Bulbs + ziploc bag + warm garage = mold

I learned a valuable lesson today (that I will probably forget by next season). Never put your bulbs in plastic ziploc bags unless you intend to plant them right away. Much to my delight I got some surprise bulbs from a friend's mother at Thanksgiving (she had gone to Amsterdam & was kind enough to share the bulbs she had them ship to her). When dividing them up, we put the bulbs in plastic ziploc bags & marked the color on the bag; this would not have been a problem were they planted right away. However, they sat for two to three weeks in my unheated garage, which varied from warm during the day to chilly at night. Needless to say, the fact that the bags were sealed also didn't help. So, when I went to plant them today, having taken the afternoon off to do so, I discovered that much to my dismay they all had bluish-green mold on them to varying degrees. The horror!


Anyway, to deal with the mold I soaked them all in a 1:9 bleach:water solution for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on how bad the mold was. Meanwhile, I gently rubbed the mold off of the bulbs.


Once the bulbs finished soaking, I then patted them dry to remove the excess moisture & as many mold spores as possible (fun fact: you can't kill mold - you can just put it into hibernation until favorable conditions present themselves again). Sadly, they're not as beautiful as they were when I got them, but they don't look totally ruined. Only time will tell, I suppose...


Finally, before planting them, I also hit them with a dose of a powder fungicide for garden veggies & fruits (I couldn't find anything bulb specific, and I figured something was better than nothing) & then dosed them with a healthy amount of bulb booster. Hopefully in the spring I will remember to take pictures of the bulbs to record how well (or not) they did!