I have had great success with my amaryllis bulbs over the years. I started with two or three and now I have dozens and find that I have to give them away every few years. Since bloggers have asked what I do, I will start with my fall regimen to prepare the bulbs for rest. (Please note that this is what works for me and is something I just did without too much research!) My amaryllis plants are moved outside in the spring as soon as the weather is warm enough and there are no frosts and they sit outside in pots through the summer months. They are on the northeast side of the house and do not get a lot of direct sun. The first week of September I stop watering and feeding these bulbs. If we are getting lots of rain, I will move them to a sheltered area where they will get no water. Since I see we are possibly facing the remnants of at least two more hurricanes, I will move these pots to sheltered areas. This is the beginning process of forcing them to go dormant early so that I can encourage blooms in January and February inside my house.
Post Script: The bulbs are currently planted with the top half of the bulb exposed in a good potting soil that drains well. The pot is not too big and so by fall the bulbs can be somewhat root bound. The pot in the photo above has four small bulbs that I transplanted this past winter. They are too small to bloom so all I got this year was the nice foliage.
so you get blooms in late winter and then keep them in the house until summer when you put them outside for the entire summer? you only let them go dormant once a year? i would have thought they were dormant twice a year, but i have had NO luck with mine. they get tall and the leaves fall over and have no real strength. they bloomed fine the first year but had smaller blooms thereafter and very floppy leaves. we planted them in the ground in filtered light this summer, and they did fairly well but did not bloom. i will dig them up in a few weeks and put them in pots again in the garage. i am disgusted with them and keep entertaining the thought of throwing these bulbs out and starting over. yours were just beautiful this year. wish i had your amaryllis thumb!
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