MY HOUSE PLANTS COME INSIDE
It's time! The temperture has been down to about 48 degrees at night. That's cold enough for me to feel pretty chilly, so my plants have got to be feeling a bit cold as well.
One of the plants that came in is my amaryllis. I got that as a christmas gift last year. I had never had one before, which is difficult for a lot of people to understand...but, hey, I never had one! SOOOOO, I am checking out books, articles and the web to be sure I'm doing all of this correctly. (As they say, dotting the i's and crossing all the t's.)
At any rate, I'm now supposed to gradually cut back on the watering and wait for it to die back as it sits in a relatively light free area. Supposedly the new flower stalks will magically appear sometime in the winter months.
Am I the only one that's new to amaryllis? Do any of you have some positively great suggestions for me?
One web-site that is pretty all encompassing is from NebGuide. This comes from the University of Nebraska Extension Service. It tells us pretty much all we need to know about amaryllis. But, I'll still anxiously await your suggestions too!
posted by North Country Maturing Gardener @ 8/26/2005
3 comments
3 Comments:
I've never had an amaryllis! My mother used to grow them. The flower stalks will magically appear during the winter and the bulb may also multiply!
I vaguely remember having an amaryllis in the '70s but I guess we didn't keep it alive for long. Sorry I don't have any advice. I just wanted to let you know that I'm still enjoying your blog.
I'm on my second year with one. I was told to cut out the watering in June, then start up again watering about 6 weeks before you want blooms (generally Christmas or January). It must have a dormant period.
You also should ideally replace some of the soil with a rich mix when you restart watering, or at least fertilize. I merely did some liquid fertilizing, and this past winter got "only" one stalk of 4 beautiful blooms, down from 2 such stalks in succession the first winter. This year I too put the plant outside and never stopped watering because I like its foliage. I will see this year how things go if I do everything "right" (albeit late).
David Pittelli
http://woodedpaths.blogspot.com/
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