Hi,

You should be able to self-pollinate your plants in order to propagate them.

If you look closely at the individual amaryllis flowers, you should be able to see two different structures. The male parts (anthers) which contain the yellow dust like pollen, and another structure which does not contain any pollen, this one is the female part (stigma).

To self-pollinate, you just need to transfer the pollen from the male to the female. You can do this either by using a paint brush to transfer it, or else by cutting the anther at its base, and manually brushing the pollen onto the stigma. If pollination is successful, you will see the base of the flower begin to swell, and eventually form a seed pod. The seed pod will begin to burst when mature, and you can then germinate the seeds.

CF

Thanks CF. I'm sure now I can do it easily with your help. Salutation goes to you :)

Best Regards,
Ammar.

Dear CF,

If self pollination occurs successfully then after how many days would I be able to see seed Pod starting to swell?
And approximately how many seeds I would get from each pod?

Best Regards,
Ammar

Dear CF & ALL,

If self pollination occurs successfully then after how many days would I be able to see seed Pod starting to swell?
And approximately how many seeds I would get from each pod?

Best Regards,
Ammar

Please note Summerdew, that the seeds from a hybrid, even self pollinated will not 'come true'...in other words, they won't duplicate the mother plant...that's just mother nature doing her thing...on a hybrid.

In the Bulb forum, there are a number of older entries about Amaryllis pollination and growing from seed, and also, increasing the mother plant by 'scaling' or the equivalent of 'scooping'. Keep investigating...you'll find the method best suited to you.

But a small percentage will be true to the parent plant, you will have also have the parent plants that were bred to the hybrid , and what ever were in the generation before them , with the few that come true to the parent , it takes 7 generations to get a true plant from hybrids. BUT that is about 21 years in Han´s case about 14 years

Kenny aus Berlin

My Aphrodite just opened her blooms and I was thinking of pollinating her. When I looked at the flower, I was surprised. It only had anthers and no stigma. Would she ever have a stigma maybe on her next flowers?

Hi Maria,
Sometimes a double will have stigma,often it wont. Even if it has a stigma there is a fair chance it is not correctly formed. Many times I've pollinated what appears to be a correct stigma only to have a seed pod form and wither or a seed pod form with unviable bits of chaff.On the other hand,if you take pollen from a double and set it on a single you will get seed that produces from 1% to 20% doubles.And if you take the single seedlings from that grex an put double pollen on them the % of doubles in the next generation goes way up. It's a bit of a long road to go but well worth the wait. Lora

Wow!!! That will be a very very long road for me. Thanks for the info Lora. I should just maintain my stock of Amaryllises right now...manageable and avoid getting overwhelmed later on. Anybody wants some pollen?

Last year was my first attempt at pollination. I do not quite remember how long it took for the seed pod to become visible, perhaps a couple of weeks. But I think it took about 2 months until the pod reached full maturity. According to my notes there were approximately 60 seeds in the pod.

CF

And did you germinate them or just watching them sitting pretty, as I do?

In my experience and growing conditions, it takes 4-6 weeks ( spring and summer) from pollination to harvesting of seedpod. Fall/Winter pollination and some varieties are slower, taking 8 weeks for the seedpod to ripen.

Plant your seeds Soultan! I emailed you the other day. Didn't you get it?

I did. I am just jumping here for every 2 minutes I can break away from work right now... Patience, patience... I have to work now, so I could rest later... In peace...

This thread has some really good information in it! I'm glad you brought it back to life, Soultan!

Soon... very soon, I'll be pollinating for the first time! This is all so exciting! To be able to help Mother Nature produce seed and new plants!

The seeds I have planted are doing nothing yet... but it's not been that long since I planted them... I'm impatient! I just hope they germinate! They are planted in a mix of cocopeat and vermiculite, and they are kept moist... I think they should be fine...

At least someone is planting.

You could be planting, too, Soultan! In fact, you should before the seeds are no longer viable! I have no idea how long they remain good, but I don't think it's really long. It's fun! Just dive right in and start burying seeds! :-)

I put a heat mat under the seed tray... maybe that will help hasten germination...

I don't have space for them inside and there is construction going on outside and the weather is cooling down... I could kill the Mulholland Drive Scenic Area Commission Design Review Board. I need my room for my bulbs and for my seedlings... Don't you girls want to come and just kick the butt of these four pretentious trouble makers? I will send you bulbs when they mature for it.

Well I know the seeds last a year for sure. Just planted my last year seeds and had a better germination rate then the ones I stared right away, Go Figure.

Soultan - If I had the finances and the time, I would fly out to California and give those ridiculous, tree-hugging, nosey, empty-headed, holier-than-thou, got-nothing-better-to-do, single-brain-cell-sharing, kibble-munching leg-humpers a very large piece of my mind! You have no idea what havoc I can cause when someone raises my ire! I'm all of 5' 2", blonde, part Irish, and when I get a bee in my bonnet... stand back! Very far back! Dynamite comes in little sticks, so never underestimate the power of a small, angry woman!! As I said before... if it were me under their microscope, I'd already be serving time for property damage and assault!!! Ever see a 5'2" blonde backfist an opponent in the nose, followed with a sharp kick to the ankle? It ain't pretty! The big ones always go down bleeding!

