Ok, so I have recently read a few other posts where growers store dormant Amaryllis bulbs in the fridge. As far as I know, cold treatment is not necessary for Amaryllis? I thought the idea was to simulate drought not cold? Anyway, I have all my bulbs in pots that are about 1 gallon or a little larger. I feed them every time I water with 1/2 the recommend house plant mixture of all purpose Miracle Gro. Put them outside in the summer. Plan to repot them about every 3-4 years...haven't repotted yet, only have had them in larger pots for 2 years now. They are all doing better than ever! In the fall...just before frost, I stop watering and bring them all in and put them in the basement (making sure they are good and dry). This would be about the end of September - first part of October. Mid winter, after the leaves die back naturally, I cut them off and clean them up, leaving them potted. 1st of January I bring them up and drench them good (no fertilizer until the second watering)...making sure all the dry soil really gets hydrated well. Then I put them in a bright warm spot and watch them wake up. I am extremely pleased with how much the performance of my bulbs have done since I have followed this schedule. I have some bulbs that have not bloomed for several years finely blooming again and at least 2 bulbs have 2 flower scapes each (I have 6 bulbs large enough to bloom). I've never had 1 with 2 scapes. I like putting my bulbs to sleep in the fall and bringing them out after Christmas is all over. That is about the time I start thinking about gardening and bringing the bulbs up on Jan 1st gives me a bit of gardening in the winter. I expect my first flowers about the last week of Feb and expect flowers through the end of march...just in time to start some early spring gardening. So there you go, that's how I take care of my bulbs and why I like to force them into dormancy. I'll post some photos of them as they start blooming. dacora: I'd love to see photos of your new Amaryllis! You will probably need to put a stake of some kind in your pot for supporting the plant as it grows. Last year my 'White Christmas' got 37 inches tall! That was ridiculously tall in my opinion and it looks as if it is on its way to a good 3 feet again! Matthew Indiana.Matt

I've used MiracleGro with good results. It won't burn leaves. The Bayer 2-in1 granules I also use are 6-9-6. K

Hi. If you look through the Frequently Asked Questions at the top if the message list, there are details on floating the seeds in water and planting them directly in soil. You can also search this forum for the word "float" and see several discussions about germinating seeds. With reasonable care, you could expect blooms in 3-4 years. Good luck! Kristi

Sorry, I inadvertently typed another really long post. Is it important to you for them to bloom right in time for Christmas? If not, go ahead and pot them as soon as soon as you want. Bulbs can expand in size any time of year they have mature leaves; as I said in the other thread, the winter light is more direct, while the summer days are longer, and the benefit is roughly equal. Winter direct sun might be slightly better, if you have deciduous trees outside your window blocking summer light. If they start trying to grow flower stem while dormant, the stem is FULL of water and if roots haven't yet grown to get it, the stem will be shorter, and sometimes you see hippeastrums in stores blooming 2-3 inches above the bulb. I didn't say this in the other thread, but personally I don't like dormancy periods and they are unnecessary. I see them as missed opportunity for extra months of light and growth. It is harder to keep the bulbs the same size when you are forcing dormancy for a quarter to a third of the year. Sometimes it happens on its own if you rotate them out to "share" windowsill space with other plants, and it doesn't hurt them, but it causes them to lose some mass to re-grow their leaves. Whenever you plant the bulb, it will come out of dormancy, bloom, shrink a lot while it's producing that growth, and then get on its own cycle of blooming in late winter based on natural light (unless you force dormancy). It blooms whenever you increase daylight hours... which happens automatically in months after December 21, but can be triggered if you move it from inside to outside or from a dim window to a light one. As for storing hippeastrums... the only time I have ever lost a hippeastrum bulb completely is when I forced the dormancy of some smallish young bulbs that had come from seed (which were roughly the size of a tulip bulb - some larger some much smaller) and kept them in a cold garage, which was probably 40-45 degrees in winter. A couple of them rotted after they got warm again. So the idea of keeping them in a refrigerator makes me flinch. A large one can most likely survive about anything, but when I think of the right kind of "cool" that would keep them dormant, I would imagine something like 55 degrees in a dry place, not a refrigerator which is, what, 35-38 degrees? Plus if your refrigerator were to accidentally freeze (which some occasionally do, especially in fall) it would severely damage the bulb. You can store them dry in the dark. I don't like to get unplanted bulbs wet for any reason. I don't know if it speeds the growth process, but they grow fine without soaking. One they contact damp soil the roots grow into it quickly. As for fungicide... the way I see it, the best fungicide is full sun helping the plant produce energy to defend itself. I've never used any. Once I dipped bulbs in a mix of neem oil/water because they had scale insects.