I gave in to temptation at the drugstore and brought home this Amaryllis. It is in a pretty nice glass vase (which will be reused a lot) It is doing good and growing, but I need to change the water frequently because it gets stagnant. Today, I noticed that the bulb is getting a bit rotty and soft. Should I put this in potting soil? I have never grown one in water. Ideas from my garden stew friends? ( photo / image / picture from Kay's Garden ) And here is the aforementioned Amaryllis It is also getting hard to keep in an upright position. Plant it?
If it was mine I would be planting it Kay before the bulb rots completely. Hopefully once it's in soil it will begin to grow well for you but don't be tempted to overwater it.
Kay, I concur completely with Eileen and Strat. I would simply plant it in a little bit of soil with just the half (or less) sticking out above the soil. As for water--I would only give it very little no more often than once a week. the leaves and eventual flower stem is coming from the energy stored in the bulb and do not actually need any water in order to bloom. Having said this, I would give the plant a tad of water from now on until you plant it out in your garden for the summer...removing the bloom stem(s) at bulb level when it has bloomed-out. Leave the leaves as the bloomed-out bulb will need them to make it swell again for the coming year.
Amaryllis : planted today ( photo / image / picture from Kay's Garden ) Got the Amaryllis planted this morning! Now we're looking forward to it's pretty bloom!
You might want to give it some support unless your pot is heavy enough. I will use a heavier pot next year when I pot some up and add a few stones to the bottom. My first bloom got very tall and I was worried it would topple over.
Amaryllis Jan. 3 ( photo / image / picture from Kay's Garden ) Here is the plant today. Bloom is just beginning to open up. I love the red color. It doesn't seem to be growing much taller. The pot is heavier than it looks. Thanks, Sherry
I love the red ones. Are there more buds on yours? Usually there are 2-4 blooms. Mine was about 3 feet tall when it finally bloomed last month. I had it on the kitchen window sill being propped up by the window and wall, kept having to turn it since it really liked the florescent bulb it was under and kept leaning towards it.
Toni, There are 3 buds. I wonder if this one is a "dwarf" because it is just about 16". I have been spinning it to keep it from leaning towards the window.
Toni...I have never had a 3 ft. tall one. It sounds like it got plenty of sun. Kay...it sure didn't seem to hurt it with being in the water. I am glad you got it in soil and your flower is open. I love red ones too.
My pretty Amaryllis put out a total of six flowers, and now all but two of them are faded and wilting. There is another shorter stem with a bud, and another stem with no bud that are beginning to grow now. Sjoerd, you mentioned cutting the finished stem back to bulb level? Should I do that now? Thanks!
Kay...I did some research and it said to cut the stem after the flowers were done so I did that a while back and now I have another stem that should bloom in coming weeks. I did cut it as close to the bulb as I could.
