Amaryllis bulb storage

Hi, folks! I have been away for a while. But while I was away, I picked up a question about amaryllis. Usually, you buy the amaryllis bulb or kit and plant it right away and it does it's beautiful thing. I have three amaryllis bulbs, "Picotee", that I got to plant for the challenge section of our big flower show. They are expected to be in full bloom for March 9 and/or March 12. I have had to store them because it only takes 6-8 weeks to get them to bloom. I had them in a ziploc bag in my vegetable crisper for the last 2 months, but I discovered they were getting a tiny bit of mold. so I took them out two days ago, wiped them down and allowed the outer skins to dry off. Can I leave them out until planting time, which I expect to be the middle or end of January. I have three and I planned to plant them in stages, one week apart to try and get them ready exactly for the show. Has anybody stored amaryllis bulbs before? Most of the literature tells you what to do with a planted bulb that is finished and not this particular topic. I would appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks,
Martha

Martha-
Every year I pick up several amaryllis bulbs when they are discounted in January.
I specifically pick bulbs that have not progressed to the stage where the stalk with the flower is beginning to show significant growth (less than 0.5 inch out of the bulb).
I then put them in a cardboard box with shredded newspaper in the garage (~40-50 F) and wait until April to plant them outside. I have never had a problem with mold or growth. However, place the bulb in the box with the stem pointed up just in case it does grow a little and put some paper between the bulbs so they don't touch in case you didn't get rid of all the mold.

ROX

Thanks Rox! These are competition items and this is the specific variety and i didn't want them to rot. I don't have an insulated garage, but will try for a chilly spot in my basement, off the floor. Right now it is too cold for woman or amaryllis bulb outside here in MA. I am going to go looking for some other amaryllis also and store them as you advise. We'll see what comes out. I will let you know how I do at the flower show. Thanks again,
Martha

Terrific.
Best of luck at the flower show. Definitely let me know how it goes.
ROX

Martha, I keep my bulbs in pots filled with dry soil on the floor of my unheated basement. Putting them in sealed plastic bags scares me. They are alive and must breathe. They don't usually 'wake up' until they get warm, the 45 degree cement floor works for me.
Andy P

Well, they started to sprout a little since I let them out of the bags and they dried off. I am going to have to start potting them up now, I think. I think it is too early for the March 9 date of the flower show. I think they will have come and gone by then. i was hoping to keep them at least another 2-3 weeks.
Martha

Martha-
How much have they begun to sprout? I have kept bulbs with the flower stalk up about 1-1.5 inches for more than 3 weeks at 45F without problems of additional growth and then once I planted them there were fine.
ROX

Martha, the key is to keep them in a DARK place above freezing. When you are ready to plant removing them from that place (closets work great). I would NOT recommend keeping them in a refridgerator just for the reason you stated in your original post. The bulb does have some moisture in it and when placed in a plastic bag it will condensated and rot the bulb as it has no where to go.

Thanks for the advice. Because I was ill I didn't get to pot these up soon enough for the flower show. I put them in pots at the end of Feb and they are now on my windowsill and have started to grow slowly. The people that did get them to bloom for the challenge at the flower show ended up with some beautiful specimens.

When I have problems with my bulbs with mold or rot on the base of the blub I peel off the dried layers, gently rub off any layers that are shriveled or bad and then soak them in diluted hydrogen peroxide, 1 to 1 diluted. Then I let them dry for a day or two, bottom up and repeat the process one more time. The best luck I have had forcing them is to soak them in the hydrogen peroxide dilute for a day before, pot them up in sharp sand and place them on a propagation mat set at 72. and keep them barely moist, watering every 3 days.

A few points:

- Hippeastrum (amaryllis) do not need to be chilled.
- Hippeastrum (amaryllis) do not even need a dormany period. They can be grown green year round.

- They need to grow actively for 9-10 months and then they will bloom. Some will take much longer to bloom depending on their growing conditions during the 10 months. If they were given plenty of water, fertilizer and sunshine (bulb has enlarged) they will typically bloom.

- It is easy to "program" blooms provided the minimum growing period has been accomplished (9-10 months as above) and the bulb has received nutrients and sun to enlarge the bulb.

- Simply withhold water and let the leaves die back. Then put in storage for 2-3 months (does not have to be cold. Can be room temperature. I store my in a heated basement) and then restart. Typically, the amaryllis will start to send up leaves and/or flower stems during storage. If this happens, it is time to repot and restart.

- If you want to store dormant bulbs for a LONG period of time and you do not want them to grow leaves/flower stalks prematurely, you can store the bulbs DRY BUT COOL. Store below 40F (but above freezing) and you can virtually keep the bulbs indefinitely. The difference from above is that with cool temperatures you can keep the bulb in dormancy for as long as you like. However, a cool period is NOT required. You can store the bulbs at room temperatures. In 2-3 months repot, or wait for the bulb to tell you when it is ready ??!!

Instead of a dormancy period you can also do other things to induce "mild stress" and "program" the bulb to bloom:
- a change in lighting conditions and day/night temperatures.
(move indoors and store cool at night)
- repot in a smaller pot so the bulb is moderately (!!!) rootbound.

These are examples of what you can do.

You also have the option of never replanting but simply keep growing the plant without a dormancy period (like outdoors in hot climates).The plant will eventually bloom. This typically happens in early spring (see change lin lightling condition and day/night temperatures above) but if grown in green house, the bulb may at an even temperature still bloom after 9-12 months when it is ready.

A few more points:
- these are sun lovers and prefer lots of fertilizer and water when growing green leaves
- flowers are initiated inside the bulbs 18 months prior to blooming. This means that if you do not get flowers one year, do not give up on the bulb but keep growing the green leaves and it should flower next year.

I hope the above gave you any good ideas.

This is what I do:
- start bulbs in jan/feb when flower scapes appear at nose of bulb during storage.
- flowers in feb/mar
- grow green in sunny window or under grow light with plenty of fertilizer until may
- plant outdoors in deep planters in good quality planting mix with lots of fertilizer (I plant with wave petunias which are fertilizer hogs anyway). give LOTS of sun (atleast in zone6)
- in early fall (October) before first frost, dig and store indoors until leaves fall off.
- put bulbs in cardboard box in basement (60-65F) for 2-3 months until flower scapes appear by nose of bulb.. then it is time to restart as above.

My bulbs typically adds 1-2 inches diameter from march (right after flowering) to october (right before storage).

Great info, KD. You have just answered questions I've had for months

Dale, this is off subject, but your variegated shell ginger interplanted with the cordyline looks fabulous.

My amaryllis 'Picotee' didn't make it to the flower show, but they have started to send up buds. I have one already 10" high and another where the bud is just clearing the bulb and the third has no sign as yet. I should have flowers here very soon, maybe for easter. I will send pictures when they do bloom. Thanks for all the advice,
Martha

The first bulb of Picotee has bloomed. 4 handsome flowers. It has taken about 6 weeks and I did get flowers for Easter. The second has the bud starting to split and should flower by the end of the week. the third is still sitting on the windowsill like a lump not doing much of anything. all three were planted at the same time and treated the same way except I have had to put the first and second ones on a table because they were too tall for the windowsill. I am taking pictures today and I will update this thread.
Martha

This year I put some into the fridge in the mesh bags (but not in the crisper) around November and left them until May after I forgot about them. They seemed fine and had not forced their blooms in the fridge. They bloomed quickly when potted up in May.