Amaryllis - They Want to Live Another Year

Amaryllis

They Want to Live for Another Year :)

 

 

  Amaryllis are one of those flowers that are known around the holidays. They are Huge and vibrant, they make people stop and way WOW!  Unfortunately most people will toss these into the compost after the flowers have faded thinking that they will never be able to make it bloom again.  I think this is sad because that is completely untrue.  They can be a lot of fun to make them bloom over and over.   In fact you can make these plants bloom whenever you want.  So in theory you could have an Amaryllis blooming in your home 52 weeks a year if you had the space to allow for many bulbs at different stages of growth.  I have made some videos of Amaryllis care on my YouTube Channel and i will share those here as well as some other helpful tips.  Feel free to ask me questions and i will do my best to answer every one of them to help you out :)

 

 

  The first video is actually my most recent.  I am putting this one first because it shows you how to plant an Amaryllis Bulb if you choose to buy it Bare root.  This video is also showing when to remove them from dormancy.  So I was considering this video to be the last one in the list...lol.. but this works,  you can always come back to this one at the end if you like :)

 

   After your bulb has flowered and all of your Oooo's and Ahhh's have finished and all you have left is a sad looking flower stalk you can watch the following video :)  sorry it was one of my first and I'm a little camera shy... but it does the trick :)  We are cutting the spent flower stalk back to the bulb and if there are leaves growing it's time to start feeding :)  your plant will need to build up its energy you it can WOW you next time with another Spectacular flower Spike or 3 :)  WOOHOO!

 

 

The leaves will need to grow for a few months.  I Know.. the leaves are horrible...lol.. they get in the way and flop EVERYWHERE.  I recommend using either decorative sticks or a tomato cage to keep things in check..  They love full sun so if you can put them outside for a few months they will really reward you later.  remember that they love lots of water (they're not water plants so not soggy) and lots of food...  I feed mine either 1/4 or 1/2 strength fertiliser once a week..  the bulbs will get bigger and you will get LOTS of leaves..  If you want your bulb to bloom again for you at Christmas you will want to have your plant go dormant around mid July...  And Hey!  what do you know... YUP i have a video for that too...lol

 

 

 

Here is a video of me chopping their leaves off to force them into dormancy because these plants just wouldn't go to sleep on their own... sheesh!  you might also need to show some tough love.. LOL!

 

 

 I will post a few more blogs with more updates as well as tips. I think this is enough for now.   You now have the basic knowledge on how these beautiful plants re bloom... and it's just Too Easy why not give it a try! 

Next time I'll show you how to back track so that you can get your bulbs to be in flower for a specific time frame.

Until Next time :)
   Happy Growing!

   Bill