On 3/23/2009 2:24 PM, Jim Shaffer wrote [in part]:
On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:15:09 -0800, I previously wrote [also in part]:

Another problem with hippeastrum not blooming is if it's forced into
dormancy. This bulb (quite unlike true amaryllis) is evergreen and
should be kept growing year round. Of course, it might go dormant in
the winter on its own if grown outdoors where there is light frost. One
of my did indeed go dormant this winter; it now has the start of new
leaves. Another did not go dormant and is now in full flower.

They were dormant when I got them, and as I said it was an
end-of-season sale, so maybe they were dormant too long. The roots
were almost totally dessicated.

I'm puzzled by what you say about them blooming without dormancy.
Years ago when I hadn't heard they were supposed to have dormancy, I
tried re-blooming one without doing anything other than moving it
indoors before frost and it never bloomed. My girlfriend currently
has one that she's been forcing into dormancy by withholding water in
the fall, but *not* chilling as I do, and it's never rebloomed either.
(I only chill mine in an unfinished basement, it rarely gets below 45
and often is warmer.)

Their natural environment is in the tropics. They stay in leaf and grow
year round. They should never be artificially chilled.

Where I live, I get frost at night as early as the end of November. We
got frost at night about a week ago; April is generally beyond any
frost. My potted bulbs -- remaining outdoors in the winter -- stayed in
leaf all winter. While they seem to stop growing in the winter, they
are not deciduous. One is blooming right now. Sometimes, one of my
potted bulbs might bloom three times in one year.

I have one in the ground. It lost its leaves late last year and is just
now starting to get leaves. I planted it in the ground last summer, an
offset from a potted bulb. It bloomed once, but snails chewed away the
stalk before it was done.

The conclusion is that hippeastrum should never be forced into dormancy.
They might go dormant anyway, on their own. My experience has been
that the bulbs that stay green all winter bloom in the spring, again in
the summer, and yet again in the fall. When snails, other pests, and
the weather cause a bulb to lose its leaves in the winter, the bulb is
likely to bloom only once in the summer.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary