A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Amaryllis help

Hi guys I found some of these on sale at wal-mart I had seen them in a brecks catalog and was not willing to pay the price they were asking. Well the ones at wal mart were 4 bucks and I was willing to pay that price. Any suggestions or knowledge about all aspects of caring for and starting these bulbs would be great!

I have 10 bulbs so I will tell you what I do. I grow it like a houseplant. There are two methods I do not like the second.

#1 - plant the bulb in a pot with about one inch of space on both sides. Do not cover the neck of the bulb. It should be 1" above the soil. You want good potting soil and slow release fert. Put it in a sunny window. Since it is a new bulb they have probably grown it so it will flower by Dec-Jan.

After the flower fading cut the stem 1" down. You do not want it to go to seed and take energy from the bulb so it will flower again for you next winter.

Continue to grow until summer and put it outside in a sunny area and get as much growth as you can so the leaves can feed your flower to follow.

Before your first frost bring it in and continue to water sparingly you do not want to rot the bulb. (due to less light some leaves will brown) cut them off. It will flower anywhere from Nov-March.

#2 method
Now this is where I differ from some.

At the end of summer some put the bulb in the dark for 8 weeks no water no light and bring it out in Nov to flower about Dec. They say this gives them a definite blooming time.

It is your choice. I do not think it helps to keep your bulb healthy drying it out and forcing it to bloom every year. Mine multiply by continue growth and light.

THanks so much! I think these are so beautiful. I am so happy to try my hand at them. Today I purchased some orchids from ebay. I am excited to try my hand at these beautiful flowers as well, nervous though I must confess. They are not cheap so I want to make sure I do it right. So off to my next post............Orchid help and advice.

I think I will try your method I mean if ya got 10 your doing something right.

A few of mine(3 are from when lived Indpls),but I grow them in ground down here in southern TX& they bloom naturally in april/march.
I use to grow them in those azealia pots& sink 3 to a larger pot and place faceing east in sun.i'd move them indoors about labor day and Sept 24th to a closet(I'd water real good before grounding them)I'd take out 1st of nov and would bloom about christmas or after.I have seeds from one that have grown and flowered 3 years later.Even though I let one go to seed it still bloomed just fine the following year.I could tell no difference in fertilizeing before sleep or after.mine get fertilized all summer now& if I cover my foliage on frosty nights don't loose foliage either.

please sled ONE time for me this year.I moved from snow,but don't miss the cold....just the fun that I had in it!

I have one of those kits from walmart too! I found bugs on mine though. any suggestions on good pesticides? I think they're gnats, but I could be wrong...