Amaryllis/Hippeastrum Myth or reality

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

AoA,Reproduction of my post in Amaryllis/Hippeastrum Garden Web Forum.
What is the general thinking and my experience.
Bulb pulls itself down.
Not true
Bill from Amaryllis study group once recommended placing a 4X4 tile under every bulb to prevent it from digging in.
I say it is not true. When we plant seedlings the small bulb is placed completely below the surface, it keeps growing below the surface and after three years when it blooms it is half to one inch below the surface.
A mature bulb in ground or pot produces bulb lets which keep growing below surface and over years they also produce bulb-lets which are even below the second generation. Once I visited a friend who had a pot of Papillio full of leaves which had never bloomed in many years. We opened up the pot and found it full of bulb lets down to half the height of the large pot.
This you may find in beds left untouched for years.
The bulbs in this picture were planted 4 years ago; they have not gone down at all.



Water from below,
Possible only if you have a few bulbs.
Water only when the soil is dry
Pots or ground, It is better to keep the soil moist all the time (my experience).
Dormancy is a must to ensure blooming
Not true; ever greens will bloom normally even if you do not force dormancy.
HEDCO advised to force a resting period of at least two months (by withdrawing water). This would be the time to do so but many of mine are growing new leaves, why should I stop watering?.



Amaryllis does not require much soil to flourish
Root bound it to get blooms
Not true; bulbs in the ground grow much better than those in the pots.
Even in pots the bulbs in smaller pots don’t grow as well as those in larger pots.
The soil has been removed to show the size of bulbs,
Small shallow pot with four bulbs



Large pot with 12 bulbs



Standard 14 inch pot with 5 bulbs



Mosaic virus bulbs should be destroyed
I don’t agree
Lemon Lime, confirmed diseased is doing very well and has increased from one to twelve over five years,



Repeat blooming without chilling
Not true.
Bill (Amaryllis Group)Once suggested that you can get re-bloom by pulling the bulbs out keeping them out in shade for few days and replanting without cutting leaves after a specified period. I followed and lost many bulbs.
You can’t grow competition Amaryllis in hot climate as Yours (Hans)
I think it can be done, I am quite happy.
Arif

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Brigd sb i think in nature Amaryllis never go into dormancy. They force the bulb to bloom in X-Mass.Other vise Hippeastrum is not a bulb like many which needs dormancy.
Another thing which i noticed it can bloom at any time of the year.So some times it will bloom twice a year.But it does not happens regularly.My Arctic Nymph & White Nymph flowered twice this year.One on the normal time & second in mid summer.The second time blooms were smaller in size.I have seen many times the common red flowering in odd times.
Once i was very worried about Doubles but as you advised i planted all in pots to root bound.It really worked for me.At that time i realized you are the master of Amaryllis.

[mikhurram]

Brig Sahib thank you posting this link which contains very useful observations.

Sir i have some questions.
This year i had to pull my entire Amaryllis bulbs which were planted in a soil bed as i felt that some of the bulbs were getting lost and some got buried too deep with the passage of time. When the roots of a newly planted bulb develop along with the increase in size of the bulbs & formation of bulblets with the passage of time don't these factors tend to pull the bulb further in the soil bed?

Secondly what could be the reason for tendency of Lemon Lime to die. Originally i had 5 bulbs of Lemon Lime of which only 1 has managed to survive. I have noticed that compared to other Amaryllis varieties the 'Lemon Lime' variety is more susceptible to rot.

Thirdly why Papillio behavior is different or strange from the rest of the Amaryllis bulbs. I have noticed that Papillio after flowering in the first year tends to remain dormant for the 7-8 years and then starts flowering on a consistent basis from this hiatus of 7-8 years.

Lastly Sir the flowering pattern of Mont Blanc & Rilona Amaryllis like Papillio is different from rest of other Amaryllises. Even if planted outdoors with rest of other bulbs the it tends to skip flowering for an year or two and then starts flowering in subsequent years. Sir what could be the reason?
Initially i thought that it may be due to dormancy but then realized that Amaryllis bulbs planted outdoors here in Lahore, Karachi etc don't normally go into dormancy. Sometimes they start entering the dormancy period when the leaves start turning yellow even if planted outside.
Could the reason be that somehow the bulbs of Mont Blanc or Rilona Amaryllis are not able to store & gather sufficient nutrients/energy from the leaves to ensure flowering in the coming season. Perhaps the answer may lie in giving it proper fertlization like tomato fertlization when the blooms are over to ensure continuity of blooms.

Forgive me Sir for pestering you with these questions as i had been searching for these questions and this post provided an opportunity to raise them.

regards,

[Mustansir Billah]

Very informative. That is what I think that why need to chill the bulbs and force them to go dormant is something that is unlikely. It means they are not natural. Nature must have kept a period of their blooms.

[mikhurram]

Mustansir we in Pakistan particularly in Lahore, Islamabad & Karachi are fortunate that Amaryllis can be left outdoors in pots or ground year round but in cold places in Chitral, Giligit or in the Western countries they need to be taken indoors during the winters. Usually the dormancy starts setting in when the bulb is lifted or dried when placed indoors.

What Umar Khan and i were trying to convey was that mostly here in our warmers areas mentioned above Amaryllis normally don't go into dormancy. At times they do go into dormancy when the leaves start turning yellow but that is usually rare.

[Mustansir Billah]

JazakAllah MiKhurram sb. So, That is the reason that I have found on many websites of there dormancy period. Many of the websites regarding plants refers to colder regions.