Hey Chaz, my Zombie was a small bulb too. I got mine from Gurneys. However, even though smallish in size, it is producing 2 scapes and had good thick roots.

Here it is next to Elvas.
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cindeea, thanks! I needed that!
The one on the right of the photo looks to be about the size of mine.
By the way...just got an email from wayside, 2 for 1 amaryllis!
Of course when I went to get potting soil for my newbies this evening an appleblossom followed me home! LOL
This is bad, very bad, I'll have them in my fridge trying to space out the bloom over the winter here.

Chaz, you have a bad case of CHAD! Almost worse than I do! The only reason I'm not still ordering and bringing bulbs home from town is that the weather has gotten too cold for shipping, I think... and I've already got all the local types of bulbs available!! Otherwise, I'd still be hunting stores for more, and ordering like crazy!

I'm glad you got your order, and glad everything looks good! Can't wait to see pictures!

I put in a dozen Naked Ladies (Lycoris) a few weeks ago... how frozen is your ground? If you can still get a shovel in, you should still be able to plant those Lycoris squags! If you can't get a shovel in, I'd probably pot them up and either grow them indoors until spring, or pot them up and keep them in a really cold garage to over-winter... maybe someone else has a much better idea... this is the first year I'm growing them...

Hey Chaz! Yes, Wayside and Park Seed (their sister company) sends out good bulbs. Although their shipping is a little bit high, they have been having sale prices/promo lately though which would kinda cover up for the shipping cost.

I took advantage of Park Seeds clearance sale, 35% off, that they offered the week before Thanksgiving. I got some ammie bulbs and ordered 3 of their Blossom Peacock pre-planted gift kit. With the 35% off and ordering by 3s, the price ended up $8.42/box. Not bad for a Blossom Peacock.

Inside the box was a white pot with saucer and a lid that holds the bulb down and supports the neck of the bulb. The bulb was planted in coco coir. For a change, the pot had holes...lol! The bulbs were huge 33cm ones, firm and healthy with nice roots.

Written in the invoice was a note that although the pic in the box is not Blossom Peacock, their supplier guarantees that the bulbs are Blossom Peacock. And if there is a problem with the amaryllis, contact their customer service.

Here is are pics of the pre-planted kit and the bulbs. Oh and Chaz, Piccolo and Zombie bulbs are supposed to be small. I put in my Zombie (from Wayside too), planted in a 4"pot, in the pic for you.

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Yes, Maria, I agree. The picture on the box is Promise. I wish Promise really looked like that. I love the web... My Promise is gorgeous, but it has too much red coloration that kind of kills the web. I wish I could get the Promise that is featured on all the promotional pictures...

Maria, nice stash!!

Chaz, I got an email from Wayside too. It said my 2 for 1 Zombies should arrive tomorrow!!!

Now why the hell did I order more Zombies since I already have one? Because Gurney's said I couldn't get them till fall of 2008, that's why! Chad is taking over! Someone rescue me, please.

Oh yeah, and what the heck am I doing up at this hour?? Soultan told me he wasn't beautiful and I have no chickens!!

I told you I wished I were beautiful. :o)
And you really don't have chickens...
Your CHAD is bad... You kept on telling me no-no-no-no-no, then you order everything behind my back... :o) Do it out in the open. It is not good to have these feelings supressed... You will have some complexes... You know... Mr. Fraud cold tell you about them...
I hope, you will join my Australian order for next Summer. You need not treat your CHAD.

Maria,
A few years ago I went to a garden show held here in Melbourne and bought a mini Hippy bulb that had been grown in a pot exactly like yours. I wonder if these bulbs came from overseas. I have never seen them again.
The bulb was left in that pot after it flowered and soon got rot and died.
(This was before I knew how to look after them)

It sounds like this CHAD is very contageouse. I'm sure if I had all the hippy suppliers available to me I would have caught it by now. I am constantly searching on ebay and the net for places I can order from.

And even Royal Colors is not able to send to you?

