Now I will go to Walmart and see if I can save someone. :o) Or is it still a possibility that they checked which area I live in, and they specifically forbid the store manager to order any kind of amarylli? :o) Will see.

lol soultan-you sound so forlorn and depraved!

shiver-it makes me cringe to walk into any garden center and see their plants need tending to. It's so cruel. Do you thnk it is a marketing ploy to make us adopt their mistreated plants???

out of several walmarts in my area, i finally found a walmart with 6 foot high boxes of amaryllis and paperwhites. they are in various stages of development but a few are a week away from flowering. i saved 2 white "dazzlers" and 1 "appleblossom" that looked like they had potential.

tokyomafia,
If I am right, you are here on the West Coast, right? Where? If you are close to me, you have the moral obligation to tell me which Walmart had the bulbs!

Our Walmart here has had a whole pallet of boxed Amaryllises out in their uncovered garden center for at least 2 months now. They get sun, rain, frost and snow...the WORKS!!! I don't even dare going near them or I might look inside the boxes and start bawling (hope I spelled that right). Come to think of it, a pallet of X'mas wrappers are sitting inside were it's nice and cozy.

And they'll just throw them out one day without a second thought.

Anyone for Dumpster Diving?

soultan, yep i'm in san diego. i went to the walmart off Aero Drive just north of Qualcomm stadium.

Oh. I am in Los Angeles. San Diego is quite far from me for driving for a few bulbs that I might not even buy. :o)
So I am sure that Walmart is boycotting me now. They designated a circular area from the point I am located, and declared it amaryllis-less area, so I couldn't get any from them. I guess I would have to press charges.

i went back to that walmart today. unlike any other walmart in my area (8+) only this one seems to have tons of amaryllis. i got two more white dazzler box kits made by "Van Zyverden." then, to my surprise they had new gift boxes with healthier and slightly bigger bulbs from "K. van Boughondien." of course i had to get a bunch of white dazzler and a few apple blossoms. on top of that, i found a couple Charisma bulbs from a display that looks like it was cast aside. the guy checking me out at the counter for the final price said "here's the damage..."

Lol Tokyomafia...that was a good one!!!

Walmart's plants are always in horrible condition! Then again, the whole store is a mess, so I guess we can't expect the plants to be any better off! I once went all throughout the Garden Center (late, when no one else was in there but me) watering plants! I just couldn't bear to see them all thirsty and dying! I really wish my Walmarts didn't carry plants!

I was at W-M yesterday and looked to see if they had any bulbs left. They did, going for $2.97. They were loose in a large metal birdbath-looking thing and there was some water down in there making the roots a little moist.

I picked through them to see if I could find any worth having and found two. They weren't tagged so I have no idea what they are, but other bulbs in the pile were tagged Red Lion or Minerva. Only one bulb had any live roots, and it's only one root 2" long.

One has some leaves sprouting and most of the bud exposed and the other is still completely dormant.

The tag is very small (1.5" x 2") and doesn't say who grew, sold or distributed the bulbs. On the front is a picture of the type and its name and on the back is general amaryllis care and the bar code.

My walmart, at least, puts them right inside the door leading to garden area. A few weeks ago I took a friend to help me go through many, many, many boxes looking for the best roots. The bulbs this year are much smaller than last years. One "Dazzler" has already bloomed as a Red Lion. The ones that have bloomed have been fair to middling in their flower quality except for the "Dazzler"=Red Lion and one Apple Blossom which are quite nice. geekgranny=alice

The walmart i went to actually has very healthy bulbs from K. van Boughondien. The Van Zyverden variety is a little small but still healthy though obviously mass marketed. I'm staking out this particular walmart for the 50% off after christmas sale. we have a little less than 3 weeks. ;)

I have not went for hunting for a few weeks now. I don't care anymore. Especially after all these mishaps... And the customer care I experience. People get offended when I nicely tell them that their bulbs are not performing and I want some solution... I understand that this is profit loss for them, but I really don't need 3 Nymphs instead of 1 Nymph, 1 Aphrodite and 1 Pink Nymph. If I wanted the same varieties, I could have bought the bulbs locallly for 9 dollars instead of mail order + shipping. And I have a sore throat now, so everything is "elevating" my mood right now. Fortunately, at least, the fake flowers are still nice. Except "Pink Nymph" decided to become a dwarf flower. :o) But "Aphrodite" is a really nice Nymph.

I just tossed the second of the three Walmart amaryllis I bought. Red Blotch. I treated, I cut back, I did all the right things and then I asked myself why I'm beating a tired horse, or in this case treating inferior, disease-ridden bulbs. I should have known.

(Sigh) sorry for all your trials and tribulations, guys. I hope this does not damper your holiday cheer. After all, it's just bulbs. Cheer up, something wonderful will happen!

Oh, dear!

I have lots and lots of these bulbs. Most of them, most admittedly came from Walmart.

A word of caution... A red color on the leaves or bulb does NOT necessarily mean Red Blotch. If they are bruised, cut, scaped or damaged in any way, they will get a red mark. That is their nature. Growing them outside, I am used to those marks.

Now, if the red marks is accompanied by decay or rot of any kind, then you have a problem, and the problem can be treated.

I have yet to find a definitive answer on what Red Blotch really looks like (ie., pics, please!)

Be careful not to overtreat bulbs that are simply injured and not diseased. They are two different things.

I feel fortunate that I have done as well as I have. Elvas caused me some rot problems. Nymph did the same. But they were both crushed by a 70+ year old pecan tree during Katrina. Both survived afer being cracked open and the cuts and bruises turning blood red, then they started to show signs of rot. I cleaned them up, let them dry out, then all was well. Not to say that they weren't set back some. They have been.

Me, myself, and I... I don't give up that easily. The bulbs are still alive and producing pups.

Good Luck!

There are a number of older posts here concerning Red Blotch with links to sites that have photos. Try a search.