Any good hints on the best way to prepare and ship lily bulbs? I have some small paper bags that I have been sending some out in the last couple days. Is it OK to send them freshly dug? Do they need anything else added to the bag? Planning to do a lot of dividing and shipping in a couple weeks. Some of my foliage has turned completely brown, other is still at least 1/3 green. Is this too early to divide those? I want people to be happy with the bulbs they received from me.

I would wait till they are completely senesced but as far as in bag I would put a small amount of peat to deal with the moisture in the bulbs.

Lily hybrids are very forgiving, and will survive just fine practically no matter what. But there is no reason to be rushing things. While food transport from the leaves to the bulb ends when the stems turn yellow and lose their firmness, other processes continue to occur elsewhere. I would wait until stems are completely brown. In your climate, if leaves or stems are still green in mid October (very possible with some lilies), then go ahead and dig.

What I do is dry the bulbs a day or two in a cool, shaded area, just to be sure the basil plate is good and dry. I also leave a little stub of the stem if it feels like it doesn't want to come out. I pack in sandwich bags with DRY peat moss to which I've poked a few air holes with a toothpick. And that's it.

In the absence of Dry peat moss, I would think that wrapping the bulbs loosely with toilet paper would adsorb the transpiration (sweat) from the bulbs and work just as well.

Roosterlorn said:What I do is dry the bulbs a day or two in a cool, shaded area, just to be sure the basil plate is good and dry. I also leave a little stub of the stem if it feels like it doesn't want to come out. I pack in sandwich bags with DRY peat moss to which I've poked a few air holes with a toothpick. And that's it.

In the absence of Dry peat moss, I would think that wrapping the bulbs loosely with toilet paper would adsorb the transpiration (sweat) from the bulbs and work just as well.

I've seen lily bulbs packed with dry saw dust/wood shavings and just plain dry dirt in big box stores. Is that harmful to the bulbs?

Nope, not at all. In fact, saw dust and wood shavings make excellent packing material for lily bulbs.

I am reminded of the one time I received a shipment of lily bulbs from China. They were individually wrapped in brown paper, the kind that packages sent through the mail (in days gone by) use to be wrapped in. They bulbs arrived in excellent condition.

Thanks, I will wait a few weeks to ship.