I decided to elevate the MG plant and let the vines go where they want, it is really kind of spooky, it will be in one place one minute and I look again and it has moved! I can almost watch it growing! It is on a higher bookcase in the corner, I could not think of anything to use as a hanging basket, so I thought it might go down the side and onto the shorter bookcase and down the side of it. It will be interesting when the flowers bloom.
It's heading for the light.
It is heading for the liiiiight! Go to the light! It will be interesting to see the blooms.
You have the MG sitting a plastic container....poke 4 holes beneath the rim of the container...take two equal lengths of sturdy, cord, twine, wire, thread the cord through one hole from the inside, around the outside to the next hole. Do the same with the other length of cord. Gather the 4 ends together, making sure they are even. Tie the cords together and you have a hanging container for your MG. If you hang the plant in the window, be sure to turn the plant every couple days to ensure even light, and make sure the plant does not rest against the glass as this will transfer cold to the plant.
thank you for the directions.
You are very welcome, Teddy....just remember to not let the plant sit in water in the container and all should go well.
Got the bulbs in the window and are going to keep them there and pretty much forget they are there, that is what I did with the MG and look what happened! It is like that old saying, a watch pot never boils.
I know everybody says not to put any water on thses bulbs until you see some green, but they feel awfully dry to me.
I put some water in the bottom of the bowls so the roots can soak it up, not a whole lot just a little. See if that does anything to help out, I know they say not to overwater it, but it can't do it any good to get too dried out can it?
If you've watered the amaryllis twice, when you brought them in and then once more, please leave them alone. You've given them the wake up call so now step back and allow them to grow.
okay pirl.
I guess you people and me will be the only ones seeing my pictures anymore, people around here are asking my hubby if I am ok, talking about flowers and sending pictures. They tell him they don't care to see pictures and they think I am going around the bend and ready for the looney bin. So I have decided to keep taking pictures but will only send them to you if you don't mind. I thought people would like seeing pretty flowers but I guess I am a minority over here. But they won't stop me from sending them to you unless you don't want to see them either. Let me know, and if you don't want to see them either, I guess I might stop taking pictures at all, let me know please.
Take all the pictures you want Teddy. Use them as a reminder of your first year of gardening.....stick them into a gardening file along with notes and tips and instructions...make your own Garden Info file....you will appreciate it over the years.
thank you for the support themoonhowl, it helps a lot. It just amazes me how people can not want to see pretty things in life, you can be driving along in your car and see an field of pretty flowers or on the other side a bad car wreck, the people will go over to see the car wreck and if someone comes up and says did you see the pretty flowers over there? They would probably say, what flowers ? Most people these days only see the uglieness in the world, never the beauty. I think I will continue to take pictures, and if no one but us wants to see them then good for us.
Bottom heat, that is what my bulbs are getting now, I have all of them except the glass one of course on the back of the pellet stove which is currently on, they are on the back part close to the heat, but not close enough to melt the plastic containers in which they are set, I was reading that if a bulb was not growing fast enough to add bottom heat, so I thought that I would set them on there for an hour now and maybe an hour tomorrow, I am afraid to keep them on there too long. I can't find the heating pad so this is the next best thing.
Photos can brighten the gloomy days of winter and it's always fun to look back and see how gardens change. This is from 2004 (left side) and 2011 (right side) of the exact same garden.
Bottom heat for an hour at a time won't perform any miracles. Constant bottom heat is another thing and probably what the article either said or meant. That would be a heating mat designed for growing plants that remains constant. Putting them on the heat, then off the heat is, once again, confusing. They get the message to grow and then to halt.
dont worry about those people teddy. this website can be your place for the pics. you can keep them like themoonhowl said as well. pictures are a wonder. theyre a snapshot of that very second in life that you will never be able to see again, breathe again, live again, experience again, feel again, etc etc. pictures let you revisit. keep them.
pirl i can only imagine how wonderful you gardens are in real life, they are so gorgeous on pics.
would it be bad to let them stay on the stove all night? I don't want to worry about the plastic melting. I will see if I can find a heating pad tomorrow, if I can, I will set it on low and keep it on the bookcase(so hubby don't see it) and keep it on all the time until something happens.
Thanks, CZP. Some gardens are better than others here.
Do you have heavy duty pot holders? Put down a double layer of aluminum foil on the pellet stoved and put the pot holder in the pie pan, then set the plant on top. Remember the plants need light to grow.
thanks pirl, I think I am going to try the heating pad, the other way might work, but we have to get in the stove to put pellets in and taking all that stuff off and putting it back on won't be good for the plant, and we have warmer weather coming so we will be shutting the stove off for a while and I need a back up plan. If I keep heat on the bottom of the pot, how long do you think it will take before I see green sprouts? When they start sprouting, do you take them off the heat?
