An old adage that I have found to be true is that for every three sets of leaves a Hippeastrum makes during the summer, it will form one flower bud. If your leaves are floppy, your plant needs some more light. Normal plant lights do not illuminate the whole plant, just the part right next to the lamp. No window gets enough light in December, January and February to give Hippeastrums the sunlight they need. I use 100watt equivalent, 5000 kelvin LED floodlights in a clip on fixture to illuminate the whole plant. I find that you can grow cacti under such a setup as well. Don't remove your bulbs from their pots during dormancy. This damages the roots, and the plant must use up energy forming new roots again before it can start making flower buds. Just stop watering during the dormant period. What the old time greenhouse men would do was to place the pots under the greenhouse benches laying on their sides. This way, if any water hit the pots from watering the plants above, It would run down the outside of the pot, leaving the soil inside dry. You can consider your Hippeastrum just like the closely related Aloe species, except Hippeastrums need a lot more water during the growing season. Actually, Hippeastrums are desert succulents. Their water storage organ takes the form of specially modified underground leaves, which we call a bulb. They come from dry country in South Africa. Storing water underground prevents evaporation during the dry season. The same thing happens in the mountains and deserts of Iran, with the plant we call tulip.
Your comment about leaving the bulbs in their pots after they’ve bloomed, and letting them do their own thing, is music to my ears. I bought 2 bulbs and both of them bloomed last winter. Trying to put them into dormancy is something I’d rather not do. So for now they are still in their pots and one still has leaves from last winter, and the other is starting to produce leaves. Going to see how they do. Love your videos!
I'm Happy to hear you are letting them grow :) so many people want them to go dormant right after flowering is complete... The poor plant needs time to recuperate. You will be rewarded with a beautiful show of blooms when it's time:)
Just joined your Channel, My neighbor gave me an Amaryllis for Christmas last year, OMG Love it is so easy to grow I went to my local discount store. They marked the kit down to 1.99 so I bought the shelf of them and ordered two sets of Hearty ones for zone 3-6. I am in zone 6 so I guess I can leave them outside on the ground and not lift them. I am trying to learn what I can about the Amaryllis. I dont have a basement my garage in the winter gets down to about 33 degrees even if it's below zero. I have three snapdragons that have survived the winter. One was planted in the ground its leaves are green and soft. Sorry for my long story OH I'm in zone 6 about 3 to 4 miles from Lake Erie.
Welcome to the wonderful world of amaryllis 😀 I don't know that I'd put your amaryllis in the garage. My fear is they would turn to mush if you had an unexpected colder than normal night... I usually store mine in my grow room behind the furnace... the don't get cold but they do dry out..
@@PlantzNThings ok thanks for the advice my garage is insulated just have two outside walls. Both garages are together and each condo units are attached so it's one building the coldest it got was 33degrees F. I have a digital thermometer. I have a dalah tuber in the garage in a box with shredded paper then another container with more shredded paper.
True don't ever remove the green leaves from any bulbous plants until they die back naturally. The bulbs take all the energy back from the leaves to grow the next season.
I pollinated an amaryllis I bought this year and got tons of seeds. Now I have over a hundred seedlings 🤪. Looks like I’ll be able to give many plant gifts in the future.
I only have one plant after blooming I put outside in zone 7 do I bring in take out pot and cut roots off and make it dormant or just leave in pot and put in sunny window.
I have amaryllis with many babies and a flower bud which is 2 inches tall and its crowded in a small pot can i re pot it now or should i wait till flower bloom. After bloom then re pot by then.thanks! Hope u give me some insights on this worries i have in mind right now.
Our first amaryllis bulbs are dry and in the dark. We dug them up in the late fall. Getting ready for outdoor spring planting! Do you recommend starting them in pots indoors or directly in ground? Thank you. We love your videos!
Just watched about 5 Amarylis vids of yours and good thing I did. Newbie here in Canada so planted mine 2wks ago and I've been watering them 🙄🤦🏻♀️. Hope I didn't just do damage.
Growing amaryllis in Florida, and trying to make them go dormant. Most videos say to put the bulbs in a cool 55 degree place like a basement. Not possible here. I could put them in a dark closet, and the temp would probably be in the high 60s. Would eight weeks in there be enough to force blooming?
