Amaryllis

To be correct these days we should refer to these fantastic flowering bulbs as Hippeastrum but whatever name they are a classic feature of Winter indoor flowers.

Potting up Amaryllis

They’re one of the most popular gardening Christmas gifts and one of the sad things about this is that normally they flower for Christmas and then they are discarded because people don’t understand how to get them to re-flower.

How to pot Amaryllis

The bulb has all the energy to be able to flower, and what you  will need to do is to find a terracotta pot roughly 2 cm larger than the bulb so the bulb itself appears to fill most of the pot.

They need well drained compost so a mix of 2 to 1 of a good multipurpose or John Innes No 2 is recommended, mix the compost with one part sharp sand or perlite – this is the perfect mix for them.

A single crock should be placed over the bottom of the pot, adding more doesn’t create better drainage its one of those often repeated gardening myths.

 

 

Plant the bulb two thirds in, one third out of the compost, this is really important.

Once potted, firm the compost gently to settle the bulb, water the compost gently but don’t overwater it.

 

Timing

Amaryllis will flower roughly 6 to 8 weeks after they are planted so you can time  your planting so that your Amaryllis is flowering either for Christmas or Thanksgiving.

The first thing that will happen is it will produce a single leaf and flower stalk will start to grow shortly afterwards, just keep it nicely moist but not over watered.

Some of the taller growing varieties will require staking and it’s best to put the stake in early.

The temperature that your Amaryllis will flower at best is roughly about 70° and as it grows always remember to turn your pot round regularly or your Amaryllis will lean over to one side towards which ever light source is strongest.

 

Aftercare for repeat flowering

Once the Amaryllis has finished flowering the first thing to do is to remove the flower stalk when you cut this off lots of water and sap will come out it, this is totally normal.

Now start to feed the plant with a balanced liquid feed on a weekly basis, weaker feed is always better than over strong feed.

Through the Summer place your Amaryllis either outside in a very warm spot or in a cool greenhouse, what you are doing at this point is allowing the bulb to build up enough energy for flowering next year.

When the leaves begin to yellow stop feeding and reduce watering towards the end of September and try and keep the bulb cool and dark for about  8 to 10 weeks. |After this period remove some of the old leaves leaving about 2cms on top of bulb and replace the top 2.5 cm of compost.

Don’t re-pot it for the first couple of years; it hates root disturbance. The older and bigger the bulb, the more flowering stems you’ll get.

When re-potting you may find some tiny bulbs on the outside of the bulb, pot these on separately and grow on for a couple of years  until they make flowering sized bulbs, it is then its a matter of watering to bring the bulb back into growth.