It is an amaryliid, you have well concluded that from its overall appearance. However it is a member of another genus namely one blood lily Haemanthus (although this particular sort generates umbels of white blooms) Concluding from feasability I would guss that yours is one H.albiflos, because this species is particularly widespread - although the leaves of your specimen appear a little bit very stunted. Hans-Werner Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of Haemanthus albiflos

josh, you are amazing! this is just sooo cool! have you posted it before on GW? do you think the ratio and technique are the same for hippies as in the narcissus article? thank you again so much, you are so helpful! best, mindy

Well jodik - the germination of the DL seeds demonstrated that your materials and sowing technique had been adequate - and it appears rather probable that there had been somethin' wrong with them damned *g* Hippeastrum seeds... I do not know what! In certain cases of genetical incmpatibilities you will indeed obtain seedpods stuffed with but nonviable seeds. The main example is H.papilio ("the evergreen European clone") x TETs. In fact I received generally over 100 - up to 120 seeds with crippled embryos. However, IF you had told me that your friend had sown another aliquot of them and had received germination, THEN that would be a veritably puzzling question. Soultan, now I must admit that I am somewhat concerned, that you did not perceive my "coco fiber appraisal songs" of the past. I use this substrate exlusively! And, for drainage I use a very thick layer of, usually, Seramis. I found only one other substrate in which hippeastrums do grow still faster: Grit(for aquariums) 1 mm grain size (rather perectly graded -> without "fines") But thhis substrate is very heavy, and the water keeping-abilty is in the range of 10 grams per gram of substrate and it practically suitable but for mechanized (automated) tide/flood watering. OR, what I practised with very good success, watering from above, totally rinsing-through. But this is a cumbersome and bothering splish-splash procedure - and if any first contamination of the seedlings with tarsonemid mites has yet taken place, might rather quickly prove fatal.

I've got a closely related problem, but I don't want to open a new thread. I have been forcing my bulbs for the last couple of years. Usually they were still in relative good shape at the end of the year, so around November/December I started to give less water and moved them into the cool basement around Christmas time. This year I started earlier with some, around September and had them in the cellar for the whole October to have them flowering for Christmas. Something went not as planned ... I think they were mostly ready for the dormancy period, the leaves were going leathery, the outer leaves getting yellow tips. I moved them back into the flat and put them on our north-facing window which I descibed before. Although they don't get direct sun, it's quite bright and they thrived there in the last growing season. Now they don't want to grow. I think the problem is that I widened the windowsill with a huge board, 120 x 40 cm (47 x 16 inch) which is good because the big pots won't fit on the other windowsills but I think it keeps the warmth of the radiators from the pots. Temperatures go down to around 14°C (57°F) at night and maybe lower since the windows are somewhat leaking (?) The plants on the other windows in the warmer room directly shot scapes and leaves upwards, but the "colder" plants were less enthusiasticly growing. Sydney showed it's scapes rather soon but they are staying in the bulb neck for 2 months now. Just now they are moving again, I put the pots on the floor during nighttime, so that they don't get too cold. I think I should have left my Amuptos grow, but I wanted them all to be ready at the same time, I repotted all my plants when they came out of the basement - but they don't show the slightest sign of growth. I feel really stupid. Do you think it's the temperatures during night (during day it's around 19°C [66°F])? Sadly I have no alternative space for these pots! This post was edited by betonklotz on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 13:30