Nov. or Dec.
Right now we have high dew points 67....so from what I understand that may be too much moisture to dry the bulbs outside.

Basically what I'm asking is: can I dig all of them up and let them dry out inside, keep them in a paper sack in a dark location (it's not going to be cool...energy prices are through the roof so we keep our current apartment and hopefully soon house at around 75-77f) and will they be viable to be planted again.

The three I dug up earlier tonight all seem very solid- in fact one of them seems to be in the process of dividing.

Thanks in advance to all the folks on this site.

Dude,

I am sure you don't have to worry about moving your Muscari bulbs. 'Drying' them is a relative term, it just means that you don't want them soaking wet when in storage. If you wash them a little, dry them inside and store in a paper bag you will be successful.

I would encourage you to label the bag well -staple a full sheet of typing paper on the bag, print in giant letters 'Muscari' and replant them as soon as you get settled in your new place. Bags of blubs are easily lost when moving......

http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Item&_recordnum=3727&_category=Muscari http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Item&_recordnum=3760&_category=Muscari they are relatively inexpensive bulb.

Here is a bulb I had great success with this winter here in Florida. Brodiaea, I am going to plant a couple hundred of these next fall>

Dale: thanks for the info. I dug up a few more out of curiousity and they look really good also, I have them drying inside, just brushed off the dirt rather than wash any of them. Do you really think it would be okay to replant them in June? I was thinking I should let them rest until October when the soil starts to cool down just a bit.

The brodiaea look very cool. If they do well in Tampa I'm sure they should be able to survive here. Growing up in the south as a kid I would see my folks plant some flowers and veggies and herbs, but they never did bulbs. But I guess it seems like there are certain bulbs that can do well in even our hot wet soil.

Anyone else have any suggestions for bulbs that have done well for you in zones 8-10?

Dude,

If your Muscari survived in the ground in a New Orleans summer before they will again. I really believe that if you don't plant them quickly they will be lost or suffer from being in a bag all summer. I always lose or forget things when I have moved.....

I checked PlantPiles and there are reports from west of Houston that give the thumbs up to Brodiaea.

LA iris>

I found some Muscari blooming wild at the edge of my pasture last spring and moved them to a pot where they just recently quit blooming. The little clump I started with did really well in the pot. Just yesterday I replanted them into various locations about the yard. They had multiplied like crazy. Each bulb was doubled in size and had about 5 or 6 smaller bulbs clinging to it. This must be a tough little bulb. Each one looked healthy and they were choking out the daffodils that were in the pot. I was also surprised to find that they had "moved" themselves to a deeper depth than I had planted them. They were about 5" to 6" down. So I planted them deeper this time.

Back when I lived in Austin, TX I observed lots of naturalized clumps of Muscari, in some places they number in the hundreds. The soil in that area is thin black clay and then rocky. Most of those bulbs were only 2 inches deep and the put on a good show every year.

I have tried Muscari here in Tampa, the don't grow or bloom. They put out weak little leaves and then go dormant - too bad.

Rain lily is our best small bulb>

Dale: I planted about a dozen iris and they were okay, they all bloomed had nice foliage, my compaint against them is each one only had one flower and it only lasted for about 5 days before withering. I know we have a lot of native iris that grow out in the rural areas (swamps). These were Dutch bulbs purchased from Lowes. So if I do Iris again I'd like to find someone local to make a trade with. Only thing is I don't want to drive all the way out to Houma or even St. Bernard (th' Parish). Anyone in Orleans or Jefferson Parish with good native iris?

I'm sorta suprised that muscari don't do well in Tampa since we had such good luck with them here.

I don't like to force plants. I don't want to put in extra time and energy to try to make something grow that doesn't like the climate. As it is when we don't have a rainy day, I still water at least every other day. It boggles my mind when I read posts from people in other parts of the country that say "be sure to water once or twice a week" Everything here would suffer with less than three or four waterings a week. And anything in a container....jeez four or five days a week they need water.

Mini: 5 or 6" deep? Again, this is my first year doing any bulbs/corms....I planted mine 2" deep and they did well. When I replant would you suggest planting them even deeper? Remember in NOLA we're at sea level so I'm not sure if that should be taken into consideration.

Thanks again, yall...the people at this site are the best.

I have tried all kinds of iris here - another waste of money. Louisiana Iris grow and flower, but, the flowers only last a couple days. They are a lot of work for only 4-5 days of blooming.

All the 'Dutch blubs' are poor performers in my climate. Most folks have land to the west of them and you get cool weather in the fall - I have water to the west my location. The Gulf doesn't cool off until the first of the new year. We have nights in the 50's & 60's until Jan. - too warm for most bulbs (because the soil stays warm too).

We grow many plants in the winter here that most folks think of as summer plants - tomato, peppers, corn, zinnia, marigolds etc.

I did see some dandy bulbs when I went to Europe back in 1988>

NO Dude,
I originally planted mine at about 2" deep. They stayed in the pot for about 8 or 10 months. When I removed them last week, they were down at the 5-6" level. I don't know why they pulled themselves down that far! But I do remember them being that deep when I dug them up in the pasture with a shovel. Maybe it is the variety.....the largest muscari bulbs in the bunch are really large. As large around or slightly larger than a quarter. Of course the baby bulbs were smaller. So maybe that makes a difference on the depth....since you generally plant 2 - 3 times the size of the bulb?

Mini: I've dug up all the bulbs now and have them drying on a big table in a room where we keep a ceiling fan on at almost all times. Yes, these are quarter size, except all the little babies around the edge that are more like pea sized. Which really rocks since most of the bulbs I bought were more nickle size, I know it isn't huge growth, but after my first year attempting bulbs they preformed the best with the freesia a close second.

We have a big round planter it's either 24 or 28" and about 18 to 22" deep. I don't feel like getting out the tape measure right now. I think I'm going to let the muscari and freesia bulbs just hang out in a paper bag until october and then plant most all of them in this. They seem to tolerate crowding.

Dale: while we're are north of the Gulf, we do have the lake to our north. All those cold winds blow from the north and west so it's interesting for me, I grew up in Mobile Ala, but for some of the colder winter nights, we're still at 40f when friends and family in my old home are at freezing. The lake acts as a buffer, since the winds have to travel over the warmer water.

June, July, and August suck weather wise in New Orleans, but for most of the year it is a nice place.

Last winter we had I think 5 days below freezing (including one day of snow, but that happens every 4 to 8 years). Do ya'll have even one day below freezing most winters?

Peace out.

We had our 1st frost in many years this past winter - for an hour. If you go inland from Tampa just a couple miles it gets cold. I have a small nursery 18 miles east of the house (I am on McKay Bay) and it got down to 25. Inland got several frosts this winter, it did major damage to the tender tropicals. Most field crops, oranges, strawberries, tomato & peppers have sprinkler systems for protection from winter's cold