Amaryllis thread part 2

Gita - I wondered. Your ring looks like my peony rings.

I was thinking about fertilizing with a bloom booster - any thoughts on that? Is there a different fertilizer that would be better?

Carolyn--

Just my opinion, but I think a "Bloom Booster" is more for repeat flowering plants
like annuals and such. Plants that make buds and then bloom.

In case of the Amaryllis, the energy to bloom is stored in the bulb from all the
leaves that grew the season before.
So the bloom booster would not help the blooming of the Amaryllis.
Feeding your Amaryllis during the summer, when it is manufacturing leaves ,
is needed on a regular basis.
*****See Doc's post above--on Feb. 7.

Those boxed Amaryllis that are sold around X-mas--as well the loose bulbs we had for
sale at the Home Depot all bloomed out--just sitting there. Then got tossed.
They were not even planted in soil.

Gita

This message was edited Feb 10, 2011 9:36 AM

After looking at a few articles and a bit of thought I come to the conclusion that using a balanced fertilized like 10-10-10 or 14-14-14.
I am a big user of Osmocote slow release, easy to use. Gita, I also use it on my Burgs.
Also putting the Amaryllis out in a sunny location in the summer is very important as the leaves give back nourishment to the bulb.
I set my pots out in my flower beds so they just blend in, and sometimes they get watered with a liquid fertilizer with the rest of the flowers.
I have a supply of home made compost that gets spread in the beds every spring. However I don't know if the nutrients are taken up through the bottom of the Amaryllis pots.
When my mother grew them she did not have $ to spend on fertilizer, there was always compost on hand and she would take the used dish water in the pan and every day she would throw it in her flower garden outside the kitchen door.
She had a beautiful healthy garden.

I can't believe how fast my Amaryllis is growing three of them already have spikes coming up. The fourth one is easily seen.

Holly, I am so glad you are happy with your order. Getting them on sale adds to the sweetness.I am enjoying my blooms every day.

I'm still wating for action with Zombie. She's firm and green under the splits in the outer skins but taking her time.

Bloom Booster (I've read) will force annuals to bloom more suddenly, at the cost of a lull afterward. With an Amaryllis that hadn't developed enough the previous season I am sure you can't force it with Bloom Booster. However, any fert while is is in growth is better than no fert. for the next year.

lady- I agree with your mom! regualar soap like Joy is non toxic and think of all the drippings of kitchen waste in the dishwater, as liquid compost..I sometimes wish I had a diverter under the sink to go into a bucket.

Sally---Teee--Hee......

What can you expect from this Amaryllis bulb?
After all--it IS a "zombie".....:o))

......joke....

Gita, thats a good one, maybe Sally needs to wait for the next Full Moon. LOL

ha ha you two !!!!!!!! looking forward to:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/197722/!!!!!!

I guess if you really want to plant by the moon sign one would start the watering of a dorment bulb on the first day of a new moon. Plants that grow up and bloom or fruit above ground need this signal. Those that grow down and produce underground are planted the first day of a falling moon. For outside plants one would naturally apply last expected frost factors with the moon planting.

Interesting Doc. I planted and starting watering my bulbs a few days after the New Moon, but they were already breaking dormancy when they were shipped.

My large Lemon Star is starting to flop over even with staking. It has been blooming a long time so I think I will cut the stalks off and put them in a vase.

The moon stuff is interesting and fun to read and try to work with. However may I say that for several years I made a sign with the word SIGN on it. When folks ask I informed them I was planting by the sign. LOL

LOL Doc, now that is a gem.

The only amaryllis I have in spike is one I bought for $ 5.00 at Walmart in December. None of the others I have are in spike. Wonder why?

They need a SIGN in them that says New Moon !!

I nursed a couple of bulbs all last summer. One was very large when I recieved it as a gift last year. The others were in a general sense small and of the inexpensive big box store smaller sizes. My two largest bulbs are in spike with flowering buds. The largest bulb which increased in size over last summer has a spike that measured twenty eight inches tall yesterday. The other is much smaller but will bloom something in a week or so from today. Both spikes are still on the grow....slowly now but still growing up somewhat. The largest spike is over an inch in diameter at the base. The flower bud appears to be at least a double. I am gently feeding them weekly weakly with several teas.
.......Of course I will show off my apparent huge one when it blooms. The teas I am working at this time period are worm cast, kelp and fish watered down to the point I can see through them when held up to the sky. I use one a week and rotate.

