Those are gorgeous pictures!

Awww poor stunted babe. One thing I love about Nymphs is they so remind me of peony's which I cannot grow here. My Nymph gets big full blooms. Beetle, one of my bulbs did that last year too. I think it got stunted being contained for so long and didn't get a chance to form a normal size scape. Hopefully next year when it has had some constant growing conditions it will correct itself. Still, PEONY'S!!! ahhh they are so pretty!

It's beautiful, Beetle! The colors make it almost look fragile... very soft and pretty!

If I remember correctly, none of my doubles were very tall... they all had short stems and big, heavy double flowers! Nymph, Red Nymph, Aphrodite, Lady Jane... all of them! I'll know for sure next year whether it was due to their previous culture at the grower's... or whether the doubles are just made that way, to have shorter stems to support the flowers...

Thanks bigshoes, Cindee and Jodi! They sure do look like peonys, not like regular amys. It also has pollen on the edge of some petals, but nothing to put the pollen on [anther?] All in all, its kind of kicky,and like you guys, I guess we find out next year, if its to remain short shanked lol!!

Beetle... the doubles frequently are without the necessary parts for pollination... but if a double has pollen, at least it can be brought to a single for pollination... the offspring have less of a chance of turning out double, but at least they can be bred that way...

From what I've read, you may get occasionally lucky and find all breeding parts there to work with... but for the most part, doubles are minus a few things needed to make seeds! I guess that's the sacrifice to enjoy the double petals!

Doubles are definitely not made to have short scapes... I can guarantee that. My doubles usually turn out very tall. Some of them so tall that they jump over and kill themselves... I have to stake them or weigh them down. There is a tendency to bring shorter scapes the first year in some of them. Nymph happens to be one of this group. Another one is Elvas for me. I have never had a tall scape, or - to be honest - a healthy scape from Elvas... Maybe, next year, I will have to buy another Elvas, the third one, and it might be the charm.
Aphrodite is a monster. Huge, with tall scapes. Ragtime is similar in red. There is nothing miniature about Alfresco. Promise is huge with very sturdy scapes, so it is not prone to tipping over. Pasadena: tall scapes, though reasonably smaller flowers. Red Nymph: Amazing, huge flower. It does not resemble Nymp in shape though. Unique has also tall scapes, though delicate, small double flowers.
I believe if they have enough time to shoot down roots, they would be able to support taller scapes. All my doubles that brought tall scapes were very slow starting up. The ones that start growing the scapes right away usually fall behind.

Beetle, Nymph is beautiful! Thank you for sharing....gorgeous specimen. =)

Soultan, my Elvas that I got from J.S this season had a LONGGGGG scape and REALLY thick....definitely thicker than a jumbo hotdog! I had to stake it but the thickness of the scape kinda shocked me coming from a bulb, I almost felt bad for it because it probably hurt a lot to have such a ginormous thing come out but I definitely agree that doubles take longer to develope scapes. I planted my Elvas in November and it bloomed in January. =)

My doubles were probably shorter stemmed due to it being their first year, then... I can't recall any of my doubles being tall...

Joker was tall for the flower size and well balanced in how it looked, but that's a miniature, not a hybrid.

That's funny, Paxfleur! I thought the same thing when a few of my larger flowers began to grow scapes... especially Red Pearl and Exposure! The scapes are so fat that it doesn't seem possible that these bulbs gave birth to them! Youch! Kind of like giving birth to a 12 pound baby!

Thanks everyone, for the heart warming compliments to the girl!!LOL, paxfleur and jodi!! I can relate....my third Daughter, WAS ten pounds!!

I'm a little scared now tho, the three new bulbs have what look like mite damage!! In particular the little Nymph! could that be the reason she is so short? And if so...[not panicing yet lol] is there a specific miticide/pesticide i could use to totally clean these 3 bulbs up? DH says he could probably get some pretty powerful stuff [he's in the golf car business] and of course we would use it properly [outside, if nessesary] Thanks again for being so helpful and supportive!!

If you're not sure it's an infestation, don't pull out the big guns just yet... I have one bulb in particular that I know has a bad mite problem... I've just sprayed with Schultz's 3 in 1 fungicide/miticide/insecticide, available at any home store or garden center... I imagine it will take more than one application, and some time to know if it helped, but I'll keep everyone informed as to how it appears to be working...

I am a little leary of using industrial strength poisons on sensitive plants... I usually try off-the-shelf products first, and if they don't work, then I go for something stronger.

Jodi,

We went shopping today at HD, got some terra cotta pots for the bulbs that are sad, and in plastic lol!! I wanted to thank you again for the good advice.I bought some three in one fungicide,miticide and insecticide! Hopefully this will clean up the mites. [I actually saw thrips on these three bulbs,] We'll give this a go anyhow!
Thanks again, Happy Seeding!

