This is so much easier in person but I will try to describe my experience with amaryllis roots. When you get the bulb you have two basic "root conditions". Brown flat and dead. (imo) Slightly white, slightly thick and round and slightly alive. (imo) The brown flat dried up and 'dead' ones I now actually rip off the base of the bulb carefully. If done right (you must grasp individually at the base) its a cleaner break in my opinion. I leave the white-ish intact ones alone. These can take up some water, but I can't say I know that they continue to grow when given a chance-- I have assumed not because I've assumed that once the root is dormant and done growing that it won't start up again. I could be totally wrong on this but its what I have assumed. The problem with doing this via the net is that ...some bulbs you might buy have only dead roots. Some have a mix. Some have some great long clusters of potentially strong white roots (I always favor these and consider the bulb healthier for it.) So I can't see what you might have or buy. Many bulbs are sold with virtually no roots or all short dead brownish flat dead roots. Try and avoid those. I think they take longer to get started growing (not necessarily blooming though.) So when you force paperwhites in water-- before you know it, you have these attractive white roots going everywhere and coming out from the bulbs! With amaryllis... not really. I think it varies slightly with how much warmth the bulb gets but generally the roots take a lot longer to form and their speed is individual to the health of the bulb you got. So don't expect a 'show' with the roots like you would with paperwhites. Its especially important to thoroughly anchor the bulb wherever you put it so the bloom doesn't topple it in case the roots don't form enough or aren't long enough to support the flowering stalk on store purchased bulbs. If you have a potted bulb it has likely filled the pot with long fabulous white roots (VERY VERY long) from growing all last year(s). They easily hold themselves up. But not a new storebought bulb. So in summary: My personal belief is any thicker rounder whitish roots on purchased amaryllis bulbs will absorb water and are somewhat alive. I assume and personally believe they don't get longer though and new roots are sent out from the bulb for its new life at your house. These new roots are very slow growing. So slow that in many and I personally believe most cases-- won't start or get very long until after the bulb has flowered. Many bulbs flower and definitely have not started new root growth. (especially true if kept in a cooler windowsill or cooler home.) I give my bulbs bottom heat and I feel they do much better and the roots start growing faster. Amaryllis bulbs can be forced in water successfully. I personally don't believe in rooting any plant in water and then transferring it to soil because the roots have likely adapted to an unnatural life in water and have some significant stress changing over (if its even possible) to life in soil. I think with care it can certainly and has been done, its just not second nature. I'm typing this half asleep, I hope this helped a little if it made any sense at all. :) Have you found the Clemson article on amaryllis yet? Its one of the better pieces of information out there. Google "Understanding and Producing Amaryllis". There is a lot of misinformation out there. Hans here is fabulous and really knows what he is talking about (his point recently about cutting the leaves off was excellent and I couldn't agree more in my experience and THIS from someone who had read consistently to allow the leaves to die down all the way from pros and was a firm follower of that advice. This might be fine with naturalized daffodils and such but I don't think it works with potted amaryllis you specifically wish to force from my experience. [I enjoy forcing my plants because I enjoy their blooms in Jan/Feb. They otherwise grow in my climate fine and would do great on their own blooming in the summer.] I think Hans is right and the leaves start compromising the bulb after its been dormant past 'dry out the pot' stage. (Ie: more than a couple weeks.) Its an excellent and subtle point for people who like to reforce their bulbs year after year. There are also some excellent and very experienced growers of Amaryllis here and that's what makes this website just fabulous.

Wow! Quick response! :) From 2007 to 2010, they grew in a big flower box. A little after spring of 2010, I stuck them in the ground. This is a picture from the bed last year: Amaryllis Bed. The middle clump are the ones that I grew from seeds. They also get full sun. I used Google to look around and it seemed like the best option was for full sun? I do have a banana plant there though. I expect it might get big enough this year to cast some shade. hehe. I also fertilized regularly as I was told this would help them along. I don't know their official names but the seeds came from the red Amaryllis that have a bit of white/yellow to their 'throat'. There's also two other Amaryllis in there. There's one deep red Amaryllis - no other color to it. And there's one pink/white Amaryllis. I don't know if they've been cross-pollinated. I just know at the time that the 'mother' is the red w/colored throat. I had a lot of red w/colored throat blooming at the time before I collected the seeds. None of the amaryllis anywhere have sent up flower buds yet so I'm still hoping.

Could it be the bulb loves all that great air media. The hydroponic people grow great things in that perlite with attention to liquid feedings on a very regular basis. Now I'm going to pot up a Red Lion in just perlite, and then try to be diligent with a liquid feed of mir. grw and some not so sweet tea....let's see if the Lion will roar. No I'm not ready risk a Ferrari this way.....not yet at least. By the way a buddy grew Ferrari last year that made it to 30" with three scapes. Yea that helped push me over the edge.... And then there was a Royal Velvet seedling....Well I always wanted a greenhouse. :) Ain't life great.

I grow my Hippeastrum bulbs in a bonsai-like medium, which is very porous, has larger particles, and is mostly inorganic... I base my feeding schedule on the orchid "rule of thumb" for feeding, which is weakly/weekly... meaning, I use a dilute liquid fertilizer solution every other time I need to water, and I add a few drops of Superthrive or micronutrients, just to be sure they're getting what they need. So far, all my bulbs are looking good, and the root systems are a lot healthier than when I had them planted in potting soil. As for your roots... what I did for mine when switching over to the new medium, or for basic re-potting, was rinsing them out with tepid water to remove all the soil, and I sort of gently untangled them as I rinsed them... I removed any dead roots, dried the bulb, and before I re-potted, I dusted the bulb lightly with Captan, an anti-fungal powder. I also painted a little bit of rooting hormone powder on the basal plate, using a small artist's paint brush. Then, I simply held the bulb in the pot at the level I wanted with one hand, and filled in around it gently with the new medium, using my other hand. I use unglazed clay pots whenever I can... they're porous and allow excess salts to leach out, and they also help the roots to breathe. Since switching to a more free-draining, porous medium, I have eliminated my rot and fungal problems... although, I'm still very careful about only watering when the bulbs require it. I hope this helps you somewhat... even though I need to water a little more often, I highly recommend planting bulbs in a more porous, inorganic type of medium... it doesn't decompose as fast as potting soil, and it doesn't hold moisture for too long, both of which contribute to rot and fungus problems.