Amaryllis Dancing Queen

[cnycharles]

I hardly ever participate in Valentines Day festivities so I thought I would shock my family and send them amaryllis bulbs for Valentines Day. (And I sent one to myself) I bought them online from leafari www.leafari.com . Excellent quality and nice people, and interesting selection of varieties. Many were already sold out being earlier emergers but I liked the striped double look rather than the plain colored ones.







I needed to support the stem because I was a bit overly cautious and was hesitating to water too early and the stem started to fold under the weight of the buds. They emerged and opened very quickly! When I worked at gsg greenhouses they trialed a lot of plants and at one time we had a bunch of amaryllis varieties I was tending, not sure why I didn’t keep one after the trial unless someone else took them all or I killed it )


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[Ozpaph]

alluringly grotesque

 

[NYEric]

My Dad used to send/ grow them. Thanks for sharing.

 

[abax]

Quite pretty. I have eight buds on my species Hippeastrum this year. How do
you over winter amys Charles?

 

[cnycharles]

The best suggestion is to store them completely dry and dark in temps between 40-50* F after the leaves start to yellow. I did read in one place that you should not store them in a frig with apples as it would sterilize the bulbs. Not completely sure if that means they stay vegetative, don’t think that means killing the bulbs


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[Secundino]

Last autumn we bought two big bulbs for this winter. They flowered (old variety 'Red Lion') with two and three spikes, one spike with three, the others with four flowers each. It was really impressive. Now the leaves are growing longer. According to my horticulture-book these hybrids (from evergreen and summergreen species) can be grown the year round but they take advantage from a short (6 - 8 weeks) resting period around 13ºC. As the next years flower spike already have been created in the bulb's growing zone (they take up to 14 months of growing!!) the resting period should not be expressive dry or much longer. N/K2O relation is best around 1:2; pH 6,5 - 7,5. Good light. There will be a spike each four leaves - so, if you manage to grow 12 or more leaves each summer, you can get three spikes.
Though the bulbs are big, they don't need big pots according to my books. So this year I won't plant them into the garden.

As I never have apples in the fridge, I can't tell, but apples produce ethylene, which makes buds drop; perhaps this is the reason that Hippeastrum stored with apples don't flower.

 

[cnycharles]

Oh; yes I had forgotten about the evergreen ones. The advice I gave and the only experience I have is with the seasonal ones that go dormant

 

[fibre]

Last autumn we bought two big bulbs for this winter. They flowered (old variety 'Red Lion') with two and three spikes, one spike with three, the others with four flowers each. It was really impressive. Now the leaves are growing longer. According to my horticulture-book these hybrids (from evergreen and summergreen species) can be grown the year round but they take advantage from a short (6 - 8 weeks) resting period around 13ºC. As the next years flower spike already have been created in the bulb's growing zone (they take up to 14 months of growing!!) the resting period should not be expressive dry or much longer. N/K2O relation is best around 1:2; pH 6,5 - 7,5. Good light. There will be a spike each four leaves - so, if you manage to grow 12 or more leaves each summer, you can get three spikes.
Though the bulbs are big, they don't need big pots according to my books. So this year I won't plant them into the garden.

As I never have apples in the fridge, I can't tell, but apples produce ethylene, which makes buds drop; perhaps this is the reason that Hippeastrum stored with apples don't flower.

That's interesting. Maybe I can try to grow Hippeastrum again now.

 

[cnycharles]

This hybrid is amazing! When the first flower was drying up, I saw another fat bud sitting right on top of the bulb. I didn’t think it would grow up before the flower opened and it would be trapped between leaves and old spike. A few days later the spike was a foot tall, and a few days more and it’s all just under two feet tall! Three flowers are open now, with a fourth bud there, and a third spike is shooting up now! I just saw it two nights ago, trapped in the rubber band used to stabilize the stem. It’ll be a foot tall in a few days






I like the flush of green on the back of the petals


Spike number three


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[abax]

Whoa, a flower explosion!!!!

 

[cnycharles]

My plant this year, didnt go dormant




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[Happypaphy7]

They are basically evergreen. If you don't force it by either withdrawing water or expose them to cold (well above freezing though so as not to rot the bulb), they will maintain the leaves all the time and still bloom well when they want.

 

[cnycharles]

Ok sounds good, ty


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