I have a weakness for cybister amaryllis. One i bought on clearance the one year sat around for more than a year before it sprouted- no joke! So don't give up on it- so long as it seems plump and has some green, it will get around to sprouting; it just may take a while.

Tammy, I just have a weakness for amaryllis. Do you pot your amaryllis or do you use the glass forcers? I bought this hugh Smith & Hawkens glass amaryllis forcer last year. I'm wondering if that's part of the problem. The smaller bulb is also sitting in a glass forcer. I may take these bulb out and try them in soil??

More than likely the problem has nothing to do with you or how you are treating the bulbs - it has everything to do with how these bulbs were managed BEFORE you bought them. Certain specific steps have to be taken to get the bulbs to go dormant, and I mean a deep dormancy so that they won't sprout before they are purchased. But they also want them to not rot while they sit on the shelf. This is all pretty tricky, once you own them basic home care is much simpler. Sometimes they take a lot to get going, sometimes they don't. I would soak them if they are wrinkled up or shrinking. If they are round and firm I would leave them out of the water (they have enough water inside the bulb to sprout). I would guess that heat is the missing component. Since you have no idea what they went through before you bought them - you could expose them to warm temps and see if that triggers them to sprout or chill them in the fridge for a month and then warm them up and see if that works. If nothing works I would plant them in pots this spring and see what happens. You just want to keep them firm and free of rot which requires careful monitoring of water. A healthy bulb has all it needs to sprout inside the bulb.

If they do sprout and all you see are leaves then it could mean that they were not sized up properly before they were forced into dormancy. Four leaves makes one bloom stalk the following spring.

I've never forced my amaryllis in water- only soil & pots. i do know amas don't like much room around them- they like to be a bit squeezed- so pick a pot about 1/2-1" larger all around than your bulb. That particular bulb i've had for a few years now and it's never bloomed. i keep hoping someday. it's not as vigorous as my others either. oh well- perhaps that color is a dud or just that bulb.

Thanks John & Tammy for the info. For now I'm going to take them out of the forcers and put them into pots with soil, but before I do that should I cut their straggly roots off? That's one thing that has concerned me through this whole process. Ususally, when I force amas. they have healthy looking white root systems in the water. The roots of these amas have always been straggly & dingy brown. I've even changed their water out twice.

Are these the roots that were on them when you bought them? were they once firm and white and now have turned brown and dried up? If these are new roots that have failed I would cut them off. If these are the roots that came with the bulb when you bought it, I would also cut them off. If they aren't functioning as roots, I would cut them off. If any part of them looks healthy I would leave them. The bulb has enough energy to send out roots and shoots, but only so much.

Good luck.

Not to put a damper on the ama excitement but I used to have a huge collection and over time all of them have come down a virus which eventually stopped the blooming. They are kinda like Daphne odora, you just buy some every once in a while because you can't count on them to live forever.

They were the original roots. OK - Within the next of day or two, I'm going to cut off those roots and pot the bulbs in soil and wait to see what happens. I'll keep you guys posted, hopefully with a blooming photograph!.

Thank guys for you help!!!

Please when planting the amyarillis don't plant it too deeply. The bulb should be at least 1/2 out of the soil. They do like tight shoes; ie smaller than usual pot space. Water after potting and resist watering again until you see new growth! I had 2 I bought in boxes were you couldn't see the bulbs and they had mold on them and I threw them out. Live and learn. Good luck!

Hi Tiarella, After I posted, a couple of days later, I went to the cut the old roots off and low and behold there were new little white roots coming out of the bulb. I cut all of the old roots off and again put fresh water in my rooter. The bulb is sitting in the rooter, 2 inches above water. Now, I have about 4 inches of new growth on this particular amyarillis. I'm anxiously waiting for this thing to bloom. The other one, I stuck in the refrig. I haven't decide what I'm going to do with it yet. Atleast, I think it still in the refrig . . . .

My wife and I currently have 28 potted Amaryllis in an enclosed porch near Oriental, NC. Some are more than 20 years old and bloom regularly. Prior to moving from NY we had over 60 plants. . . most of which we sold and/or gave away. We moved to NC with about a dozen of our favorites. We cross breed them and have several pots with 50 or more little ones. It became a hobby and we seem to have an affinity for them. My advice is as follows:

Pot them up leaving the shoulders of the bulbs exposed. Use good potting soil and water them right off. . . once a week should do. Place them in a sunny or well lighted area. Newly purchased bulbs are already dormant and may show signs of growth. . . after potting and watering you should see blooms in approx 6 weeks.

We have experimented with two options for overwintering:
1. Keep them outside or inside in spring and summer in pots in a sunny area (avoid all day direct sun in summer) . . . stop watering in the late fall before frost and move them to a dark basement for the rest of the winter. Their leaves will wilt and the bulb will go dormant. Trim the old leaves and In late winter/early spring some will begin to show growth with white leaves and flower stalks. . . take them to a sunny window and begin watering. . . they will green up and you should see blooms in approx 6 weeks. You can force the dormant bulbs to awaken by beginning to water 6 weeks ahead of when you would like to have blooms.

