Good call, I think.
When I treat my bulbs well over the summer, they get bigger... and they also often produce offshoot bulbs... keeping baby bulbs in the same pot as the mother bulb is also a way to end up with an increasingly big number of blooms as the years go by, although it may take the babies a couple of years to reach blooming size. I've seen opinions about removing offshoot bulbs to let the mother bulb increase in size faster, but I'm not sure if removing them or letting them stay in the pot would ultimately produce the most blooms per pot. So that's another of those "do what seems good to you at the time" sort of things. :-)
Amaryllis thread part 2
I'd love to see if someone has scientifically studied whether optimal care results in less offshoots. I wonder if with less than great care the plant may be more stimulated to make offshoots as a secondary reproduction means in lieu of bloom and seeds.
With "less than great care," my bulbs tend to neither get much bigger nor produce offshoots... at most, they may recover to the same size they were before their most recent bloom.
I know that all of my spring and early summer bulbs produce in direct response to the healthy soil they grow from. Healthy soil is organic. There is no sustainable option to organic healthy soil with lots of humus, minerals and organic fertilizers.
Almost every original bulb in my big container--which started with 5 bulbs--has made off-shoots.
You can see it in the picture I posted WAYYYY above....
None of the offshoot bulbs have yet bloomed---so there may be a factor in that as I have
NOT taken the best care of the bulbs during the summer.
They do make leaves--but that is about it.....
I am sure if I gave them all Doc's Weelky/weaklies they would do a lot better.....
As every growing season approaches--I SWEAR to myself I will do better for these bulbs....
I am swearing again......Will throw all kinds of "poop" at hem this summer......
I do not have the concoctions Doc uses--but I do have fish emulsion , a very small bag of
dried Alfalfa---and my own compost.....besides all the MG--and all the rest......
Between my 5 pots of Amaryllis--I now have only 5 bloom stalks growing....
They will "pop" soon......
Cant beat freshly purchased bulbs with all their stored energies in them....
Any of them bloom profusely and beautifully,,,,Mine are quite old! And--quite unattended to...
Gita
Fresh poop is fine if applied very early. Compost I die for. Alfalfa is considered as good as kelp by many growers. Your fish with alfalfa is a dandy combination. The only thing I would add would be Bio Tone for trace minerals and mycorrhizae. A bag pf 4-2-4 organic fertilizer would be the icing on the cake. Then this fall using a cover crop would greatly improve any soil in any climate zone. You have all the makings of a dandy organic approach. Good enough to walk away from the art of chemical gardening. Just do it. :)
Oh, Doc---
You are almost half-optimistic to what you think/hope I can make....
My small bag of Alfalfa--is no bigger that the small sandwich bag....
I got it one year from a gift table at a swap....
I have a gallon of Safer Fish Emulsion....
I have some unopened, sealed packets of "Messenger" and also "Mighty Plant".
Not sure these would help with bulbs......
The problem is--when growing season kicks in--I am SOO busy with work and garden maintenance,
that I often overlook, and hate to take the time, to deal with all the needed ertilizing....
It gets procrastinated away--and, so I do not do this....
This holds for all my plants....Spraying is another task I tend not to deal with.
I sure need to--but it just gets shoved off to "Magnana"......
Like--right now--I should be out there spraying Lime Sulfur on my dormant roses
to kill off any overwintering spores of Black Spot.....Will I get to it?????? Hmmmm.....
Need to...Want to....but it seems to never get done......
So--all the leaves get Blackspot--fall off- and thre only bloom I get is the first one in spring...
And it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Doc--tell me, honestly--do you do all this work yourself? I know you are not well....
Or do you pay someone else to do it? Of course--then they would--
as you would be paying them to. I am just asking.......Don't mind....
Right now--IF the rains stop and the ground dries out some--I can think about
going out there to try to clean up, prune and spray something or other.....
Right now--I am thinking I better go to bed--as I have to work tomorrow.....
Thanks for all your advice! Gita
Just want to mention again, Our local community rent-a-garden had a WHOLE PLOT planted by someone totally full of amaryllis in FULL SUN. ( Despite some advice I have heard to plant in part sun. )
Peruvian Daffodil (really an amaryillis) have never bloomed for me but make many babies. As soon as I mentioned that to a 'guru' he said Fertilize them!
doc do you get 'few' babies on your Amaryllis?
Here is an interesting observation. Out of the 3 new bulbs I purshesed this this year 2 put out a 3rd stalk. The one that put out only 2 stalks had a baby bulb which I did not remove and is growing leaves now.
I am debating about taking my bulbs out of their pots to summer out in the yard, it is so much earier to just bring in the potted bulbs in the fall then digging them up. I guess it will depend on how I am feeling.
I guess If I start digging them up before the mad dash when frost warnings go up I can take my time.
lady--you might consider sinking the pots in the bed, at least partially? Would that be easier ? and they could root down for water even if you don't feel like watering the pots as much.
It just seems to me that baby bulbs despite all the advice, are not there sucking energy from the mother bulb but rather happen as a result of cultural conditions being such that the mother bulb is either physiologically limited NOT to make flower (not enough fertility) or encouraged to make the baby rather than bloom. Its all about reproduction from the mothers viewpoint. Maybe the mother with baby bulbs just likes them to stay close by (sweet thought ! )
Then again I am logical in habit and I can 'overthink' things.