Beetle, I hope the 3 in 1 works for you... I think I've got things under control here... I actually saw some little crawly things the other day when I was doing some watering and clean-up... they were tiny, almost microscopic, dark worm looking things crawling down between the scales and leaves on two of my bulbs! I immediately spritzed them with a little poison, 3 in 1, and haven't seen them since. I hope they're dead and gone! In another few days, I'll re-spray everything, and that should take care of any eggs that have hatched since I saw the bugs...

So, how are your plants doing? Are they liking their new clay homes? I've been stuck on clay pots since watching my Grandma use them ages ago... she always said they helped the roots to breathe, and they allowed excess salts to leach out... and they do seem healthier for the plants... the only plants that haven't liked them are my Phal orchids, but I found out that they prefer very warm conditions, and clay isn't a very warm home in winter! Other plants don't seem to mind, but Phals do!

Hey Jodi, those little critters you described, sound just like what I found on my bulbs. Maybe we don't have to worry about the dreaded tarsomething or other mite! i sure hope all they have [if they have to have anything]lol , are the black lil things! I'm going to follow your lead and spray when I see them. that'll teach em!

The crew is very happy in thier clay. All the other amis were already in them,and the ones i bought were in those cheapie plastic kits. Like yourself, I've been using them for years, and oh brother...are you ever spot on about phals!! I just lost one [a gorgeous burgandy] . I'm pretty sure it was cold and unhappy in its clay pot!

I had no idea, myself... I should have left my Phal in the plastic pot it came in, although, the medium it was in was pretty nasty... but I should have re-potted it back to plastic. Live and learn! I just hate killing plants because of my own lack of proper knowledge! I have my Phal, or what's left of it, on a heat mat, hoping a bit of warmth will help... I'm not sure it's helping, but it's worth a shot.

What I need to do is heat up a sharp object over the gas stove, and poke holes in the sides of a plastic pot, thus creating my own plastic orchid pot. It seems that only clay or glazed clay pots are available as orchid pots with slits in the sides... so, I'll make my own! Perhaps that will help...

Now that is a great idea, Jodi! I should do that with all my amaryllis pots, as I have a plethora of plastic left from other gardening projects and not a single clay pot here or in the local stores right now. 103 pots is going to be pretty toxic fumes from something heated poking holes in them though so I better wait for a day I can do it outside!

IN summer I will definitely keep my eyes out for a source of the clay pots or even see if I can find them wholesale, at that quantity. What dimensions are you all finding your amaryllis are happy in? Think I will go check out wholesale.

I find it depends on the bulb size, Lizalily, although, the more room you can give them for root growth, the better... within reason, of course... I've had to stuff a few larger bulbs into pots that are a bit too small for them, but it's all I had available at the time... I think the norm would be a pot that allows about 2 inches between the bulb and the pot wall, all the way around.

I have some of my smaller bulbs planted in 4" pots that are rather short and squat... and my really big ones in 8" or 10" pots... those are taller, of course... most of what I'd consider to be medium sized bulbs are in 6" pots.

The Lovely Garden klister I planted as a whole is in a larger pot... I'd say it's probably about a 12" or better sized pot... when I shop for clay pots, I try to get a large variety of sizes... and I prefer the inexpensive plastic drip saucers to the clay ones, only because you can more easily bottom water using them... they're a bit deeper than the clay.

I don't know why I didn't think of poking holes or making slits in plastic pots before! It could be done quite easily using anything sharp and heated, such as an ice pick or even a butter knife if it were heated enough. An old wood burning tool, that you don't mind ruining a tip of, would work, too. You could even get fancy and create different shaped holes or slits... if you could find something metal that could be heated, and was in the shape of a heart or star or anything, really... you could have some really cute, and cheap, orchid pots!

Lizalily, I have found lots of clay pots at secondhand stores, flea markets, garage sales, Salvation Army and Goodwill stores... but even if you buy them at your local garden center, they're relatively inexpensive... I have found that they cost more at Walmart than at the garden center! I pay an average of .69 cents for a 6" pot and .89 cents for an 8" pot... the larger the pot, the more costly, of course, but unglazed clay is fairly cheap. You might even be able to find them wholesale online for less... I've never checked because I think shipping could be more than I'd want to pay, plus they're rather fragile...

I checked the web and could not find a good source but think I will ask my friend who runs a nursery to order 100 for me. I have done that before and she will just add the order to hers. The plastic pots I am using now are the commercial gallon size pots (Which I think means they are about 3 quarts) I know I Can fill 13 of them from a big bag of potting soil. I like the square ones because I can fit them closer together on the shelves. Maybe I will just try punching the holes in the side.

I have several clay orchid pots in different sizes, but I haven't used any yet because I found out that the clay gets too cold for the orchids, and they don't like to be cold. That's what made me think of poking holes in plastic pots. I still haven't attempted any, but I haven't really had the time to play around with the idea...

I prefer round pots, no reason really... just aesthetic, I think. Square pots would take up less space, but they don't make square clay ones, at least none that I have found! Not unglazed, anyway!

You're lucky that you can order so many at once! I pick them up whenever I need more, or I grab them at garage sales, secondhand stores, or wherever I see them for sale cheap!