I trim the roots to about 5 to 6 inches making sure to pull off any roots that are dead or appear hopelessly dried. Some might leave all the live roots and I suppose you could but it's difficult to position them all properly in the pot and surround them with soil. Easier to just chop them off and let them grow new roots. This is of course just my opinion and what I do so, others may have a different view.

Late last summer I pulled dozens of bulbs up from the ground and whiskey barrels and let them dry with all their roots attached. When I went to repot them a few days ago I found that about 6 or so had severely overgrown basal plates that had been hidden by the mass of roots so, I had to chop off at least 1" of basal plate on most of them. And, in doing so, removed all the roots on these bulbs. Not what I wanted to do but as it was necessary, this was certainly the time to do it. I'll let them dry for about 10 days more and then repot them. I'm sure you won't have this problem though with just a couple of bulbs...

Donna

This post was edited by dondeldux on Thu, Dec 13, 12 at 13:41

Root pruning is quite acceptable for most plants, actually, if kept in containers. There comes a point when it's no longer feasible to keep increasing the pot size, and becomes better to root prune and freshen or change out the medium. Bonsai growers probably root prune more than other growers, but yes... pruning the roots is completely acceptable.

I would let the ends callous/dry a bit before potting, say overnight... or I might lightly dust the cut tips with an anti-fungal powder to avoid any rot issues.

Donna, how do you do yours? I just cut them and let the bulb sit overnight before re-potting.

Jodi,

Actually, I just clipped the longer roots off with my fingernail as I am pulling out the dried or dead roots. I never gave it a thought as to whether or not I should let them dry after..sounds reasonable, but I didn't. I just potted them up after their haircut.. nothing scientific about my approach I'm afraid...the basal plates of course I let dry for days..and usually I dust powder on them but this year I got lazy and figured the dry air in the house would do the job for me. Never gave a thought to dusting the tips of the cut roots with fungal powder. Sounds like a good idea though...

Donna

Thanks so much. I will pot them up tomorrow. This is exciting for me since these are two bulbs (from Walmart 2 years ago) that only bloomed that first year. This fall when I dug them up from outdoors, I was thrilled to see that the bulbs had more than doubled in size and had extra shoots on them.

I'm hoping they will both bloom!

Good for you, and I'm sure they will!

I suppose you wouldn't have to wait that long before re-potting bulbs if you live in a warmer, drier climate... or anywhere, for that matter... but I worry about the damp and cold here, and I know how easily plant material can rot. I don't suppose it's a necessity to let the ends callous or dry, but just a habit I've gotten into to avoid any rot issues. This is something I would do with bulbs or succulents, cacti cuttings... but not trees or other plant types.

I'm not certain if it's true or not, and haven't checked it out yet, but I've also heard some growers say that cinnamon used as an anti-fungal should be kept away from roots as it can actually slow the renewal of root growth. Hm. I'll have to check into it.