Yes I do all the work myself on a much smaller scale. I have yard help for the big heavy chores like bringing a wheelbarrow full of compost to the potting table....like hauling and placing mulch....like tree trim work. My open garden soil is now only eighteen inches by about twenty feet. I grow everything else from pots. I am the official tinkerer-putterer on this property.
Babies? I saw my first in open soil last fall when I repotted. Until recently I never looked in the pots. When they got cranky I tossed them. The most recent growing site was a glory hole just full of all kinds of goodness. The advantage of growing in open soil using Bio Tone is the mycorrhizae that will reach out many feet in all directions to locate and find proper nourishment for the bulb. If soil structure is nice, feeding and moisture normal the bulb will inlarge and produce bulblets.
The reason some folks have problems is that to much nitrogen from any source causes cell elongation without time for the growing mass to strengthen. This causes weak stalks that insects attack and bulbs that may rot in storage. This condition signals sick plant to mother nature and invites pathegon and insect damage. Mother kills sick plants first. It is rare that over fertilization occurs from the placement of organic rich compost and manures.
Sallyg, I have thought about sinking the pots but there a 2 things that point to not sinking. ! they are in decorative pots, some with a small attached saucer.Hate to mess up my pots. 2. Bugs, after the large ants over-taking my window box last year, I don't want an inside infestation.
Oh lady, those ants! AAGGHH
That sure is two good reasons to keep them in pot.
We are over 200 posts, anyone with a new bloom to share, please feel free to start a new thread.
Sally, ants are something I prefer to leave out side, I have enough trouble keep my girls flea free, LOL
Lady--
IF you are not opposed to using Espoma's "Systemic Granules" on all the pots you will be
bringing in, you won't have any ants or bugs or snails or whatever to worry about....
Besides--it is SYSTEMIC!--as in killing sucking insects as well....
Just sprinkle it on top of your pots or W-Boxes at least 2 weeks before bring-in time--
scratch it in---water it in--and you will not have any bugs in about 2 weeks. ....
Kills anything and everything that has crwled into the soil of your pots.
I swear to you--I have NEVER had insect problems of any kind--on any plants in the house--NONE!
I believe it is because I do this every year.
Oh--I do have Fungus Gnats----or are they fruit Gnats? Must find a doable solution for them.
I have been using the sticky pads--by "Safer"--but now have used them all up.
Some of them are covered in Gnats! But--having them out for a year or more--
they lose the stickiness.. The ones I have had for a long time--I bought at "Good Stuff Cheap"...+
Somewhere, in my foggy attic of a brain--I remember reading that you can use a yellow
index card slathered with Vaseline..The gnats will stick to that too. has to be yellow, though!
Anyone know where these can be purchased????? I don't really venture out to different
Garden Centers. Maybe they still make them--somewhere.....??????
It is a given--as soon as there is any fresh potting Mix being used--there they come!
Anyway--back to Amaryllis------
My big pot has a lot of "baby bulbs"--(picture above) and they have been there now for
a few years. None have bloomed--they do grow leaves.....
--Would it be beneficial to the Mother bulb for me to remove and repot them?
--Do they sap the energy from the mother bulb?
Thinking that -MAYBE???--if I cut these off--and plant these in my garden, they may grow
bigger....and bloom sooner....I would have to plant them in a big pot--not, actually, in my garden....
Can't think of a fertile spot to plant them--as every inch is taken....
Maybe in front of my 3 Roses--as they do get fertilized a few times--the soil is OK--etc...
Still--even here--I battle the finer roots of my Maple tree every year...
I would leave the mother bulbs in the pots and really--really feed them everything I can
think of this summer to "fatten them up".....I think I can---I think I can---I think I can......:o)
That's about it for ideas..........Gita
See all the baby bulbs on these pots? Just--hanging in.....
Took a picture just now----
Here they are all growing--the big pot has only 3 buds/blooms so far.
Among all the others--there is only two more....SO! 5 pots--many years old--and only 5 blooms
among them all......pretty sad!
I DID refresh the soil in all of these pots....both at the bottom of the roots and on top.
Not enough light--I say! All these leaves! I would love to see a fat bloom stem first!
Leaves later.....
Maybe--also not the proper "letting go to dormancy" procedures. Some take the bulbs out of
the pots for the winter. I just let them all sit--cool and dry.
I still tend to do what Allan Summers preached. Time to change something....
Gita...............Your camera dating is off one month and one day. Take a few moments and get that fixed. Should you for instance have an accident and have pictures to support your story any good lawyer would have them thrown out as not the date of the accident.
I HAVE CAMERA DATING??????
And--add ONE year as well, Doc!!!! It reads 4--17--2010.....Today is: 4--16--2011
OH, MY GOD! I never paid any attention to it.....So far--so good!
Now I have to figure out how to fix it.......My daughter may have to do it....
When it comes to mechanical or digital things--my brain turns into a noodle.......
Boiiinnnggggg......Gita
LOL- Today is == 3-17-2011 as in THREE
I will start a new thread but my PICTURE may not impress you all!!
the link to new thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1165240/
This message was edited Mar 17, 2011 7:23 AM