All this talk of bulb ordering is making me want to take advantage of Wayside's offer... and place another order with John Scheepers! I don't know if my budget will allow it right now, though... I have to mellow out on the bulb ordering for this year, I think...

I am definitely game for a next summer order from Down Under, though!

Dizzy... you should look into getting an order from Royal Colors... their website says they ship all over the world!

By the time we would order from Down Under, you could have enough dimes collected for a few bulbs. It is dead season for us on the Northern Hemisphere anyway, so It would be a nice change to get fresh bulbs in the mail that time of the year.

jodik,

re John Scheeper's.
I ordered from them 10 days ago and tried to track the order,
which wasn't found. I called and
the csr told me they cant ship until the night temps are
above freezing both in CT and here ( Mich. )

Just fyi - cuz it may take a bit before those conditions are met.

So, at least, they are responsible. They don't send the bulbs unless they kind of guarantee that you get them in perfect condition. I actually like it.

Even though I'm tempted to order, I know it's too cold for proper shipping... plus, I have plenty to keep me busy right now, as it is... and, I have used up my bulb budget for the season, so I must begin saving for next year!

The Hippeastrum season is way too short! Especially for us northerners! Who knows... with global warming taking place, we might have an extended season sooner than we think! Hehe!

You can have bulbs in the Spring, and in the Summer from the Australian order. Believe me, I am glad that the season is not really long... I don't spend hundreds of dollars every month. :o)

This is true, Soultan! A person could easily go broke ordering all the different varieties, and if the season were longer, more orders could be placed... I've already spent more than I thought I would this year! It's ok, but I'd like to be able to order some next year, so I have to save up...

I should be able to afford a few bulbs by the time you're ready to place the summer Aussie order!

In a way, I'm glad the season is short... this way, I can anticipate the next order, and think about which ones I want to get next!

I'm glad the season is short. I start to go broke so it is good that December is the last month I will place order with any company. Then nothing till October 31st again (not counting the Australian order, which is an If yet).

Well... if the Aussie order becomes a reality, it will be very nice... but if not... there's always next year!

Dizzy...The Park Seed invoice says it's from Netherlands.

Funny how they planted such huge bulbs in that small 6" pot. The bulb already occupied the whole pot with like an inch left in the bottom for potting medium.

I really like to believe that the Aussie order will become a reality. If I take every drooling amaryllis fan into consideration for about $100 worth of bulbs, then we are already at 50 bulbs. :) I am taking 10 bulbs myself right at the beginning... So do your math... We are half way there.

I haven't really had time to sit down and study Maguire's listing... but from the few times I have looked through it, I see several that I'd like to get... Forest Fire, Kaitlin, Autrey, and Brendan's Flower... just to name a few... although, that could change as I study the listing more!

I am sure. My list is changing day by day as I see the private pictures here that are way more spectacular than the ones on magures' site... I'm glad I have OCD, so I can stick to 10 bulbs max for myself. :o) This will force me to do the order every year. :o)

If enough people can be found every year to make the ordering worth while, I would be happy to get a select number of bulbs every year... like 5, or so... that way, I'll have something to look forward to each summer!

In some small way, I'm sort of glad that the amaryllis season doesn't last too long... if it did, I'd have to order more varieties, and then I'd have nothing to look forward to for the next season... I don't want to collect them all at once!

Your OCD works for you in this respect, instead of against you...

Definitely. They have too many varieties. I could buy 100 bulbs for myself, but that would be crazy. I am not that crazy yet.

I could get that crazy, but I don't have the room or the money for 100 bulbs! So, I have to put a leash on my crazy!

I think collecting a few at a time will work for me... like 5 or 6 or so... that keeps me with blooming flowers and a smile on my face!

Ah, BEWARE..
You'll easily get a 100 bulbs after pollinating and germinating....
and you'll have to make room to see them flowering.
Just a warning ( I stepped into that pit too )

I can already see it coming, Jaapm! I am only planning on germinating a certain number of seeds from each successful pod, and sharing or trading the rest with friends. That should keep the number of seedlings down a bit. By the time I have over a hundred seedlings and adult plants individually potted, I hope to have bought a home and moved into it. If that doesn't happen in time, I will have to purchase some good grow lights.

