Hi Liz! Normally, the cocopeat sold with the kits is not top quality cocopeat medium. I usually abandon the little discs of cocopeat that come with the kits, and plant my bulbs in my own mixture of good quality coco coir, mixed with vermiculite, perlite, a bit of sand, and a few handfuls of top quality potting soil, which gives my mix some body... I use a layer of horticultural charcoal at the bottom of the unglazed clay pots that I plant in, which helps with drainage, and keeps the soil "sweet".

Cocopeat makes a great medium, or medium base, but it should be of good quality... meaning it should be pre-rinsed to remove the excess salts that are in the coco product prior to being ground into cocopeat. I have found that the cocopeat sold in the bulb kits is rarely of top quality. You can get great coco coir, or cocopeat, from stores that sell hydroponic items and equipment.

Google "coco coir" to learn a little more about this product, or to find a store that sells it if that's what you'd prefer to use.

Or... you can re-plant your bulbs in a good quality potting mix, such as Schultz or MiracleGro... both are decent bagged products. The key to finding a good medium for your bulbs is finding one that promotes good drainage... bulbs hate to have "wet feet". A medium that holds too much moisture for too long can cause your bulbs' roots to rot, and once the roots are rotted, the rot can spread to the bulb... so, too much wetness for too long can spell doom for your bulbs.

It's wise to allow your bulbs to dry out a bit in between waterings, to use a pot that has good drainage holes, and to use medium that promotes good drainage... bottom watering helps a lot, too.

As far as fertilizers go, there is a lot of information on the proper NPK levels for these bulbs if you do a search here in the forum. I use MiracleGro liquid fertilizer at a diluted rate almost every time I water. I usually bottom water, but every once in a while, I top water and allow the plain water to run through and out the drainage holes, which helps leach out excess salts and minerals that get trapped in the medium. When I water, I always make sure that the saucers are emptied of water within an hour or so after watering, so the plant isn't sitting in wetness too long.

Besides using a regular Houseplant fertilizer, I sometimes add a little bit of Superthrive to the water... this gives my bulbs the vitamins they might not otherwise get with just a liquid fertilizer. It's a great product, and really does give your plants a nice little boost!

There are many different mediums and feeds and ways of growing hippeastrum bulbs... I think the key points to keeping healthy bulbs are good drainage, allowing the medium to dry out between waterings, using a decent medium, and giving them plenty of light. The better the bulbs are cared for, the better they will recharge, and this will ensure that they will bloom again the following year!

Sorry for such a long novel... I hope some of my information is useful to you... good luck with your Red Lions! They are beautiful flowers! I have several Red Lions, myself!

I have been very pleased with the coco coir I ordered from Planet Natural. It came in bricks and I soak it out in a large pot. I potted all my new bulbs in just coir, and give them a weak bloom booster or Miracle Grow with water. After blooming this year I will amend all my amaryllis in pots by adding some good potting soil, prob Miracle Grow and perlite to the coir. Next time around I will save myself a step and inter mix the coir with soil and perlite so I don't have to re pot after they bloom. I am amazed though that I have some bulbs planted outside in some of the worse soil Florida can dish out, and the plants still grow and bloom. Sometimes I think we baby them way too much! lol then again they are our babies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Planet Natural

I agree, Cindee... we do tend to baby our bulbs and other potted beauties! I think we spend more than we realize on medium and amendments, fertilizers, pots and saucers, support wires and little pot trellises, plant stakes... and then there are all the extras we use, like rooting powder, Superthrive, Captan, insecticides, miticides... not to mention grow lighting, shelving units and plant stands, decorative this and that... we put out a bundle to baby our favorite plant types!

I can remember when I first began collecting houseplants... I would go to the local greenhouse/garden center and buy their specially mixed potting medium, and I'd pay more for it because it was so much better than what K-mart had to offer! Before the advent of Schultz and MiracleGro, there wasn't much to choose from!

Now, I find it helpful to custom mix small amounts of potting medium, adjusting the ingredients depending on what type of plants I'll be using it for. I keep a small bucket with a cover just for this purpose... it holds about 2 gallons, and is the perfect size for mixing small amounts of medium. If there are leftovers, I put the cover on and save it for next time!

I do really like the coco coir as a medium base, though... I'm so glad Maria told me about it! I ordered an entire bale of the stuff from a hydroponics store, and had it delivered right to my door! It cost a little bit more than regular bagged potting soil, but it's worth it! It's so much lighter and healthier for the roots of my plants, and I can add several different ingredients to change the "feel" of it to suit whatever plants I'm working with...