My amaryllises were really neglected last year, spent the summer in the basement with infrequent watering... most hung in there, but I only got a few blooms from my older bulbs. So I've been enjoying blooms from some bulbs I bought in the fall. Some have been slow to break dormancy, just now showing a bud tip, so we'll have blooms for a while.

I've found that if I keep them in their pots, water regularly, and fertilize occasionally, bringing them outside for the summer so they get good sunshine, the bulbs will recover at least to the size they were when I bought them (before they bloomed), and usually they get a little bigger (bigger = more bloom stalks). I'm sure they'd love manure teas, but they get along all right with half-strength or quarter-strength miracle gro. (I almost never use full strength miracle gro on potted plants, especially not during slow winter growth.)

The times that I have planted them out in a garden bed were when I got really good growth on the bulbs, including the formation of little offset bulbs. I am planning on putting all my amaryllis bulbs into the bed below my deck this summer, with a soaker hose running alongside them. I'll add some Osmocote (the veggie one, 10-10-10) at planting time and try to give them some manure tea and so forth during the summer also. I even reclaimed some bulbs I gave to my mom & my DMIL for the holidays, so they can spend the summer in what Jim is referring to as "Jill's Amaryllis Spa."

I've got a flat of amaryllis seedlings that made it through the summer and are starting to get a little size to their bulbs... I think it'll be a couple more years before they bloom, but maybe I'll try putting them out in the garden bed also and see if that speeds up their growth!

If amaryllises weren't so tough and easy to grow, I'd never have the patience to grow them from seed... but it's really a "set it up & forget it" sort of project... stick them at the back of your plant shelf, give them a little water on occasion, and they'll keep doing their thing until they've reached blooming size.

I wrote an article on growing them from seed... http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2977/ Give it a try, even if you just grow a couple of seedlings. It's fun to experiment with different crosses. I couldn't resist trying to cross 'Lima' and 'Benfica' this year, since I love the deep cranberry red color on both of them... LOL, I will probably end up with pink-blooming offspring or something totally unexpected.

'Princess' is a pretty double miniature (shorter stems that don't need support... I'm getting fond of minis!) that bloomed last week for me. The color isn't red, but rather an intense rose-pink shading across the white blooms. It has the picotee edges that I love, too!

'Lima' -- very exotic looking!

'Benfica' -- huge deep ruby blooms, like that Victorian Christmas red, and the petals are really thick & long-lasting (what the growers call "good substance").

So, 'Lima' x 'Benfica'... what do you think the "kids" will look like?

Well--Jill---
I have to go and agree with your more "lax" way of dealing with the Amaryllis bulbs....
I would never have the time--nor the incentve--to deal with specialized fertilizers
and home-made soils and such.

I admire Doc's knowledge and time to devote to all this. I do not have the time.....
Doc--i do not mean to minimize your efforts and experience--but how many of us
have the time and the resources to do all that?

My bulbs are large and healthy--even if they are many years old.
Anyone can have amazing, multi-blooms if you just bought you bulbs at a Nursery,
or ordered them from on-line. Same thing.....
I think it is the number of blooms that come from one stem that shows how hardy they are.
I want to comment that--having 24" tall spikes is NOT necessarily a sign of a bulbs
healthiness. To me that is "lanky"--and it will need staking....
May be just that they are not getting enough light.
Shorter ans stockier stalks with many blooms are the ideal.

Mine have been "doing their thing" in the pots they are in for many years.
Their lack of blooming is MY fault for not fertilizing or watering them enough. .
I do realize that something is missing in the blooming part--and my care part..

My biggest bulbs in the BIG 14"pot are about 3" in diameter. The smaller ones--about 2".
Not bad--for having less than perfect care for about 8+ years.....

YES! I think they should bloom better--but then I should fertilize them better
during their growth time. That is MY shortcoming....Out of sight--out of mind.
When I re-potted-- them just recently--they all had good, white, fleshy roots on them,
because I made a point to water them and fertilize them (now and then...) last summer.
Must resolve to do this better yet....a never ending project!

In the past years, when I ignored them outside, most of the roots were shriveled and dry.
when I went to re-pot them in late winter. They just sloughed off the bulb.
They were dead....No wonder I never got any good blooms!
YET--They have survived. Credit to their hardiness....