The whole thing stinks to high heaven of a complete waste of time, effort and money! I'm telling you straight... it's past attorney time! I'm nice... but not THAT nice!! Soultan, you have the patience of a saint... I commend you for your non-action against these idiots... you deserve better than you're getting, that's for sure! Again, I wish you all the luck in the world... and I hope you can eventually move forward with your plans. What a waste of space and good oxygen those people (and I use the term loosely) are!

Anyway... you could always start some of the seed in small, flat containers in a sunny window somewhere... or, there's always the "orchid neighbor-lady" who offered you space in her greenhouses?! You could ask if you could start some seeds there... just a thought.

Well... gotta go clean the mutts... have a nice day! :-)

Primeribs! LAS! I agree with Maria. You make me hungry, and you make me homesick for Texas where I discovered the best prime ribs ever!

I have found that long term seed viability is dependent upon the seeds themselves as well as the environment in which they are stored.

In my experience, most do not stay viable for much more than 5-6 months, no matter what you do.

However, I have had the experience of misplacing some Amputo X Johnsonii and Johnsonii X Amputo which had a fair (not great) germination rate. When I peeled the outer black layer off, I discovered a seed which looked like a miniature sunflower seed. So, I planted them in a very moist mix and kept the mixture moist via a germination chamber of sorts. Many, not a lot, but many grew.

They are now a year old and quite healthy seedlings, some with 4 very long leaves.

These seeds were dried and then stored in a zip lock bag in a very dark location (enclosed in a shoe box).

I also had some Papilio X Emerald and Emerald X Papilio that survived in the same shoe box.

However, I do not recommend this if you have a limited number of seeds.

I suspect that the key to good germination is moisture and warmth. My initial attempts at trying the floating method failed when I was doing that inside my air conditioned home, but when I placed them in ziploced bags filled with water in the warm (or should I say hot) greenhouse, they sprouted like crazy!

The only problem that I found with the floating method is that if your life gets hectic and you don't have time to transplant them and change out the water, many will be lost.

Hope that helps...

Guess what we are having for dinner??? Bone in Prime Rib steaks!!! YAY

Maria, going back to last year my Aphrodite was the same as yours, no thingy's on them to do any pollination.

Jodi,

We just hired a news company to come and tape the meeting on november 15th. As we have heard, they are absolutely terrified of the idea of a hearing being taped then aired on television or used agains them in litigations. So don't worry. This is the step we are taking to ensure our success. If they deny us, we are suing the city and we will have the evidence in our hand, then I will go and build the sunroom and plant my seeds. Right now, the only window I could plant my seeds and put against is in a very very trafficky place. If I put my seedlings there, they will be knocked down. The orchid lady - bless her soul - is very very nice, but the green houses are old, have a lot of panels missing and they are not heated anymore, so you can imagine in what condition they are... So that is why I kind of refused (very nicely) to use them. I'd have to spend a few thousand dollars on them to make them usable, and they would not remain my property, so I just look at them, but don't use them.

I'm just making everyone hungry for ribs,hmmm...they do sound delicious >wink<. i do suppose it depends on parent as well for how long seeds stay viable. out of the old from last year got to germinate using floating method. they are now growing their first leaves.>

Soultan - I'm very happy to hear you're having the meeting taped!! Great idea! Perhaps it will help change things a bit in your favor! I am more than interested to hear how things go at that meeting!

What a shame the orchid-lady's greenhouses are in disrepair... any time I see an empty greenhouse, I always think what a waste it is, going unused like that... and it's also a shame that you have no sunny window space to place your seed trays in... that all being the case, I hope you have your seeds stored well! Perhaps when everything is said and done, and the construction is over, you can finally find the space and time to get them planted.

Primeribs - There was a time, not that long ago, that I would have said your name is making me hungry... I love prime rib! Nice thick, juicy, medium-rare to rare prime rib swimming in its own juices! Mmmmm! But I haven't eaten meat in a long time! I'm not a vegetarian... I went healthy and decided to lose weight and boost my body with good nutrition. I have Lupus, so my immune system needs a lot of help! I eat 2 meal replacement shakes a day, fruit and yogurt, and a handful of vitamins. I've lost almost 40 lbs., I hardly ever get sick, and I feel pretty darn close to "great"!!

As far as seed viability goes, I think genetics has a lot to do with how long they last. Storage method would also be a factor, as Elizabeth noted. As with any seed, though, the longer you wait to plant them, the lower the germination rate... I keep all my seeds in little paper envelopes in a closed container, and for some reason, I never seem to be able to throw out old annual and perennial seeds that I've saved. It's the "packrat gene" in me! Last spring, I planted several packets of perennial seeds that were at least 4 years old, maybe older... the germination rate was very low, almost non-existent! I did manage to grow a few plants from each packet, but I sure wish I had planted them sooner!

I did notice, however, that even some of the fresh seed I bought this year had a low germination rate... I wonder why that is? Even the green beans I planted had a low rate, and those seeds grow like weeds normally!!

Yes. If we could buy the upper half of her property, we would get the green houses and we would repair them, but if they are not our property, it is just not worth killing money in them. I will try germinating soon, but I am afraid if because of the bad conditons, I'd fail, I would lose the interest in doing it again.