One way or another, I will make room for them all and provide a decent environment. No one said that addictions were easy things to handle! Hehe! :-)

Repeat orders once a year would be sufficient to satisfy my Aussie yearning. I think. I am realistic. I am sure I cannot get an order of 100 bulbs together for every month. :o)

Soultan; Im working on a concrete list of 'must haves' from the aussie order right now. I am up here in canada though, is it going to be a problem for you to get them to me? do we need to work something out on that score?

oh yeah, I fell into the seedling pit too, friends! they have overtaken my grandfather's greenhouse for three years now! I must be in the advanced stages of CHAD. Heck, Ive been there for years, Lol!

Blayz, we will have to find out in what conditions I will be able to ship bulbs to you. I might have to get a phyto certificate and that wouldn't be an easy task, considering that I myself will get the bulbs from Australia. I have really no idea.
Where in Canada are you? Maybe, if you are close to the border, I can ask USPS if they ship to a designated post office where you could pick it up in the US with your ID, then drive it home. When you drive, they usually don't check if you are smuggling some bulbs in. :o)
It was just an idea though. If you know how to ship bulbs to Canada from California, enlighten me please and we will go with it.

I doubt there will be a problem shipping from the States to Canada... although, you never know... we never had any problems shipping American Bulldogs over the border... if memory serves, all we needed was a Health Cert from the vet, and a letter of acclimation for flying. A lot of people simply drove down and picked up their pups. Plants could be a different ballgame, though...

Blayz - You simply must learn how to post pictures! We need to see your seedlings and any greenhouse photos you have! We have this "greenhouse" fetish here, and any mention of one must be accompanied by pictures of the structure and it's contents! LOL! But seriously... I know I would just love to take a peek at what you have growing in your Grandfather's greenhouse! I love greenhouses, and the humid, earthy smell they have... and they are especially nice to view when the weather is cold and dreary, like it is now!

Inspect your bulbs!
Just opened the netting of my Piccolo, one and only one bulb out of the entire shipment is bad, green dusty molded and black rot 1/2 of the way through. I cut before I took the photo, no chance of buds on this half for a long, long time. Wayside is replacing with a zombi, kind of ruins my display wishes of 3 piccolo but the Customer service rep was a polite as could be. I happens, I AM NOT blaming wayside for this at all it would have been hard for the packer to see the mold from the outside of the netting. . Just be sure to check your shipments as early as possible.
Chaz

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good bulbs piccolo

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bad bulb, I cut in slices trying to reach clean bulb, if you can see the base it still has red going through, don't think it's saveable!

Is saveable a word? LOL, guess I should have written salvageable, if that's spelled correct! LOL

Chaz - my Peach Blossom had some rot, too... nothing you could see from the outside, really, but as I peeled the dead outer layer off just prior to potting it up, I saw that there was a small area on one side that required surgery. I cut out the rotten part with a very sharp, clean knife... dusted it with Captan, and it's drying on a shelf... I will pot it up in a couple of days, keeping it rather shallow in the pot, and hope that it does well and grows and flowers!

Wow! Your poor bulb is beyond being salvaged, it appears! I'm glad you're getting a replacement! Just for your information, eBay has a few auctions for Piccolo right now, and I think some start at .99 cents with no reserve... do an eBay search for amaryllis! You may be able to get a third bulb to plant with your other two...

Jodi,
Thanks, I can't order them right now from ebay. It's just to cold to have them sitting in the porch now, and I am on a moratorium! LOL, not financial, just plant overload on the other half! I brought 8 bulbs into the house this past month, he know's how big they can get and how much room I have and I'm pushing it right now. I'll have to wait till next year. I've got the piccolos potted up and it would mean putting another pot out. I'll wait to plant my current zombi until I get the new one from wayside as a replacement and just pot both of them in one pot.
sigh...to have my conservatory back...

