I see no reason to mix cinnamon in the potting soil. I have dusted bulbs that had big gashes in them and they rooted just fine.

I use potting soil and amend it with sand and perlite. I've been known to add crushed granute and charcoal on occasion.

You get out of it what you put into it. Many of us have several thousands of dollars tied up in our collections and we spend hundreds of dollars each season on new bulbs.
K

Cinnamon does have natural anti-fungal properties, and is often used as a wound dressing on bulbs to prevent fungi from growing and causing bulbs to rot... but I wouldn't mix any into the medium, either.

Captan is a product many of us use to accomplish the same goal... it's an anti-fungal used to prevent the growth of fungi in gardening situations. We use it as a wound dressing on bulbs... but I wouldn't mix Captan into the medium, either.

Regardless which anti-fungal is chosen for use, I would stick to using it as a wound dressing. If added to the medium, it will simply wash away with waterings and negate any idea of use as a preventative.

I approach medium, or soil, from a slightly different angle than many growers, taking my cues from science and physics... preferring a more structurally sound, aerated, sharper draining medium that doesn't hold onto too much moisture for too long a time period, allows for the easy exchange of oxygen and gases to and from the rootball, and allows me, the grower, to maintain control over moisture and nutrition.

I mix my own medium using fir bark, granite chips, coarse perlite and turface... ensuring the particles are of comparable size by screening of the ingredients which rids them of dust, finer particles, and pieces that are too large. This mixture, adjusted slightly by ratio depending on specific variables, gives my plants everything they require... while actually allowing me more room for error in watering. Over-watering and soggy soils are responsible for the demise of more plants than any other issue.

I've attached a link to a very informative article on container growing and mediums, complete with medium recipes and instructions for using mediums of a larger particulate. I find myself referring to this information quite frequently, and it's helped me become a much more proficient grower.

I don't confine the use of such a gritty, more bonsai-like medium to bulbs... I use it for everything I grow in containers, from cacti to orchids, and everything in between.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention XX

i dont understand if you are trying to solve an existing problem ....

or if you are adding variables to your media trying to avoid a future problem ...

when ever i try such.. dreaming up variables.. i usually screw up big time ... and regret 'fixing' that which was not broken ...

ken

Ed, if you've read cinnamon can inhibit root growth, then I'd avoid it. You want lots of healthy thick white roots. If you need to dust a gash or raw spot with cinnamon, then don't hesitate to do that, but adding cinnamon to the soil doesn't sound beneficial.

To keep the potential for fungus down, don't let your soil get soggy.
K

This post was edited by kaboehm on Sun, Nov 16, 14 at 10:47

It sounds to me as though the grower, Edlincoln, wants to use the cinnamon more as a preventative than as an actual wound dressing, which wouldn't really work as expected because subsequent watering would wash it away negating any properties it might be useful for.

The idea behind using an anti-fungal, in the case of Hippeastrum bulbs, is to avoid the rotting of its flesh... mainly when a bulb is already susceptible to rot, and we have to cut away parts of the flesh to save the bulb in whole... which is accomplished by dusting the open wound with the anti-fungal and allowing the bulb to dry for a day or two before placing it back in medium which will be watered.

I have read that some rooting powders can hinder the progress of root growth, but I can't recall if I ever heard or read that cinnamon has similar properties.

To prevent excess fungi from gaining a foothold, to prevent rotting of my bulbs, I typically use Captan as my anti-fungal. Captan should be available at most garden centers that sell Bonide brand garden products... but in case it's not available, I do use cinnamon in its place.

I typically avoid dusting the entire bulb with cinnamon, and use it only where needed, which usually means covering open flesh wounds left from the removal of rotting flesh. I would dust the healthy, exposed flesh with the anti-fungal.

A colder, wetter container environment will allow for fungi and rot, while keeping bulbs on the drier side in a cooler environment... or allowing the medium to dry out in between waterings, and keeping container grown bulbs in a warmer environment... will lead to healthier roots and growth. In other words, cold and consistently wet can lead to rot. If potted bulbs must be cold, it's better to keep them on the drier side.

And yet, it's better to thoroughly water containerized plants than to water in sips... just as it's better to water your lawn deep and long, which means less often in the long run... instead of shallow and not enough... so roots can grow deep and spread out, giving them good anchorage and access to plenty of moisture and nutrition. So, how do we water thoroughly and still maintain a healthy environment for roots? Through the use of a good aerated, structurally sound medium that drains well.

I prevent fungal issues and rotting bulbs by utilizing a medium that doesn't hold onto too much moisture, drying sufficiently between waterings to allow for good root health.

Roots of plants need to 'breathe', need to exchange the gases they give off for fresh oxygen... this is accomplished by using a medium with a larger particulate that holds more oxygen in between those particles... so when I water, the action forces expelled gases out while drawing fresh air in.

This type of grittier medium also allows for better drainage, so it can dry quicker... thereby keeping roots from literally drowning in a consistently wet environment without oxygen, where the fine particles would be packed together.

This kind of medium, with larger particles, allows for enough moisture to be absorbed by some of its components, and allows for moisture to remain in vapor form, without being soggy, so the plant can pull what it needs from it... and I can control the amount of moisture and the nutrition it receives.

I think it's important to understand that growing in a garden environment is very different from growing within the confined space of containers, where there does not exist the same combination of creatures big and tiny to help maintain balance, create adequate aeration for good drainage, and turn organic matter into usable food for root systems to uptake... and also important to understand the functions of soil, or medium... which are anchorage, moisture and nutrition retention, and gas/oxygen exchange.

I'm a huge proponent of maintaining root health, which in turn maintains plant health. Everything begins under the soil surface with the roots. If the roots aren't happy and healthy, the plant won't be happy or healthy, either. And a good medium is all about structure, and maintaining that structure so it can work as it should.

Why is soil/medium so important, and how does it relate to the issue of fungi and rotting bulbs, you might ask? Well, if a container medium is structurally sound, and water moving through it behaves as it should, rot and fungi are no longer big issues we need to worry about. We have much better control and knowledge of what's going on under the soil/medium surface.