Mine don't get a cold period and they bloom fine... a dark closet should work... leave them there for at least 12 weeks... I found that 3 - 4 months of dormancy is best... some will set buds sooner and some later
Can U do a video on orchids i was given Phalaenopis for my birthday in March,it has almost finished blooming,Do U know what the next step is?I don't want it to die.
They don't have to die back completely... but they do need a stresser... sometimes thats a dry period... or a cool period... the dry period is easy... just don't water until the soil is completely dry... and when you water you don't need to soak the pot... this should maintain your leaves and hopefully still allow your bulb to get stressed enough to produce a flower bud.... I have had it happen... its not guaranteed bit worth a try
First time amaryllis grower here. When forcing dormancy, do you prefer trimming the roots and leaves or leaving the bulb in the pot and only trimming the leaves back?
Its really personal preference... many years I will remove them from their soil and let the leaves die back some... them cut them back and remove the roots... but this year I am leaving them in their pots... keeping them dry... trimming back the leaves once they've yellowed
This is confusing as its Winter here and its Spring where you are. I've just left the bulbs in the pot in a dark place. Not sure if I'm doing the right thing.
You're doing exactly the right thing. It doesn't have to be dark, just dry, but darkness doesn't hurt, since the plants don't have leaves and can't perform photosynthesis.
Nice to see another Hippie video from you, Bill. Just finished potting up the medium sized bulbs myself - the ones that were separated earlier from the mother bulb & were kinda crowded in a small pot. So now they have more space individually. Hopefully, they size up now :) I have some new ones in a cardboard box which are kind of hibernating from Feb 17th. I expect to get them out by the end of this month. Hopefully lockdown over too :) Cheers :)
I’ve never had any luck getting them to survive in order to bloom again unfortunately. I must be doing something wrong. Just curious do you use a microphone?
First, disregard any instructions that came with the bulb, along with any pot or soil that came in the box. These are included with the idea that you will let the plant bloom once and discard it. The pot is If the bulb is encased in wax, remove every trace of that wax. All it does is hold the bulb upright until it blooms. Then it kills the plant. Plant the bulb in a good, well drained potting soil. Normal varieties need an eight inch pot. Dwarf varieties can do all right in a six inch pot. Bury only the bottom half of the bulb. The widest part of the bulb should be at or a half inch below the soil line. Water lightly, but do not fertilize at this time. You can include some time release fertilizer in the soil, but the plant will not be able to use it until it grows some roots and leaves. Place the plant in a very bright sunny place. When it finishes blooming, Cut off any seed pods that start to form. The plant will need every scrap of energy it has to recover from the trauma it suffered while being harvested and shipped. You can cut off the old stalk or let it wither away naturally. Keep it in the brightest light you can find. Ideally, it should have at least five hours of direct sun every day. Unfortunately, in many northern areas there is no sunlight available at all in the two months after Christmas. For this time you can augment natural daylight with artificial. I use 100 watt equivalent LED floodlights. Look for the Kelvin rating on the box I find 5,000 Kelvin bulbs work best. They have the best balance of red and blue light and sufficient yellow and green to give the most natural appearance to your plants. These bulbs are also sold under the name of Natural Daylight. They fit in any ordinary fixture. I use clip on lights attached to a plank suspended over my plants.. Once the leaves are about eight inches long, you can start giving more water and fertilizing. Hippeastrums are heavy feeders. They need lots of food to make big bulbs, and the bigger the bulb, the more flowers it will hold. For every three sets of leaves the bulb grows in the growing season, it forms one flower bud. In the spring, place your plant somewhere outdoors. The light outside, even on the north side of the house, is ten times or more brighter than any window, but full sun is best. The soft leaves formed inside will suffer when the plant is outside, but it will send up new, stronger leaves very soon. In the fall, stop watering the plant. as the leaves wither, cut them off and store the pot in a dry place. Check it every week or so for signs of new growth. The bulbs may not send up buds at Christmas the second year. The bulbs in the stores are artificially forced to bloom at Christmas. The natural blooming time of Hippeastrums is after Easter. Since your bulb is now equipped with a full setoff roots, you can now start watering and fertilizing as soon as new growth shows. I hope this will help you have better success. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a Hippeastrum bloom the second year and knowing that bloom is due to what you did and not what someone over in Holland or Africa did.
