I planted a peruvian daffodil in a container this year.
I have been told that to over winter I should bring it into the house and stop watering for a couple of months.
Should I replace the soil after this period of hibernation?

I do not know if my procedure is right but it works. I have a combo tender bulb pot.

In the pot is a Peruvian daffodil, Amarylis, and Hymenocallis Ismene Festalis.

I bring it in and store the pot in the back of the laundry room that is 55-60 degrees all winter. It is stored there from Oct. - March. I sprinkle some water on top of the pot Dec. and, Feb. (note I said sprinkle that is about one handful of water on top of the soil) March I bring it up and put just enough water on them so the soil is moist. (This is enough water to moisten the soil not enough to drain) I start seeing growth by the end of March.

I continue with a little moisture until I take them out in May. Usually My Amarylis blooms first, then the Hymenocallis -Ismene Festalis, Last is the Hymenocallis Ismene Festalis.

I change the soil every 2 yrs after everything has bloomed. I do the change very careful as not to disturb the roots too much. I do that by not doing a total change just remove as much soil as possible without getting all the soil off. It is important to feed them once a month so they are well feed after bloom so you get good blooming bulbs the next summer.

Cinta, that sounds great. Do those bulbs die down (go completely dormant) over the winter? Or do they need a little light? I wonder if they will still rebloom, if I don't let them go dormant. Any thoughts, anyone.

Deborah,

I planted these last year and LOVED them (although I planted them too late, so they didn't come out as great as they could have). Anyway, the package that I had said to store them in sand and re-plant again in the spring. I can't say that I've had success with this because mine spent this growing season still in the sand in the corner of my garage (an experiment, if you will) because I wanted to try tulips instead this year.

Anyway, I don't know if that helps, but the sand method is what the instructions on my package of Peruvian Daffodils said to do. :)

- DnD

Debbie I do not have any light other than the light that is in the laundry room. They are not growing so they do not need light.

My plan of how I grow my tropical and tender plants/bulbs is.....trying to duplicate what would happen if they were in say a zone 9. If they were in the ground in a zone 9 they would not be dry in saw dust, a brown paper bag, etc. They would be in the ground with a little moisture just not freezing.

If my tropicals are a zone that never gets any frost or cold temps I try to give them a little more water and those are further to the front of the laundry room which is brighter where the window is located. My Banana tree, Elephant ears, etc.

I know I will not go around the garden digging up bulbs so the only way I can handle this is just bring in the pots and no digging. It is always fast setting up my patio in the summer. Just drag out pots and put them in place. I am lazy.

Thanks, DnD and Cinta for sharing your ideas. I love the idea of just bringing the pots of tenders in. I don't have any spare rooms in the house, so I'm going to set up grow lights in my garage, which never freezes.

I love taking pics of the Peruvian Daffodil, their bloom is from outer space. I've been growing them for at least a dozen years in containers, big containers. The containers are situated on concrete every summer, usually in mid to late May. Thereat they happily grow. In late September, they are moved to the garage and kept dry, In October, any foliage left is removed, and the pots are moved into the basement (having an outside covered stairwell to basement really facilitates this maneuver because these containers are really big packing some weight despite styrofoam peanuts in the bottom). Last year we used a portable dolly to lessen the strain.when transferring the containers. In the basement they are stored on big shelfs in a dark corner. No water is administered till spring. There are a several containers, so they take yearly turns before re-potting; one might stay in the same container 3 years. Temperature down there remains a fairly constant around 60°F.
Here's a couple of pics of mine -

<-- this one won 1st place in the ATP contest bulb category last fall.
I hope your's does well and gives you many happy returns.

Wow, the photos are beautiful jmorth.

I am fortunate to be able to grow them year round outside in my zone 8. I planted some bulbs late spring, lots of healthy foliage but no blooms this year.

Thanks Lynn.

I almost forgot to post this pic I took tonight in the basement.

Explanation - I had some eye problems in the spring and kind of lost my degree of 'umph' regarding garden participation by several degrees. Subsequently some containers were left in place...'umph' regained some substance late last month and I thought it was pretty wasteful of me to abandon some of those containers, so I grabbed the ones that appeared having something green poking out of the soil (even after even more multiple months without water), watered them and moved some outdoors and others under a bank of fluorescet lights in another corner of the basement to ascertain viability a/o having any salvageable value.
Several others look promising including a dwarf pineapple lily,and some rain lilies,

That really tells me that these are very tough plants.

jmorth - thank you for sharing the pictures!

My pleasure.