Amaryllis

[stella]

I had one of these bulbs last Christmas and when it had finished flowering put it in the garden where it has been all summer. The bulb is fat and shows signs of life with a good root system so I have repotted it in JI no 2 and bought it in the house onto a sunny windowsill. The problem is it has started to produce a leaf! I think Amaryllis usually put out a flower bud first then a leaf.
Has anyone else been successful with this, what have I done wrong, what should I do to ensure at least one flower? Thanks

[Two_Sheds]

I've tried getting them to flower again for about 5 years now (after a summer in the garden) and it's never worked.

[stella]

I had a feeling that might be the case. Is it worth carrying on is that it do you think?

[Jeanied]

This site recommends putting the bulb in the fridge for a while before replanting in autumn, to cause enforced dormancy. If I were you I'd cut the leaf off and try that (I notice the bought ones seem to have their leaves rather drastically chopped and seem to do OK).

[stella]

Hey your right they do always seem to have loads of chopped leaves. So I think I will let the leaves grow then chop them off and see if the flower bud comes through then. Ever hopeful

[kentvegplot]

Don't forget that most naturally flower in late Spring, not at Xmas which is when the forced ones flower. It may take a year or two for the bulb to build its strength back up before it will flower again anyway. I'm hoping mine will flower again, but the bulb is still rather small compared to when I bought it, so not hopeful for this year.

[valmarg]

I have got some bulbs which belonged to my grandad, and are getting on for 100 years old. I hava a fantastic snap of them in full flower, but with good growth of leaves. I wish I could post pictures on here, but I'm a complete numpty.

The thing is that they are in full flower, and leaf. It could perhaps depend on the variety. But looking in grandad's old gardening books, ie The Flower Growers Guide, way back 100+ years ago there was controversy then about hippeastrum/amaryllis.

valmarg

[Suky]

This is the Amarylis on my window sill at the moment, this is its 3rd year. It, too, spent the summer in the garden and came in in bud. It depends on the light etc and the variety wether leaves come first or the bud. Just keep it in a cool bright position and you should get flowers.

[stella]

Well perhaps there is hope yet. The bulb does look in good condition so I will keep it going for now. Valmarg what do you do with it?

[coreopsis]

I'm afraid I can't help you-the bulb I had was a bit "cuckoo" and flowered 3 times a year.After the last flower there was hardly anything left from the bulb.Stubborn like a donkey,didn't want to go dormant.Beautiful though and great fun to grow-about an inch per day

[jojo2910]

My plant has put out about 6 good long leaves and then the last leaf grew about an inch and then turned brown and died. The plant hasn't grown any more. Do you think if I keep watering it it may do something, or has the growing tip in effect died off and it will just be a few leaves?

Its the second year of owning, was outside in the summer and now on a windowsill.

[BarleySugar]

Mine is in its third season. I successfully grew it through its first summer, and was rewarded with 2 flower spikes last winter. This year it seems to have got a bit confused, because it already has one flower spike coming on it. However, it also split into 3 last year, so I now have 2 smaller bulbs coming on as well. I didn't plant it into the garden, just put the pot into the greenhouse among the tomatoes.
I had intended to stop the watering to make it go dormant like I did last year, but I'm reluctant to loose the flowers, so I'm just going with the flow.

[stella]

It would seem some people manage to make the bulbs flower again so I am just going to go with it and see what happens. At the moment the bulb looks healthy and I keep cutting the leaves off as they come through in the hope that it will throw a flower bud. Many thanks to you all for your advice.

[valmarg]

Oh dear Stella, you need to let the leaves die back naturally, so cutting them off won't be doing the bulb any good. Allowing the leaves to die back into the bulb provides food for next year (as with daffs etc) and strengthens the bulb.

We have had good years, and bad with grandad's bulbs. This year was a bad year, not a flower. But next year, who knows.

They do like to be pot-bound, so if you pot into a much bigger pot you are unlikely to ge much flower until they have filled the pot.

What you could do to offset your cutting off the leaves is feed with a high nitrogen feed. I was going to suggest a high potash feed to encourage flowers, but probably your best bet now would be to stop cutting off the leaves, give it a multipurpose feed such as Miraclegrow to see it over the Winter.

In early Spring start watering with a weak potash feed (in the hopes of producing flowers), but give it quite a bit of nitrogen to produce leaves, which when they die back will build up the bulb.

You probably won't have any flowers next year, but if you work on it you should end up with something half decent. And in a few years something fantastic.

valmarg

[stella]

Thanks very much for that I will try it, I would like to keep it going as it was a present from a family member. Thanks everyone for your help