How to Force More Bulbs in the Same Space Installment #2

   It's finally gotten cool enough that I can move over to my normal chilling method for the rest of the year. By now the bulbs that were pre-chilled are getting ready for their rooting period prior to bringing them out for blooming. Here's the dilemma:

1.    I have limited space to chill my bulbs.
2.    I have to use that space for both chilling and rooting.
3.    I want to sequence my bulbs so that I have flowers blooming all winter, not just one big bang.
4.    The pots take up substantial amounts of room.

   The solution I expect to work is to have different containers for different purposes. First will be the bulk bulb chilling container. It is expected to keep the bulbs dry enough that they don't root. The other container(s) will be for rooting. They will all be stacked to fit within my chilling chamber.

storage container

    The next two pictures show my rooting container. It is made with a garden fabric bottom so I can drop the rooted bulbs through into the desired pot for blooming in my window. The containers are only as high as needed for rooting, to save space. The fabric is that weed block fabric that roots can't penetrate. The second picture shows the fabric is overlapped and pinned on the bottom.  (Don't tell my wife I used her sewing pins!!!)  This provides the strength needed to hold the wet soil and bulbs, but allows it to be un-pinned so we can drop the rooted bulbs through later.

  Here the containers are all stacked before I put them  back in my chilling chamber. Notice there is a drip tray between the storage container and the rooting containers so any drip doesn't start the storage bulbs rooting early. The first rooting containers were filled and watered 2-3 weeks before I wanted to take them out.

  After their rooting period, put some soil in the final pot, un-pin the rooting container, unfold the fabric, and it will look like this.

  

   Remove the fabric and the ring containing the bulbs, and you have your chilled, rooted bulbs in the pot of your choice, ready to grow and bloom inside the house.