The invention relates to a composition for coating of lily bulbs to inhibit degradation of the bulbs during storage, a method of packaging lily bulbs with said composition, containers with said coating and a use of said coating.The composition for coating lily bulbs comprises a polyvinyl alcohol (PV-OH) polymer having a molecular weight (Mw) of 4,000-14,000, glycerol, otherwise in use as a "spacing agent" functioning as a "Respiratory Control Substance" (RCS) and water, the composition being in the form of a sol, whereby the coating formed has a high water permeability and a low permeability to oxygen and carbon dioxide, and a method for applying the sol composition to lily bulbs in order to create an enclosure around the bulbs. Thereby, the amounts of water, oxygen and carbon dioxide are effectively controlled in said enclosure. Said coating further improves the release characteristics of releasable compounds included in the coating. The coating can be used to coat containers for lily bulbs and containers obtainable thereby.
