Hello Argus, I think I share most of your frustrating (and expensive hobbies). I collect unusual tropicals and herps. I have been growing A. titanum here in northern Australia for four years. I grow it in a mix of composted pine bark, course perlite, peat, vermicutlite, and fine granite chips 6:1:1:1:1, this is the mix I use for most stuff from lowland nepenthes to palms. My biggest one is about 7' tall now and this is it's 3rd growing season. I feed it mostly on the dirty water from aquarium water changes (great stuff), liquid potash and fish emulsion/seasol. You can't overfeed them in my experience. Wild amorphs around here grow in humus rich soil under a very thick layer of rotting leaves etc. If you can grow lowland nepenthes outside in your zone you should be able to grow titanum. N. bicalcarata is a good indicator. I agree with bluebonsai when he says try seeds. A lot cheaper and very easy to germinate if kept warm. I planted twenty this year from two batches (one old and one fresh) and only one didn't germinate. I recently moved my biggest one out into almost full sun under a leafless plumeria after seeing a fantastic specimen growing under a very sparse canopy in almost full sun. I haven't yet been game to put one in the ground as we have some pretty nasty nematodes here but I will put a few of the latest seedlings in the ground soon and see how they go. Good luck with it, Brendon

Oh my. What is a passionate rose lover like you doing in that glacial hell hole? Reading about your endeavors has exhausted me and I haven't even lifted a shovel. I admire your grit and determination, but would love to see you rewarded with thousands of blooms on your rose bushes for all your hard work. I bet they could use engineers in zones 7 to 10!

Hello aacor11, Yes, Steneotarsonermus laticeps is also referred to as the tarsonemid mite and the bulb scale mite. I can't answer your question about putting your pots on a heater. However, I can refer you to Veronica Read's advice, which is included in her book "Hippeastrum: The Gardener's Amaryllis." "Mites are active betwen 50 and 68à ¼ F (10-20à ¼ C) becoming motionless at 38à ¼ F (3.5à ¼ C), at which temperature eggs will cease to hatch. Mites will be killed at temperatures over 100à ¼ F (38à ¼ C)." Ms. Read also writes, they "can cause extensive damage which may prove fatal and, unless diagnosed at an early stage, can result in the total destruction of a crop or collection. By the time the bright orange-red streaks, stripes and scars are visible, infestation is severe and bulbs should be destroyed immediately. If cultivating plants indoors, any remaining healthy plants should be isolated immediately and all known and possible mite-infested areas thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Depending on if and where bulbs had been stored prior to planting and where the plants were cultivated, this may necessitate disinfecting cupboards, steam-cleaning carpets and washing or dry cleaning curtains and other furnishings. Once deprived of their food source, the mites will quickly die, but if cultivating the plants in the home, it is advisable not to reintroduce existing or fresh bulbs for 6 months until you are sure that all traces of the mites have been eradicated." I hope that this information will be helpful to you. Good luck with eradicating these nearly invisible, minute arachnids that are related to ticks from your Hippeastrum collection. The adults have four pairs of legs! -Blanca This post was edited by blancawing on Sat, Mar 9, 13 at 17:11

All this reminds me of Marek's disease in poultry. Some of the ornamental breeders on finding Marek's in one bird cull their whole flocks over and over. On discussing this with my avian veterinarian he says that all birds carry Marek's but, some show symptoms and some do not via stress or poor genetics. One of my friends that had a large collection of Hippeastrum collection gave me his entire collection because of perceived TMV several years ago (large). He was going to burn them. I adjusted the PH of the soil, sprayed for bugs, and all turned back a dark green. Go figure. Are they infected? I don't really care. They bloom and grow fine for a long time. A few look mosaic when I first drag them out of the basement and put in the full sun when their leaves are burned. Maybe that is what he saw. Who knows.