flowers from Teddy

ok themoonhowl, I have a small square pot that had a plant in it and I can put that over it, or I have some containers that had cotton candy in them and I washed them out, I guess anything that protects them from the snow will work. I guess they are exposed enough hopefully they will grow in the summer. It will be interesting to see if they will.

I added a little more potting soil to the Amaryllis bulb, it was not covered it enough, I did that to all the bulbs, I have 3. It is rainy and not bright sunny do you think I should put them somewhere where they can get light? I can put them on the bookcase where the one is, I have one of them in a tall potatoe salad container and one in a coffee can, do you think I should cut the potatoe salad container so it is not so tall? Can not cut the coffee can, but do you think it might be better on the bookcase, they can have light most of the day. I have the room for them but it might be a little crowded. I also have a light that I can shine on them all day, but how close can the light be before it harms the bulb?

Here is a picture of the light that I have, what is your opinion of it. Finances prevent me from buying a grow light so I thought maybe this would do, the lamp is 75 watt and the clamp on light is 60. I know they need light and heat so with these two lamps I was thinking maybe I could give them the heat and light they need, your insight is appreciated.

As long as the temperature outside in the daytime is above 45 degrees, I would put them out in the morning and bring them back in in the evenings, even if it is raining.

Ok, but it is only 41 right now, so I will probably wait until tomorrow, it is supposed to be warmer then, thanks themoonhowl.

I have 2 of these, can I put these over the amaryllis bulbs that are planted outside? We are supposed to have frost tonight.

My neighbor was talking about using a blacklight to help with growing the amaryllis, but I can find no mention of using it. Mine is a Translucent Blue Blacklite. What do you think?

I am just going to use the sun when it is warm enough to have them out and when it gets too cold to be outside, bring them and either set them on the windowsill or beside my desk with a lamp. We don't have that many windows that the sun comes in that strong. So I am going to try that and TRY TO HAVE PATIENCE!!!! That is a tall order for me, so I am not going to ask any more questions for a while and just wait and see what happens. Thank you so much for your advice themoonhowl and you too kwanjin, it helped a lot, sorry to have bothered you so much.HAPPY HALLOWEEN:O. Don't eat too much candy, hee, hee!

I've never heard of using black lights to grow plants. I would think on their own they wouldn't provide all the light that a plant needs--the sun does have UV rays which are what the black light is, but it also has all the visible light spectrum which you'd be missing with the black light. And I can tell you from experience that plants will grow just fine under regular lights. You've got a choice--you can buy expensive grow lights, or you can buy a cheap fluorescent shop light from Home Depot and use that with plain old fluorescent tubes, works just as well and much cheaper.

thank you ecrane3, I don't know why my neighbor is insistant that I use a blacklight? But anyway thank you.

Years ago, I knew of a few people who used blacklights to grow plants. I don't know of any today. I don't think it works very well.

From what I read it don't have the right light spectrum or something like that. I forgot if I asked you here, does anyone know of any way to keep Morning Glories under control while they are inside? I probably should not have started them this early, but you know me, no patience! I would like to see them bloom while the snow is falling, but I am afraid hubby aint going to want it to be vining all over the house, is there any way to keep it short and still have blooms, or will I have to kill it? I sure don't want to do that!

I think I am going to have to let my MG die, I don't want it vining around the house, I guess I will plant it tomorrow, I know it is going to die but I don't know of anyone around here who has the room for it to grow, I proved I could grow something from seed and I still have my 3 Amaryllis bulbs, now those I can control their growth. I read that it should take about 10 days for them to start showing signs of breaking their dormancy, so they should start growing then and I can watch it. i always wanted those plants since I first heard of them. Got some pics of my Cosmos, believe it or not, they are still blooming! I never saw a bud bloom like that!

Another one.

and last but certainly not least some red ones.

Think I am going to try to see just how big I can grow it, I will let it trail down to the floor and around my computer desk. here is a pic of it already. I did not want to kill it anyway. So the experiment continues.....

How do you warm the soil in the containers, my refrigerator has a freezer up top so it is not warm, my television does not have enough room for the pot. Can you shine a light at the container the bulb is in and warm it up that way? I have a heating pad like you use if your back or something else is sore, but I don't know if that will work, so any suggestions will be helpful. The clamp on light is close to the container, hopefully that will entice the soil to warm up and the bulb to start growing.

I think something is wrong with one of my Amaryllis, instead of a bunch of stringy roots, it had a chunk that looked like what you would cut off of a root. I don't know whether to throw it away too or keep on trying with it , I willl take a pic so you can see what I mean. Also these were on top of the ground, we did not have to dig for these.

Promising news, I was checking the bulbs and all but one had the solid root. The last one I checked actually had a root on it,one single root but a root nevertheless, so I moved it to a smaller container and we will see what happens. The other two I still have in the windowsill but my hopes for them are dwindling. I have the last one in a container like the one my MG is in, it should be nice and cozy, it is not much bigger than the bulb.

