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Beginners guide to bulb storage

schroedmschroedm Posts: 5
in Plants
Evening all,
My wife and I are having a go at storing bulbs until next season. We’ve removed them from the pots and brushed/rinsed off all the soil and are currently leaving them to dry out before we store them. 
However, and this may seem like a daft question, we’re not sure if we snip off the existing roots? As you can see in the pic some are pretty long. 

Can you let me know if we leave them as is or trim them back please? 🙂

Thanks
Mark

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    With fresh-looking roots like that I'd be inclined to get them planted ASAP.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    I'd say the same as @JennyJ, it's getting close to bulb planting season now.  If any of your bulbs are tulips though, keep them stored until planting in November.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Is there a reason you decided to store them, rather than leaving them in situ @schroedm ?
    Most bulbs do better left planted, as long as they're in a suitable site. Potted ones can be tucked away somewhere sheltered to stop them getting too wet, or too dry. A feed as they die back is helpful too.
    Certainly don't cut off roots though  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • schroedmschroedm Posts: 5
    Thanks for the help! They were originally pre-potted but sat pretty much on the surface. 
    Now that we’re likely to repot them pretty much straight away, based upon this advice, how best do we do that?
    How deep do we plant them? Potting compost and a bit of a feed then, once planted is it ok just to leave them out in pots so they get the rain when it rains and leave them to do their thing?

    Thanks again!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    The general rule is to have twice the depth of soil or planting medium above the bulb as the depth of the bulb itself.   That applies whether in the ground or in pots and planters except for bulbs being forced such as hyacinths and paper white daffodils being grown for Xmas display.   However these will have been pre-treated for that kind of growth.

    Yours are now well past such conditioning and need planting and watering in asap or those roots will dry out and die and the plant will suffer or even die.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • schroedmschroedm Posts: 5
    Obelixx said:
    The general rule is to have twice the depth of soil or planting medium above the bulb as the depth of the bulb itself.   That applies whether in the ground or in pots and planters except for bulbs being forced such as hyacinths and paper white daffodils being grown for Xmas display.   However these will have been pre-treated for that kind of growth.

    Yours are now well past such conditioning and need planting and watering in asap or those roots will dry out and die and the plant will suffer or even die.
    Thank you. We’ll make sure we pot them tomorrow then! Once done, do we just leave them out in the patio and let the rain water them until they do their thing next spring or do we need to water them regularly? Sorry for all the dumb questions, it’s not until you start doing this that you realise gardening really isn’t as simple as you think 😄
  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811
    Just don’t let them totally dry out. Usually over Autumn/Winter the rain will keep them moist enough. 
    I lift mine about June and trim the roots then. They’re stored in a dry place until August/ September when I repot mine. When I’ve left it later I see fresh roots like yours, I don’t necessarily pot straight away but have been known to just cover the bulbs and roots with moist compost for acouple of weeks until I’ve time  to pot up properly.
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