I thought you already had the start of green leaves. November 4th you posted a photo of an amaryllis starting to grow. Don't keep switching it from heat to the window to the pellet stove. The poor plant will only suffer. Just leave it in one spot by the window and allow it to grow. You can not rush nature. If you could no woman would remain pregnant for nine long months.
It had started to sprout when it was in the ground, and it has not done anything since I dug it up. I will put it in the window and leave it alone.
Amen to that Pirl...LOL we would all have 3 week babies.
Hey Pirl, have the bulbs been in the window all winter? Did you ever take them out for any reason? I am sorry about shooting off at the mouth the other day, it just hurt me to find out that the people I thought were enjoying my pictures thought I was ready for the looney bin. I am a people person and thought that other people would like the same things I did. Obviously I was wrong. But thanks for telling me that I can post pictures here and continue to ask questions. Hopefully next spring I won't bug you too much about the flowers since they will come up when they want to.
They remain in the kitchen window until they finish blooming and then they go to the unheated porch that has two doors to two bedrooms and gets tons of sunshine all day long. In May they go outside again and they get fed until I put them to sleep in August (dormancy).
Patient or not, there's no way to rush Mother Nature.
I went in the bedroom and found the heating pad, it is one that can either have moist or dry heat, should I just forget about the bulbs or should I put them on top of the pad on low heat, it is supposed to be sunny for quite a while, last question about these.(I PROMISE)!
Not if it means you'll move them away from the sunlight.
thanks pirl, you have always had good advice for me and also had patience with all my questions.
You're quite welcome.
Today I brought in the 31 amaryllis bulbs in 21 pots and they're at the kitchen window now. I'll take photos tomorrow.
I would like to see that! You must have a biiiig kitchen window and a very understanding hubby!
If I cut off the tops of the faded flowers on my mums, can I keep them alive all winter? They are Ursula Lavender, the ones that were pink in the pot in earlier posts.
Cutting the tops off won't have any impact on whether or not it can survive the winter. If they're hardy in your zone they'll make it regardless and if they're not then cutting off the tops won't help. I believe that they're hardy to zone 5, and depending on exactly where in OH you are you're either zone 5 or zone 6, so they're probably OK for your area as long as they're planted in the ground. Being in a pot tends to knock about a zone off the hardiness which would make it a lot more questionable whether they could survive or not.
teddy, IF you have them inside, cut back most of the plant leaving about 1/3. leave it in the window for sunlight and water sparingly. youre basically mimicing the natural process, except inside. in spring itll start growing back faster.
ecrane is more than likely talking about outdoors...?
This message was edited Nov 13, 2011 1:56 PM
thank you czp, I would like to have them again in the spring. I might have some good news on one of the bulbs, it looks like something is starting to happen the papery skin that was down on the bulb has lifted up a little bit. I was looking at it from the outside of the window and it looks like it has lifted.
The kitchen front bay window is 8' wide and faces south. My husband loves plants and flowers almost as much as I do. He made a big bench custom fit to the window so I could have more plants.
The fact that the papery skin is lifting doesn't mean a thing as far as growth of the amaryllis goes.
ok, would it be a good idea to give my Morning Glory that is inside some Miracle-Gro? I have read that it might give me more blooms, or is it too early yet? I think tomorrow I am going to try that idea of poking holes in the sides above the soil of course and putting string or cord around it and put it back in the window, it seemed happier there.
I cut the plants by 1/3 and I have it in the window with the Amaryllis bulbs. I gave it a little bit of water and now will leave it alone like I am TRYING to do with the bulbs. I told my hubby who did help me with meausring so I did not cut too much off, and it looks like I gave it a butch haircut! All the blooms came off pretty easily and they were all dead so when spring comes hopefully I can make it go to the pompom shape like it was when it was given to me. But you don't give it any Miracle-Gro until it starts to grow in the spring right? My Morning Glory was going down the side of the bookcase and now it is trying to go back up, tomorrow I am going to put the holes in the bowl to make a hanging basket.
you dont really have to worry about fertilizing the MG that much. maybe a weak dose for now. same with the mum because the initial bloom is done, its a bit late but you might see some more blooms on the new growth, if any. in march you can put her outside.
Here is a collage of the amaryllises I brought inside for bloom during the winter and early spring.
This is a page worth reading about how to grow amaryllis:
http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Amaryllis:XmasSingle
If you follow the directions you will have success.
Please take note of these sentences:
"Use a well-draining, neutral pH, sterile potting soil. Firmly tamp down the soil and give the bulb a good drink of tepid water. Do not water again until green growth appears: early over watering inhibits root growth"
(from Van Engelen's site)