Most Amaryllis, that are just bought, when they bloom, the stems are not all that tall.
They are sturdy and shorter--but bloom exquisitely....WHY? Because the growers know
exactly what to do with them, how to overwinter them and fertilize them.

I have worked for a grower of many things. The fertilizer is always mixed in the water--
and it is always tepid in temperature. Whenever you water--you fertilize. Always!
That is why newly purchased plants look so great...That is also why newly purchased plants
look like c--p after a few weeks or months after you have bought them.
No one can keep up the level of care and fertilizing as growers do.
Nor can anyone provide the perfect environment, temperature, humidity and care
of a Greenhouse to achieve this.

That is also one reason I do not buy annuals or many other plants from HD.
Having plants "pushed" into perfect growth and blooming--that cannot be sustained at home--
is the main reason. Their root systems are just not mature enough to support the growth.
I'd rather buy my plants from a roadside stand or a local nursery that grow their own and
that have been hardened off properly.
Like--perennials--need to have been sitting outside on the ground for a length of time
before they are sold. NOT straight out of a Greenhouse!

Thanks for listening.......Gita

I have to disagree about stem length... I'm not sure what makes the difference, but I've had both newly-purchased and "saved" amaryllis bulbs that bolted their blooms on very short stalks, ones that shot up between 2 and 3 feet, and lots that were in between. Some shorter stalks are less sturdy and need staking, and some taller stalks are astoundingly stout... I had one once that peeked over my kitchen table, no stake needed.

I have come to appreciate "miniature" amaryllises, though, as their bloom stalks are generally under 20 inches (not sure where the official cut-off is for the height of a "miniature") and seldom need support. The bulbs are generally smaller, also, and cute in a little pot or planted with 3 or 5 bulbs in a larger pot or oblong container. I gave my MIL 5 bulbs of 'Trentino' that bloomed for weeks and weeks... she's still talking about them. :-)

This 'Double Queen' from 2008 holds the height record for me... 37 inches from the base of the bulb to the top edge of the petals... in its pot, that made it tall enough to see from the other side of the table. Stunning!

I have done the tea and compost to tea thing all my life. My dad and many friends were Dutch or Dunkard. They did not then and do not now use man made fertilizers. One does what one wills themselves to do. It is not difficult and it is less expensive.

You're right, doc, and every year I have good intentions... when the plants are outside during the summer they might get some "good stuff," but during the winter the indoor plants usually end up making do with miracle gro. Not ideal, but it does get them by.

I once heard the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. LOL

I think I've traveled on that road, the flowers were lovely. LOL

ROFL!!!!!!

Boy I got behind and need to keep moving. Beautiful blooms Jill!

Here is a local winner.......tallest and largest flower bud. Grown on teas and micro-minerals both last summer and in this year's watering.

The Bud.

Doc -

very nice..... cannot wait to see it open!

OMG Amaryzilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks great, as does all of the greenery there, all so GREEN

Wowza! Like the one I posted above, "tall" doesn't have to mean "floppy"... that's a wonderfully sturdy stem as well as a tall one, doc! Your plants clearly like their diet.

Doc, can't wait to see the bloom on that one.
My Full House if starting to send up a 3rd flower stalk. If I get to the store that sells fish and or kelp fertilized I'll get some.

Lowe's has Alaska brand fish and kelp in one bottle. I have seen it elsewhere too but can not remember where. I have left over dry organic things that I can use. Leftover from our pumpkin growing days..

Thanks for the tip, Doc. Next time I'm in Lowes I'll look for it.

Doc

thanks. I need to look for that. It is going on my grocery list.

Doc, very impressive and a testament to your method of growing. I too can't wait to see it bloom!

Down here a Southern States farm store sells Alaska too, but that may not be uniform to all SS stores.

With age and cost of travel both being factors for me I like mail order. My favorite hunting grounds is this site: ARBICO ORGANICS at

www.arbico-organics.com

Their site is very informative. They have a Biocontrol Consultant that "is not" full of baloney. Jennifer Bauman is the consultant available to all with serious need of help. Amazingly she will not be available for nonsense chatter. I have watched this firm grow over the years. For a few years I and one of my pumpkins were featured in their catalog. Come to think of it I never collected that cup of coffee either. LOL

Their hard copy catalog and on line catalog is plum full of good information for those interested in organic principles and products.