No microphone at the moment. Are you letting the leaves grow for several months giving it lots of light and water and feed regularly? The common mistake i gather is that people try to make them go dormant right after the flowers are finished. the plant needs time to recharge.
PlantzNThings Yep! After the blooms die I cut them off and leave the leaves to die completely back and then put it in a dark place. Usually the bulbs shrink significantly.. they never get bigger. I don’t fertilize though so perhaps that’s where I’ve gone wrong.
Hi :) I have a playlist of all of the online plant sellers that I've ordered from … the list will grow as I find new companies and order from them. th-cam.com/users/playlist? list=PL_zKbiOtAWgJhOLr7aExQ96_wRH2XI1_F
They have a large root system to consider. there is a difference between being pot bound and having a pot that's too small. most pots that are supplied in the kits are a size or 2 too small... it's a judgement call for sure....
I bought an amarylllis bulb as big as baskketball size, seller said its ready to be planted and it will bloomm. It sproouts leaves in a week but its been more than 2yrs it prooduced more than 20 babie and never bloom yet. I was surprise people can plant in nov bloom in december
An old adage that I have found to be true is that for every three sets of leaves a Hippeastrum makes during the summer, it will form one flower bud. If your leaves are floppy, your plant needs some more light. Normal plant lights do not illuminate the whole plant, just the part right next to the lamp. No window gets enough light in December, January and February to give Hippeastrums the sunlight they need. I use 100watt equivalent, 5000 kelvin LED floodlights in a clip on fixture to illuminate the whole plant. I find that you can grow cacti under such a setup as well. Don't remove your bulbs from their pots during dormancy. This damages the roots, and the plant must use up energy forming new roots again before it can start making flower buds. Just stop watering during the dormant period. What the old time greenhouse men would do was to place the pots under the greenhouse benches laying on their sides. This way, if any water hit the pots from watering the plants above, It would run down the outside of the pot, leaving the soil inside dry. You can consider your Hippeastrum just like the closely related Aloe species, except Hippeastrums need a lot more water during the growing season. Actually, Hippeastrums are desert succulents. Their water storage organ takes the form of specially modified underground leaves, which we call a bulb. They come from dry country in South Africa. Storing water underground prevents evaporation during the dry season. The same thing happens in the mountains and deserts of Iran, with the plant we call tulip.
Your comment about leaving the bulbs in their pots after they’ve bloomed, and letting them do their own thing, is music to my ears. I bought 2 bulbs and both of them bloomed last winter. Trying to put them into dormancy is something I’d rather not do. So for now they are still in their pots and one still has leaves from last winter, and the other is starting to produce leaves. Going to see how they do. Love your videos!
I'm Happy to hear you are letting them grow :) so many people want them to go dormant right after flowering is complete... The poor plant needs time to recuperate. You will be rewarded with a beautiful show of blooms when it's time:)
Thank You Bill I learned a few things about the leaves. and the babies also.Can hardly wait for outside.
Just joined your Channel, My neighbor gave me an Amaryllis for Christmas last year, OMG Love it is so easy to grow I went to my local discount store. They marked the kit down to 1.99 so I bought the shelf of them and ordered two sets of Hearty ones for zone 3-6. I am in zone 6 so I guess I can leave them outside on the ground and not lift them. I am trying to learn what I can about the Amaryllis. I dont have a basement my garage in the winter gets down to about 33 degrees even if it's below zero. I have three snapdragons that have survived the winter. One was planted in the ground its leaves are green and soft. Sorry for my long story OH I'm in zone 6 about 3 to 4 miles from Lake Erie.
Welcome to the wonderful world of amaryllis 😀 I don't know that I'd put your amaryllis in the garage. My fear is they would turn to mush if you had an unexpected colder than normal night... I usually store mine in my grow room behind the furnace... the don't get cold but they do dry out..
@@PlantzNThings ok thanks for the advice my garage is insulated just have two outside walls. Both garages are together and each condo units are attached so it's one building the coldest it got was 33degrees F. I have a digital thermometer. I have a dalah tuber in the garage in a box with shredded paper then another container with more shredded paper.
awesome informational video Bill!
I am new to gardening, specially amaryllis. This is my first year to grow them and hopefully will get some positive results! Thanks for a great video!
