any Lachenalia experts here ?

[Jangaudi]

Hi all, I'm looking for some hands on advice on Lachenalias. I have several species grown from seeds which are about 6 to 12 months old, though being winter growers normally, things have not gone as I expected. Their leaves dried up already around December / January. Not sure why, or what I did wrong. I took them out of the soil to inspect, and the bulbs seem to be ok, albeit rather small. Roots have mostly gone, so it's possible they have been too wet at some stage. Though with summer still far off, this seems way too early for them to go into summer rest, and because of their small bulbs I think most of them won't make it until fall. If I keep watering them now, will their leaves pop up again still, or should I let them dry / rest, and maybe start their winter season much earlier than planned. I do have a cool basement around
Thanks !

[Aiko]

If the bulbs are fine, there is no reason for panic whatsoever. Sometimes bulbs can be erratic. I have bulbs that decide on just skipping an entire growing season, not producing any foliage at all. Only some roots.

Could be the heat, could be you have not watered them enough. Or too much. Lachenalias and other bulbs are not particularly picky, but can be erratic.

I would water them just a bit once or twice to see what happens. Otherwise just give up and wait for September again.