The only thing I need to remember is that coco coir contains no nutrients, and fertilizer must be added... but that could be as simple as throwing a handful of Osmocote into the bucket when mixing up a batch of medium!

Jodi, I have an opening in my potting bench that held a small plastic bin when I got the bench. I used to mix my soil as I needed it. Once that bin wore out, I purchased a new heavier bin with a snap on lid. This way I can keep it filled with my favorite mix. It is so handy having it right there at my bench and not having to go to the garage where I keep my large bags out of the rain. This has worked out great for me.

Mine are all in a mix of 1 part peat moss and 3 parts perlite as an experiment. I shall go to 2 parts peat next as I have found stability is an issue unless I plant the bulbs a bit further down in the mix. It is a VERY free draining mix which I think is important to these to prevent bulb rot.

Preventing bulb rot is very important... one of the reasons I use coco coir as a base for my mix is because it is not in a constant state of decomposition, as most mediums are...

I'm surprised peat moss works well for you, Tommy... I would think that peat moss would decompose rather quickly...

Decomposition in the garden is very different than in a container environment... the garden has a natural balance of micro-organisms, worms and nematodes, both good and bad, that work in harmony to keep everything balanced... this balance is not present in a container environment, and the decomposing soil can turn into a rotting mess of bad fungus, molds, viruses and bacterias in time...

This is the reason I use coco coir, horticultural charcoal, and the reason that I occasionally leach my medium by running plain water through it, and make sure air circulation is constant...

Cindee - I would love to have a potting bench, but every one I've seen in a catalog is too expensive for me... Larry is a Master of many things, but carpentry is not one of them! I just use my kitchen counter and sink... but someday hope to have a nice potting bench like yours! I may look into buying a kit to put together... I could do that myself!

Before I discovered Coco I would use part peat in my potted Amaryllis. That seemed to work just fine.

Jodi, Dennis did not build the bench(surprisingly enough) his son came up with the idea of ordering one for me for my birthday 2-3 years ago. It is so nice. We stained/poly'd it out twice and it is bolted to the house after the hurricanes. There are some really somple plans that people use to create their benches. I worked off sitting on a bucket with some boards over milk crates before!
When Dennis laid the pavers I pulled it out and sanded and restained.
{{gwi:376123}}

It's beautiful, Cindee! It's a nice, handy place to work at, and great for storing gardening stuff!

I saw a photo of a really nice set up once, in a magazine... the potting bench was a piece of an old counter top set in brick and plumbed for water, using an old stainless kitchen sink... it reminded me of how the permanent outdoor kitchen and grill set ups are built. That would be a bit too elaborate for me, but for someone who did a lot of potting and outdoor gardening, it would be nice.

I just need something similar to what you have... something with a drop in bin or bucket that I can use for medium mixing... a place to keep my clay pots and tools. I don't want to get one until we buy a house, though. So, I have time to look around and find plans that I like and could put together...

You must love yours, and get a lot of use from it!

My husband made me a potting bench a few years ago...I really find it most useful! We paid aobut $200 for the wood for it and picked up an old stainless steel sink. THe whole unit hooks up to a garden hose and the faucets and spray head work off the hose, and it drains out through another hose to a drainage ditch. There are 2 good-size shelves under it and I can store pots there or in the winter it is where I put crates of bulbs to chill. The back of it is covered with Clematis vines on a panel of trellis, and at the top of the trellis on front is a shelf that I can either set vases on as I arrange flowers or I can put special pots of things I am keeping my eye on there in the winter. In the summer I set up a garden umbrella to shade me while I work on bouquets, and have a table beside it where I can sit and work, so I have it all there, running water, buckets of flowers, and a big tub for compostable floral trash.

We used unstained cedar for ours so it has greyed to a nice silvery look now that blends into our woodland landscape.It is 8' long and 2' wide just like kitchen counter, so you could top it with that if you liked. IF I were builing it again I would plan a sunroof over the area, or get one of those canvas rooms for outdoor use. I still might get one if the business picks up enough to make a profit, LOL.

That sounds awesome, Lizalily! I like the fact that it has running water! That would probably be my favorite place to be while outside gardening!

It will be so nice when we finally buy a house, and I can finally put down roots, so to speak, and plant things and place things the way I want! I'll need a greenhouse, a potting bench, a nice fountain, plenty of perennial beds... I just can't wait! Hopefully, we'll be looking at houses by early June!

Liza, let's see a picture of this bench. Sounds wonderful. We were going to run water and a drain to mine but it is so close to the hose it seemed silly.