I love your videos, we learn so much 💕
Thank you :)
Great looking plants just had mine finishing blooming and now got some seed pods cant wait to see the flowers on yours
Oh Yay!! you got seed pods? Are you planning on sowing the seeds?
@@PlantzNThings yeah most likely I just gotta find the space for them haha
True don't ever remove the green leaves from any bulbous plants until they die back naturally. The bulbs take all the energy back from the leaves to grow the next season.
I pollinated an amaryllis I bought this year and got tons of seeds. Now I have over a hundred seedlings 🤪. Looks like I’ll be able to give many plant gifts in the future.
Oh YAY!! That's Fantastic!!!
I did that too
Great video!! Thanks
Glad you liked it!
I only have one plant after blooming I put outside in zone 7 do I bring in take out pot and cut roots off and make it dormant or just leave in pot and put in sunny window.
My Amaryllis is doesn't blooming at all what am I doing wrong. Thank you for video.
always enjoy your amaryllis videos...thanks =D
Glad you like them!
I have amaryllis with many babies and a flower bud which is 2 inches tall and its crowded in a small pot can i re pot it now or should i wait till flower bloom. After bloom then re pot by then.thanks! Hope u give me some insights on this worries i have in mind right now.
What do you have behind your plant stands ?
I only hope mine put out scapes like yours when I plant them up later next month :)
My fingers and toes are crossed :)
And one more thing. I wish people who give a thumbs down would say why and what they don't like.
Our first amaryllis bulbs are dry and in the dark. We dug them up in the late fall. Getting ready for outdoor spring planting! Do you recommend starting them in pots indoors or directly in ground? Thank you. We love your videos!
Just watched about 5 Amarylis vids of yours and good thing I did. Newbie here in Canada so planted mine 2wks ago and I've been watering them 🙄🤦🏻♀️. Hope I didn't just do damage.
I'm sure it will be OK... if the soil is wet you might want to consider repotting... but if the soil dried between waterings it should be ok
@@PlantzNThings It seems to be drying out pretty good. I got leaves about 1.5" up and found the flower buds this morning 😊
My wife uses old coffee filters after drying and dumping the spent coffee into the com poster, up to tree depending on the size of the pot.
Growing amaryllis in Florida, and trying to make them go dormant. Most videos say to put the bulbs in a cool 55 degree place like a basement. Not possible here. I could put them in a dark closet, and the temp would probably be in the high 60s. Would eight weeks in there be enough to force blooming?
Mine don't get a cold period and they bloom fine... a dark closet should work... leave them there for at least 12 weeks... I found that 3 - 4 months of dormancy is best... some will set buds sooner and some later
Can U do a video on orchids i was given Phalaenopis for my birthday in March,it has almost finished blooming,Do U know what the next step is?I don't want it to die.
Nice 👍
Is it ok for the amarillis with out dormancy after the blooming?
Now my amarillis looks very healthy, with lots of greeny leaves.
They don't have to die back completely... but they do need a stresser... sometimes thats a dry period... or a cool period... the dry period is easy... just don't water until the soil is completely dry... and when you water you don't need to soak the pot... this should maintain your leaves and hopefully still allow your bulb to get stressed enough to produce a flower bud.... I have had it happen... its not guaranteed bit worth a try
First time amaryllis grower here. When forcing dormancy, do you prefer trimming the roots and leaves or leaving the bulb in the pot and only trimming the leaves back?
Its really personal preference... many years I will remove them from their soil and let the leaves die back some... them cut them back and remove the roots... but this year I am leaving them in their pots... keeping them dry... trimming back the leaves once they've yellowed
@@PlantzNThings Thank you! I really appreciate your videos and helpful advice.
Is it too late in the season to plant these?
we are coming into the growing season here so they will love growing outside for the summer gaining energy for next seasons blooms.
This is confusing as its Winter here and its Spring where you are. I've just left the bulbs in the pot in a dark place. Not sure if I'm doing the right thing.
You're doing exactly the right thing. It doesn't have to be dark, just dry, but darkness doesn't hurt, since the plants don't have leaves and can't perform photosynthesis.
Nice to see another Hippie video from you, Bill. Just finished potting up the medium sized bulbs myself - the ones that were separated earlier from the mother bulb & were kinda crowded in a small pot. So now they have more space individually. Hopefully, they size up now :)
I have some new ones in a cardboard box which are kind of hibernating from Feb 17th. I expect to get them out by the end of this month. Hopefully lockdown over too :) Cheers :)
I’ve never had any luck getting them to survive in order to bloom again unfortunately. I must be doing something wrong. Just curious do you use a microphone?
