I planted some of these in the spring/early summer and instructions were to
lift before the frosts which I have done by transplanting them into pots.
Should I just leave them in the pots in the garage (unwatered?) or should I
cut back the foliage remove from the soil and store dry in paper bags in a
dark place? (as with dahlias)

Thanks

P.

On Fri, 22 Nov 2002 17:39:09 +0000 (UTC), "papa"
(remove nospam to reply) wrote:

I planted some of these in the spring/early summer and instructions were to
lift before the frosts which I have done by transplanting them into pots.
Should I just leave them in the pots in the garage (unwatered?) or should I
cut back the foliage remove from the soil and store dry in paper bags in a
dark place? (as with dahlias)

I've done both ways successfully, leaving the leaves to get thoroughly
dry before cutting off. Having grown them in pots I just move the
pots to garage.
What I need is advice as to why mine don't flower. They make lots of
leaves but I only had one flower stem this year.
Cheers
Pam

Bristol

On Sat, 23 Nov 2002 20:38:14 +0000, Pam Moore
wrote:

What I need is advice as to why mine don't flower. They make lots of
leaves but I only had one flower stem this year.

At the risk of asking the obvious question, did you feed them?

For years I have been persuaded that most bulbous subjects are
fairly gross feeders -- just look at the size of their storage
organs! -- and you really need to goose them with fertilizer to
get a good repeat performance.

And as the years have passed, I am more and more persuaded that
this is the case. I have a number of hippeastrums ("amaryllis" to
the unwashed masses), and have not had any real success getting
them to flower after their first year. Picking the brains of my
more knowledgable friends and looking into various books has
convinced me that as long as they are actively growing, they need
regular feeding, as often as twice a week at their peak growing
season.

So this year, all the amaryllis in active growth (oops,
"hippeastrums") are being fed every other Sunday during the
winter, with the intention of more frequent feeding come spring.
I am looking forward with considerable interest to the results.

Feed those acidantheras next summer!

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Rodger Whitlock wrote:

So this year, all the amaryllis in active growth (oops,
"hippeastrums") are being fed every other Sunday during the
winter, with the intention of more frequent feeding come spring.
I am looking forward with considerable interest to the results.

I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised Rodger. I have a couple
of clumps of Hippeastrum right at the edge of the 'banana border' in
the garden. To ensure the bananas get sufficient nutrients, the
entire border is heavily 'mucked' with well rotted manure at least
twice per year and top-dressed with pelleted poultry poo every 6 weeks
from March through to October. Everything is liberally doused with
liquid fertiliser once a week during the same period as well, so the
feeding regime is pretty lavish.

Because of their proximity, the Hippeastrums get the same treatment.
They remain in full leaf all of the time and unless we get *prolonged*
frosts (none in the past 13 years) they continue growing slowly
throughout winter. Despite being in shade until the banana leaves
become shredded by autumn gales, the Hippeastrums flower extremely
well in early summer - every year. That said, more bananas were
planted this summer and the shade created has been greater, so
flowering might not be so free next summer. Time will tell.

Feed those acidantheras next summer!

Absolutely - treat them as you would Gladioli (well drained, rich soil
in full sun) and they will not fail to perform.

David Poole
TORQUAY UK