At Christmas my daughter gave me an Amaryllis Indoor Growing Kit. I followed the instructions precisely, waiting for the approximate 12 week mark when it would flower. 12 weeks came and went, and now here we are, almost 8 months after Christmas, and my Amaryllis has put out 2 very long leaves, but zero flowers. Did I just get a dud? The instructions state: After flowering, water and fertilize regularly. When leaves start turning yellow, water only as needed until foliage dies.......Let dormant amaryllils remain dry through summer. cut off dry, yellowed foliage just about the bulb. Repot every 2 - 3 years. Well, none of that has happened. It didn't flower, the 2 leaves haven't turned yellow, I've kept watering it all through the summer because the leaves never did turn yellow or give any indication it was going dormant. What do I do with this thing now? I don't want to get rid of it because it's still alive. But it's not doing anything that its supposed to be doing, and honestly, two long, lone stalks is not my idea of an attractive house plant.
It may be loosing it's leaves and then will bloom. So wait...wait....wait....and be patient. You may have bought it already bloomed. Then you will only have leaves till the next blooming season. The only other thing I can see is the leaves seem a little lanky needing more sunlight.
Stop watering and let it go dormant. Store in a cool dark place as long as it stays above freezing. Then start watering about mid January to early Feb. for spring bloom. Then start following instructions. At least that's what I would do. When you buy plants or bulbs like this in a kit or package there is no telling how long they have been there. Not unusual for it to be out of sequence.
Ronnie, this is the story of my life :-? I just stuffed mine under the desk hoping the darkness and neglect might make it rebloom someday
Thanks for this. I wondered if I should just let it go dormant, but wasn't sure if that would kill it as it hasn't yet flowered....that I know of anyway, though waretrop makes a good point that I don't factually know where it is in its blooming cycle. Fact is that I don't find it at all attractive like this. So if I do end up killing it by letting it go dormant, it wouldn't be as big of a loss to me as if I killed one of my other houseplants that I've had for years.
I am not sure but like some plants, I think it has to have that dormant period in order to bloom. At any rate you don`t have a lot to lose. I think it will bloom for you, just not now !
Ronni--I had to smile at your words "two long leaves are not my idea of a houseplant!" Nor mine! I am guessing you just didn't get a very hardy bulb. But, seeing that you have taken such good care of it this summer, maybe the bulb will be strong enough to bloom for you next year. I would follow Mart's advice to stop watering it & allow it to go dormant. Typically these plants bloom right as they break dormancy. In some years, I have put my amaryllis outdoors in the ground post bloom, and it has re-bloomed for me. Good luck with it!!
This is a strange one, there's nothing more annoying than when you can't work out what has gone wrong. I do hope it flowers for you sometime soon, keep us up to date with how things go. Good luck!
I keep my amaryllis growing yearround. except for last, year I forgot I left it out and it was covered in snow (in January) and the ivy in the pot was rooted fast into the ground. I had to give the ivy a hair cut so I could pull the pot out of the snow, as I was thinking that is the end of the bulb. Lo and behold the bulb grew again after it had frozen in the pot. I suggest letting it go dormant and when you bring it back out put it where it will get more sun. That will keep the leaves more compact. I put mine outside all summer long, in full sun and promptly forget it and neglect it the whole season.
"Carolyn---And do your amaryllis bloom reliably for you?" yep, every year except last years wasn't very nice due to me forgetting it out in the snow. It bloomed, though, which surprised me.
To keep them as houseplants blooming at a specific time of the year is an involved process. I just stick them in the ground and let them do what comes naturally. Bulbs left to naturally grow and bloom will be larger, healthier and put out many more blooms than the forced ones. Mine were planted outside in a pot, full sun, year round, kept watered and they bloomed in April to May down here. Those bulbs are forced to bloom between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the ones still in the garden centers around Christmas have either already bloomed or they were stunted enough by lack of care that they will not bloom that year. They will naturally go dormant (leaves turning yellow) when they do cut off the leaves and stop watering it. That will induce the bulb to send up more leaves and another flower stalk in a month or two. If you want it to bloom at a specific time of the year, do this 10-12 weeks before then and cross your fingers that it happens. You can also let it revert to it's natural bloom schedule, late Winter through Spring, by doing all of that in December. Whether you let it bloom at it's natural time or force it to bloom for a specific time of the year, stop feeding it in August so it can begin it's dormancy period. They do need a rest time in order to bloom. When new flower stalks appear then begin feeding it again. When it is actively growing it must have bright, indirect sunlight, either indoors or out, in order to re-charge the bulb for future growth, keep the soil moist during it's growing time but not wet. When dormant they need a cool spot with bright, indirect light. No rest period, insufficient light while actively growing and poor soil are the main reasons why they do not bloom.
I think I would. I would just let it gather up as much energy with its 2 leaves as it can. The bulb was probably pretty much depleted when you got it. Maybe you can put it outside where it will get sun and water, that will probably do it more good than a lot of fertilizer. Let it go dormant in its own time. Although I'd be afraid to leave it out in the winter, but who knows...look what happened to Carolyn's. Here in Fla we just put them in the ground and forget about them, and they usually bloom in the spring.
The way I did it: 1) I would let the Amy. bloom in the winter. 2) I removed the dead flower stem, but kept the leaves on the bulb. 3) After leaving the leaves on all winter, I would then remove the bulb from the plant pot and plant it outside (leaves and all). Here that would be mid-may. 4) I would let the plant exist like this until september. ** The reason that I left the leaves on so long was that I wanted the plant to use them to build the bulb back up. (After the blooming, I could notice very easily that the bulb had shrunken inside the dry, brown skin layers. It was remarkably palpable) 5) Then in september, I would remove the plant from the soil, chop off the green leaves right down to the bulb and then clean the dirt off the roots. ***I would not wash the bulb for fear of fungus colonies forming. 6) Then the bulb would be wrapped in newspaper and placed in a cardboard box and put somewhere cool and dry. ***I would change the newspaper wrapping 2-3 times until all the external moisture had been taken up. 7) In december I would take the bulb out and place it in a pot with soil gain and place this on the windowsill; and wait for the bloom stem and leaves to reappear. Good luck with your bulb, miss.
Thank you all for such a wealth of responses! I think the Amaryllis must have heard me talking about her, because right after I posted this, one of her two leaves started to turn yellow/brown. I figured that was the signal, so I stopped watering her so she'd go dormant, and sure enough the next leaf followed suit even before she could possibly have felt the effects of the non-watering. I'm waiting now for the leaves to be very obviously dead. They're still just a tiny big spongy, which tells me that there's still a little life left in them, meaning I shouldn't be cutting them off yet....right?