First, disregard any instructions that came with the bulb, along with any pot or soil that came in the box. These are included with the idea that you will let the plant bloom once and discard it. The pot is If the bulb is encased in wax, remove every trace of that wax. All it does is hold the bulb upright until it blooms. Then it kills the plant. Plant the bulb in a good, well drained potting soil. Normal varieties need an eight inch pot. Dwarf varieties can do all right in a six inch pot. Bury only the bottom half of the bulb. The widest part of the bulb should be at or a half inch below the soil line. Water lightly, but do not fertilize at this time. You can include some time release fertilizer in the soil, but the plant will not be able to use it until it grows some roots and leaves. Place the plant in a very bright sunny place. When it finishes blooming, Cut off any seed pods that start to form. The plant will need every scrap of energy it has to recover from the trauma it suffered while being harvested and shipped. You can cut off the old stalk or let it wither away naturally. Keep it in the brightest light you can find. Ideally, it should have at least five hours of direct sun every day. Unfortunately, in many northern areas there is no sunlight available at all in the two months after Christmas. For this time you can augment natural daylight with artificial. I use 100 watt equivalent LED floodlights. Look for the Kelvin rating on the box I find 5,000 Kelvin bulbs work best. They have the best balance of red and blue light and sufficient yellow and green to give the most natural appearance to your plants. These bulbs are also sold under the name of Natural Daylight. They fit in any ordinary fixture. I use clip on lights attached to a plank suspended over my plants.. Once the leaves are about eight inches long, you can start giving more water and fertilizing. Hippeastrums are heavy feeders. They need lots of food to make big bulbs, and the bigger the bulb, the more flowers it will hold. For every three sets of leaves the bulb grows in the growing season, it forms one flower bud. In the spring, place your plant somewhere outdoors. The light outside, even on the north side of the house, is ten times or more brighter than any window, but full sun is best. The soft leaves formed inside will suffer when the plant is outside, but it will send up new, stronger leaves very soon. In the fall, stop watering the plant. as the leaves wither, cut them off and store the pot in a dry place. Check it every week or so for signs of new growth. The bulbs may not send up buds at Christmas the second year. The bulbs in the stores are artificially forced to bloom at Christmas. The natural blooming time of Hippeastrums is after Easter. Since your bulb is now equipped with a full setoff roots, you can now start watering and fertilizing as soon as new growth shows. I hope this will help you have better success. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a Hippeastrum bloom the second year and knowing that bloom is due to what you did and not what someone over in Holland or Africa did.
Thank you Emmit! I’ll give it a go.
No microphone at the moment. Are you letting the leaves grow for several months giving it lots of light and water and feed regularly? The common mistake i gather is that people try to make them go dormant right after the flowers are finished. the plant needs time to recharge.
PlantzNThings Yep! After the blooms die I cut them off and leave the leaves to die completely back and then put it in a dark place. Usually the bulbs shrink significantly.. they never get bigger. I don’t fertilize though so perhaps that’s where I’ve gone wrong.
When will you give us a garden tour? 😁
Hopefully those will start soon. the weather has not been the best...
Hey Bill, can you give me any Canadian online plant shops?? Any good places to buy plants online in Canada?
Hi :) I have a playlist of all of the online plant sellers that I've ordered from … the list will grow as I find new companies and order from them.
th-cam.com/users/playlist?
list=PL_zKbiOtAWgJhOLr7aExQ96_wRH2XI1_F
Make sure to copy the whole link
It worked! Thank you! Now I will be watching all your Unboxing’s and then shopping!!! :)))))
I thought these bulbs preferred being pot-bound?
They have a large root system to consider. there is a difference between being pot bound and having a pot that's too small. most pots that are supplied in the kits are a size or 2 too small... it's a judgement call for sure....
Great tips! Thx
Glad it was helpful!
I bought an amarylllis bulb as big as baskketball size, seller said its ready to be planted and it will bloomm. It sproouts leaves in a week but its been more than 2yrs it prooduced more than 20 babie and never bloom yet. I was surprise people can plant in nov bloom in december