How do your container spring bulbs survive?

[ButterflyLady29]

I've tried planting bulbs in pots before and always end up with the same result, mush. But I see so many pictures and gardens that have bulbs blooming in pots. Does anyone know the secret? Even when I kept the pots in an unheated building I end up with just a little green that quickly dies and mush in the pots. Yet the same bulbs do just fine in raised beds or in the ground. The pots drain well and the potting mix isn't the moisture retaining type. I've tried half potting mix and half sand and still end up with mush. I even lost my hyacinths this spring even though I've seen them sold in pots every spring.

[applestar]

Lets go over how you grew them before -- when in the unheated building, how cold did it get? I believe there's a lowest temp limit. (In-ground bulbs are protected by the depth of soil and mulch).

Also, did you water occasionally? Once they are planted in moistened potting mix and out of dried bulb state, they need sufficient moisture to keep growing and are growing roots when temps are above freezing, even if nothing is coming up out of the soil/potting mix.

Once they start poking up, they need sufficient light but are not as hardy as the ones outside -- sometimes they end up waking up too early inside, then theres no choice but to treat them as forced bulbs in the house.

When you set them out, did you make sure they wouldn't be where the spring thaw will cause soggy/flooding? Most people will remember to account for the rain and precipitation/snow from above, but sometimes forget about the ground flooding conditions below. You really have to go out in the rain and see where the pots/containers are sitting at least once. -- More than once, I have gone out there and yelled at them/myself "WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING IN ALL THAT WATER!!!?"

[ButterflyLady29]

It got below freezing but not enough to kill my fig tree that was in the same building. Some sprouted in the spring while others in the same pot didn't. Daffodils didn't come up at all. Tulips started then turned to mush. Hyacinths came up, flowered, then turned to mush. I've kept them off the ground, on the deck, on blocks, on the concrete steps. Even this past winter when we had so few nights below freezing, several pots that were on the deck and kept under cover when the rain was real heavy, just didn't come up.

I watered while they were dormant. Not enough to make the soil soggy but enough to keep it from drying out.

I'm about to the point where I'm going to forget trying spring bulbs in pots. The summer, tender bulbs do just fine for me. I even got my Easter lilies through the winter and had them bloom in May.

[MadDoctor]

I'm watching this thread. Every January, I see the stores carrying forced bulb pots. I've bought them now and then as a reminder that spring is on the way (I really hate winter). What I don't like, is that the plants tend to be generic in nature. I'd like to get some more interesting varieties (local garden shops sell individual bulbs). I've got an oblong pot from a previous purchase that has no drainage. My idea was to plant the bulbs. Leave them dry and put them out on the balcony in December. I'd bring them in in January (or during a thaw cycle that could get the plants started). When the blooms pass on, I'd keep watering to let them regenerate. When the leaves die off, I'd set the pot aside and leave it dry till next December. This post has me worried.