Blayz, how far are you up into BC? If it came to it, and you were intereseted enough , I could hold your bulbs for you to come down and pick up here near Seattle. I occassionally go up to my sister's in Bellingham also, if that made a difference. A few years ago the phyto certificate was $15 and that was not bad but I think they might have raised it since then.

chazparas:
You could try to save your bulb by: cutting away all the bad tissue from the basal plate, and putting the bulb for two third into dry sand.
There is enough energy stored in the remaining scales: young bulblets will probably grow between them, and show themself after, say, half a year.
Nothing you've got, something you may get.

If it is easy to get a Phyto certificate, I don't mind getting it. And if the price is $15, then it is not even a big problem.
I knot that Phyto from Australia to here is $100.

jaapm,
I kept the somewhat clean piece of bulb hoping to do just that, I had a rotted ruby meyer last year that produced a small bulb from a pair of scales and a tiny, tiny piece of basal plate. I'm giving it some time to dry right now.
Thanks for the information, I hadn't thought of dry sand!
Chaz

It's absolutely amazing what plants will do to survive and grow... I wouldn't think that a new bulb could grow from a small piece of basal plate and scale, but Mother Nature does some incredible things to carry on a genetic line...

Dry sand... I'm writing this down in my journal, just in case the need to save a rotted bulb should arise... very good information, Jaapm!

Very interesting information as I do not have captan and I will have to treat the rot with grapefruitseedoil instead.

How are we supposed to treat the bulb once planted in dry sand? How long after watering and how do we water etc?

Alex

Aacor11, depending on how extensive the damage is would determine how severe the treatment you might give. In the winter with colder temps your biggest enemy is probably dampness. If you can't tell the extent of damage or suspect its worse than you can see, you might have to pull the bulb, rinse it off to decide. If it's not too bad, you can use a mild bleach solution (different ppl use different %), but when confronting severe damage I have used up to 50/50 for 5 minutes on the basal plate and damage parts only - never the top where the leaves grow. Then let it dry completely.when faced with a bulb that had extensive damage I place it in a baggie with damp sphagnum moss, blow air into it and place it on the fridge for warmth (similar to chipping). The sphagnum has natural antibacterial properties that will prevent rot. If not that severe treat all damaged area with cinnamon and wait a few days before replanting.

Thank you very much for your answer! I will post pictures Sunday.

You were right! Thank you!

I found an article on a bacteria that does help promote plant growth and has antifungal properties at the same time and is growing on sphagnum moss

'Burkholderia bryophila sp. nov. and Burkholderia
megapolitana sp. nov., moss-associated species
with antifungal and plant-growth-promoting
properties'

'Opelt & Berg (2004) showed that Burkholderia strains form
dominant populations on mosses and that these strains
show high antagonistic potential against fungal pathogens.
In particular, on the moss Sphagnum, which forms peatbog
ecosystems highly relevant for the world climate, they
are dominant and important components of the associated
microbial community (Opelt & Berg, 2004; Belova et al.,
2006). In the present study, we determined the molecular
and physiological characteristics of Burkholderia isolates
associated with three moss species.'

It seems acidic soil plays a part in the rgowth of this bacteria

The mosses were sampled in the ‘Ribnitzer Großes Moor’
nature reserve near Rostock (54u 189 N 12u 169 E) on the
southern Baltic Sea coast in north-eastern Germany. The
moss Aulacomnium palustre Hedw. (family Aulacomniaceae)
grows on the edge of a non-calcareous mire
behind the dunes in the Sphagnum-rich birch wood. The
moss species Sphagnum rubellum Hedw. and Sphagnum
palustre L. (family Sphagnaceae) were found in a more
open part of the centre of the mire, together with common
cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium), cranberries
(Vaccinium oxycoccus) and cross-leaved heath (Erica
tetralix) in a Sphagnum–Eriophorum mire plant community.
These habitats were characterized by different abiotic
conditions, especially soil pH (acid and strong acid),
moisture (medium wet and wet) and nutrient content
(medium poor and poor) described by Precker (2000).