Option 2. . .If outside, bring them in before frost and keep the weekly watering cycle going. Some will go partially dormant while others will hang on with droopy leaves. We have one that was never allowed to go dormant for over fifteen years. It grew very long healthy leaves and put up 2 to 3 bloom stalks that produced 6 flowers on each stalk. With this option, each plant selects its own blooming cycle. Our four seasons sunroom never goes below approx 40 degrees on the coldest of days and that is where they all are now.

Thanks for the info.

From my previsous post, the larger bulb is about ready to bloom, so I'll post a photo of it soon. The other smaller bulb didn't make it.

Just to follow up on my previous post, all 28 pots of our amaryllis (some have 2 - 3 occupants) survived in great shape in our unheated four seasons sunroom over winter. Temps never fell below 40¼ and varied up to 50s during the day. We cut back on watering and some slowly went partially dormant with droopy leaves. We removed the leaves that turned yellow. A couple of weeks ago when daytime temps rose to the 60s we began watering again weekly. Today I counted 12 flower heads emerging and most are putting out new healthy green leaves. Almost all of the older bulbs have developed clones which are sending up new leaves.

Flower head count today, 25. Looking forward to a great show. Lessons learned: No chill required. . .No dormancy required, although some chose it on their own. . .We will keep them in the sunroom year round.

Florists amaryllis are really members of the hippeastrum family and come from tropical and subtropical America. In their native homes they get a yearly dry rest between mid December and mid April and plenty of rain the rest of the year. They like to be warm all year but tolerate a forced rest when cool. In Panama I see them growing wild, always with their neck sticking out of the ground an inch or two.

They definitely prefer growing in soil with very tight feet. I use a pot only 1 or 2 inches larger than the bulb and repot infrequently, every other year. During the warm month I stick the pot outside and forget about it. In fall, I bring it in after frost kills the leaves and then let it dry out for the annual rest. When I want blooms, I just start watering again, slowly, and the bulb revives like magic. Have had bulbs live years without anything but a yearly feeding of cow manure, lightly applied in spring after the leaves come out. RJ

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia Article on Hippeastrum

Your system is very similar to ours. Sort of a benign neglect which produces spectacular blooms. Interesting about tight feet. We have found that if you pot them in larger pots, they will produce clones and fill up the pot. When we get a pot full, . . . 3 or 4 bulbs that are between baseball and softball size, we feel a compulsive need to repot to give them more room and the cycle repeats which is why we have so dang many of them.
We also have cross pollinated the flowers of the various species and harvested the seed heads which produces hundreds of seeds. They sprout very readily and we have several pots with dozens of mixed breeds. Haven't kept good records of the cross breeds and have fun trying to figure out what we have created. We have some that are more than 20 years old and I recently read about one that was certifiably 75 years old.

I used to have a huge collection of them. I did the normal thing of forcing them to bloom in the winter and letting them spend the summers outdoors nestled into the flowerbeds but still in their pots. I was a great routine that involved minimal work on my part. After a while each and every one of them came down with a virus that slowly weakens the plant and it stops blooming and eventually dies. Now I have certain bulbs planted in the yard and others that I keep in the house and I keep an eye out for virus on the indoor babies.

What's the virus look like in the plant, john? I mean, how can you tell when one gets it?

I think John is talking about the virus that causes red streaking in amaryllids, the hippeastrum mosaic virus. There is no cure for it. It spreads by contaminated media and cutting instruments (like shears or knives used on leaves). Try not to reuse the media, not to have too many of the same type of bulbs in the same bed outside (I limit it to 2 per bed usually of any one genus) and try to not reuse your tools on them. Disposable razor blades are a good idea although some people use a butane torch to sterilize their regular tools.

The Dutch growers have it rampant because of the propagation method of choice: basal plate sectioning. It only takes one bad one to multiply using this technique. Plus, in a production environment farmers simply forget about viral hygiene. Many bulbs show no symptoms as long as they are healthy and strong but will develop the tell tale red streaks if they have a bad season.

Personally I try not to worry too much about it for the things in the open beds but for the precious things, I keep them in pots and mind the tools.

RJ

So, it causes red streaking on the bulbs or on the leaves or flowers? And, if one has it, you have to destroy it because it's not curable, right? I only have 4 potted ones, but i'll have to check them.

Mine always started as sorta pale streaks through the leaves like frost damage or even drought stress - so I didn't get too worried. Then it changes into the blood red streaks that eventually cover the leaves, pretty hard to miss and it looks a lot like some other viral diseases that outdoor bulbs can get. I wasn't propagating or cutting my plants so I doubt I was spreading it, it more than likely was dormant in them when I got them and then over time it woke up and took over the plant. I had a wide flat pot completely covered with the smaller rich red cultivar 'Baby Doll'. When it bloomed it was stunning. I just about tossed out all my bulbs when it developed the virus problem. It takes many years for it to weaken the plant to the point that it doesn't bloom.

Thanks for explaining it so well, John. I'll ck mine today.

There are many discussions on "Red Blotch" and "Mites" that supposedly cause problems for amaryllis. So many that I am totally confused. We have used a systemic fungicide and an insecticide spray. Check out this forum.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/amaryllishippeastrum/