Now is the time to leave them alone. The indoor temperatures, with the extra light should be enough heat. The more you disturb them, the more likely that they will not perform. Water when you stick your finger in the pot and the soil is dry about an inch down. You can mix liquid fertilizer at one fourth the regular strength and use that to water them with...and then BE Patient.

geeez, there is that word again patient! I will try.

hey teddy, i was curious, when did you want your amaryllis to bloom? is it for the holidays?

Teddy, gardening is all about working with Nature, and learning...and one of the hardest lessons to learn is, You can't rush Mother Nature...as we have all heard...To everything there is a season...and a time. You just have to let Nature take her course. And, yes, it can be frustrating...grin

oh yes, its also very frustrating when you see beautiful palms in other yards but you can't get yours to grow as nicely. what i mean is you can't change mother nature either :)

well coastalzonepush, I really just wanted to see if I could grow them inside, I was reading about them and saw them all around the neighborhood and just thought it would be a interesting experiment. I have a slight problem, I have no patience as the good people here will tell you, I have bugged them and bugged them on flowers, its a wonder any of them still speak to me or answer my replies. I want results NOW! Unfortunately Mother Nature has her own way and her own time to grow,and as much as we would like to try, we can't rush her.

:) it is quite a nice feeling when your plants grow fast. it seems they like a bit of privacy, when you keep watching their growth it feels like forever. but one day you ignore them and they thrive. roses like lots of attention though- my grandiflora is begging for some food right now lol. - amaryllis bulbs grow incredibly fast, but ive only had experience with the sprouted ones from the store, generally it takes about a month and some weeks. one day you will be paid off with incredible display of blooms.

I sure hope so, I have always wanted to try to grow some kind of flower inside, and when I heard that you could grow the Amaryllis inside, I made up my mind to try it. I did not think that the potting soil was ever going to dry out, now the soil is just damp like you would have in a sponge, in another day or two I might have to add more water. But I have a habit of over caring for my flowers, so ignoring them is hard to do.

Do NOT keep the soil wet...DO let it dry out a bit...otherwise, your bulbs may develop rot.

Thank you themoonhowl, it is very kind of you to keep giving me info, aren't you tired of all my questions? This is my little garden, the Morning Glory in the back I put back in the window, I have just the lamp with the 75 watt bulb in it, will that be enough light and warmth, or should I turn on the clamp on light with a 60 watt bulb too, I don't want to bake them with too much light. More help please, if there was a way to repay you for all your advice believe me I would pay it, you are like a godsend to the novice gardener. My Cosmos is still blooming but I think it is just about over.

I think the single lamp should be fine for the moment. When the bulbs sprout out then they may need a little more light, but the growth and leaf color will let you know. I would move the lamp to the center of the ring of pots now, that way they all get equal light.

You are welcome Teddy. You will get the hang of this gardening thing...just takes a little time and ....oh yeah....patience...GRIN

Yes, waiting is hard. At first. Gardening is like Life, the journey is what makes it enjoyable. ^_^

There is another light to the right but it is not on now, I won't turn it on until they sprout, thank you for your help and suggestions, you are a big help themoonhowl and you too kwanjin. I had to move a bunch of stuff to get the cord of the lamp unstuck so I could put the pots around it, I just felt the dirt and it was still damp, not soggy just damp, so I am going to try my best to ignore them and see what happens, my MG is going crazy so I put it back in the windowsill, I learned my lesson on that one, if I ever start a plant inside again, make sure it is not the kind that will take over the entire house!!!!!;)

See? Now you are catching on to the little lessons...GRIN Happy Hallowe'en, Moon

This message was edited Oct 31, 2011 2:40 PM

That is a hard lesson to learn, and sometimes painful too GRIN!!!!

I think I am going to only have the lamp on for 6 hours, my hubby is getting irritated at the amount of electric that it is using, it is usually on all day, would that be okay for only 6 hours? I don't want to mess up a good thing that I have going.

I have figured out a way to warm up the soil, we have a pellet stove and my hubby turned it off before he left, I did not put it on the front part because that gets too hot, it has burned down enough I can put my hand on it and leave it there and don't get burned, so I took the bulbs and put them on the back end of it where it is nice and toasty warm. I am just going to put them there for 1/2 hour and see what that does, after that time I will put it back on the book case beside my desk. Or should I just leave them there until it cools down completely?

teddy, be careful not to let the soil completely dry out. do you mean leave the bulb on the stove until the stove cools down...or did you mean something else?

yes, leave it on the stove until it cools down. I am trying to ignore them so that they can do what they need to do. I will check the soil and see if it needs a little bit of water. Not much though, don't want to end up with root rot after all the trouble I have gone through. Hopefully they will start to sprout before too long.

I am not supposed to water it until it runs out the drainholes am I? If not, just how much water am I supposed togive them?

I just checked them, they were damp but not soggy, so I will not water them yet, and I will NOT pull them up to check the roots, should I put them back on the stove if we turn it on tomorrow?