That's a nice fat bud and I'm sure that it will yield some gorgeous flowers but I hope you didn't cut those leaves off when they were green! Many amaryllis continue to grow as evergreens when you bring them in the house so only cut off leaves when they are dying. I for one think that an amaryllis blooming along with green leaves is the epitome of beauty!! Make sure you share a picture of your blooms when that time comes!! The bulb looks nice and large so don't be surprised if you see another bud poking up soon!

Donna☺☺☺

That bulb looks veeery good. Not one trace of a red spot on the bulb, but then I wonder why the new leaves are decapitated?

Dondeldux I hope your words come true. Another one would be something really special. Haweha should I be worried if I see red spots on the bulb, does that mean some kind of disease (please pardon my ignorance)?

Also both of your comments about cutting leaves made me a bit worried. Can that harm the plant?

I did cut the two sets of leaves. The leaves were growing like crazy and first set was already more than 1' tall before I saw any hint of bud. During summer each of the leaves grew to be more than 5' tall.

When I bought the plant last year, there were two bud stalks and those never grew more than a foot each. Knowing how tall the leaves can grow I thought it would be better to cut the leaves so that the focus stays on the flowers (the stalks were so short that I never needed stacking).

Hope I did not just ruined the plant. Please advice...

No, you didn't ruin the plant but you've made it harder for the leaves to nourish the bulb for next year's bulb, they're gone! ! Now it has to start all over and trying to produce leaves! This won't affect the blooming this time however.

Most all amaryllis will grow as evergreens, some want to and others will just hold on to one or two leaves over the winter and some bulbs will have leaves that will turn brown. That's OK, those bulbs are telling you they need a resting period. If you have hundreds of bulbs like some of us do on this forum than cutting the leaves would be their method of trying to force dormancy so they will bloom in the ensuing months. You can do what you wish but I wouldn't cut the leaves when you bring them inside, some of them will naturally turn brown and then you can remove them. These bulbs have their own timetable as to when they want to bloom.

Since you've now removed the leaves be careful that you don't overwater as now that there are no leaves to use up the water, your bulb could rot.

You allude to the fact that your leaves grew to 5 feet tall, is this correct? If so, next time you can always trim the leaves down to a few feet or so which some of us might also do if the leaves get too long and unruly.

Good Luck. Donna☺☺

Thanks for the reassurance and valuable input. I'll be careful with watering.

Well now that you pointed out 5 feet seems too much ...don't know what I was thinking. But the leaves were easily close to 4 feet.

Here is a picture from summer that I posted earlier. The leaves grew even taller after the picture was taken and would eventually be broken of their own weight.

Very exciting! Make sure you post pictures, I love looking at others blooms.

As for leaves, we all have different opinions, although I think most would agree that you should probably never cut a flush of new growth, especially if the plant is growing a scape as most (not all) do this once they're entering into their growing season. Cutting the leaves opens the plant up for disease, rot, and malnutrition. Not all Hippeastrum lose their leaves during their dormancy.

In general, I don't cut leaves ever unless they're diseased or damaged. I wouldn't cut the healthy leaves off of any of my other houseplants. If you want your Hippeastrum to enter dormancy, I think the best method is to cut back on watering. It may look bad but the leaves will completely dry on their own, in this state you can easily remove with a VERY slight tug. When you cut off leaves, you're pushing the bulb into a stressful situation, they can't really prepare for what is coming where as slowing down on the water naturally pushes them into a slower growing rate or a complete dormancy for some varieties.

Thanks JoshY for all the useful info. I'll definitely upload pictures as soon as the flowers start opening up. Right now it's growing happily along with the leaf stubs and this time I'm not going to cut those back. my plant gets a lot of direct sunlight indoors, may be that's why the leaves are growing so fast.

kaboehm I can totally relate to the troubles related with very long leaves. I feared I would be stacking leaves and not the flowers by the time they bloom :D

Anyways next time will not be in hurry to cut the leaves back. I'm always learning something useful because of all the kind advice and comments...this forum rocks :)

Never cut back green leaves on an amaryllis...in some cases leaves will remain more than one year. This is ok...and even good in many...more leaves==more nutrition for the bulb.

Here is the plant exactly after six days...the stem is growing an inch a day I believe...can't wait to see it bloom.

Good news is it is coming up with two more new leaves

New leaves!! Your plant is a survivor!! Be sure to post pictures when she blooms!!

Progress...there will be full bloom any day now :)

can't wait

It's an amazing thing to watch isn't it!? Enjoy the show.....

wow …. a white one! lol

Bragu, you're color blind! It's blue!

Indeed it is Dondeldux, specially for a first time grower like me the excitement is too much. checking the plant every few minutes whenever home and of course talking to it. My hubby thinks I've gone nuts :)

bragu and kaboehm, I am a bit dumb to understand the jokes Am I missing something?

We are teasing about the color! It's such a deep red....Bragu was teasing that it had no color and since he was being silly, I teased him back because there is no such thing as a blue Hippeastrum!! It is amazing to watch them grow so quickly. A couple of years ago there was a post of 84 photos from a first timer as we were all on "scape watch" with her! SORRY....! :-)

Got it kaboehm :p

and after reading your post I remembered I have not attached today's progress picture...

today morning it looked particularly interesting with a beautiful shape that reminded me of lobster's claw...

This should be "Red Lion". The color pattern on the youngest bud, whitish with a red rim on the edge of the floral-segment is an indication.

OOOO....H. Red Lion is a classic beauty!

Happy New Year Hans-Werner!

;-)

Thanks for the proper ID haweha...I picked it up from a grocery store last holiday season...the information tag had nothing but the name amaryllis with a picture of brilliant red flowers.

Love the color and size as it reminds me of a tropical hibiscus that blooms aplenty where I grew up.

Here is a picture of my beauty queen this evening...

Good night everyone :)

Hi everyone...

finally the blooms are open. The amaryllis has lit up my entire dining space. I feel my year long attention and care has paid off.

I am including few pictures. All of you will be happy to know that the cut leaves as well as the two new leaves are growing nicely. Thanks again for all your valuable inputs...

Very beautiful! Your leaves are also growing back nicely. Thanks for sharing :)

Each bloom is a gift of joy and happiness from Him.