Pot size: Select a pot so there is 1 inch of space between the bulb and the side of the pot. Amaryllis bulbs like to be pot-bound to grow and bloom. The small amount of potting mix around the bulb also dries out quickly so the bulb doesn't set too long in wet or moist conditions. This can encourage root and bulb rot.

Plastic vs. Clay: We use plastic pots because they hold more moisture and we don't have to water as often as with clay pots. Decorative glazed pots hold moister like plastic pots and provides more bottom weight for those heavy blooms. We suggest that you use a plastic pot and simply slip it into a decorative clay pot. By doing so, you can rotate your blooming plants and not have to purchase a decorative pot for each. Whatever pot you decide to use, make sure it has good drainage. Your Amaryllis will not like setting in water, which can easily rot the roots and bulb.

How to pot: Bury the bulb in your potting mix leaving the top 1/3 of the bulb above the soil surface and 1/2 to 1 inch of space between the soil surface and the top of the pot. This space allows for water to collect when being water. Again, the inside wall of the pot should be, no more than, 1 inch from the side of the bulb.

Light: Amaryllis will do best when grown in bright indirect sunlight. Direct sunlight in the early morning or late evening (when the suns rays are not so intense) will be beneficial to your plant. When growing inside, a southern exposure is best, but can be grown in an east or west window as well. Your glass window can intensify spring and summer sunlight, so be careful that the direct sunlight does not burn your leaves. In northern exposures, you may need to provide additional light or move your plants outside when temperatures permit. When producing a bloom stalk, you will need to turn the plant every day to keep the stalk growing straight. These plants can grow so fast, forgetting to turn the plant for a couple of days can result in an arching inflorescence. This will make the plant more likely to tip than when the flower stalks are straight and upright.

Watering: Most people receive their first Amaryllis as a gift. It can come either as a dormant bulb - packaged as a kit with potting mix and a pot, or perhaps as a growing blooming plant in bud or in bloom.

If your Amaryllis has come to you as a dormant bulb, pot it up as described above. A lot of the "kits", sold on the market today, come with pure milled sphagnum moss as a potting medium. You are welcome to use this "mix", but be VERY careful not to over water. It's very easy to over water or water too often with these mixes. You're better off potting your bulb in the right mix to begin with, so your first experience growing these wondrous plants is a positive one.

Water your bulb with room temperature water and NO fertilizer. Your bulb does not need fertilizer at this point and can't do anything with it. Plants need leaves to fully utilize the nutrients in fertilizer and using it now will only encourage algae, bacteria and fungus to grow on and in the soil. Place your newly potted and freshly watered Amaryllis bulb in a warm location. It doesn't even have to be in light or where you're going to eventually be growing your plant. The moist warm conditions will encourage your bulb to "wake up" and start growing. At this point, we are trusting the bulb has completed it's dormancy cycle and is ready to grow. Some bulbs are reluctant to "wake up" because they have been pushed into an unnatural bloom cycle. This is most often the case when we receive Amaryllis bulbs as presents at Christmas time. These bulbs have been forced into dormancy back in August, but being dried out and chilled. We always wait for our bulbs to tell us they are ready to wake up. This is evident by new growth (either leaves or the tip of the bloom) poking up out of the top of the bulb.

Once new growth has poked it's way out of the top of the bulb, move the potted bulb to a location where it will remain warm and receive the proper amount of light.

Your Amaryllis plant will take up water through it's roots which are produced at the base of the bulb. The water is then transported into the growing portion of the plant where it is used in transpiration and photosynthesis (the process of breathing and making food from sunlight). Very little transpiration and photosynthesis is produced in the flower stalk or flowers, compared to that done by the leaves. Without much transpiration and photosynthesis, the Amaryllis plant needs little water. That's why it's the leaves we look for, when increasing the amount of watering.

If you aren't sure whether to water or not, error on the dry side. Wait a day or two before you water. Your Amaryllis bulb contains plenty of water to sustain itself until it's next watering. You'll notice that once you have several mature pairs of leaves on your plant, your potting mix will go dry faster and you'll need to water more often.

When initiating new growth, we allow the potting mix to grow almost dry before we water again.

The transition between keeping the mix semi-dry and constantly moist will depend on how fast the plant sends up leaves. For some, that can be a couple of months, for others it can be only a matter of a couple of weeks.

If you received your plant in bud or in bloom, your watering will also be dependant on how much leaf growth there is. Luckily you don't have to worry about breaking dormancy, because that has already been done for you. Use the same guidelines as outlined above for how often you need to water.

Fertilizer: Fertilize only after your Amaryllis bulb has produce good leaf growth. With good leaf growth, the plant will be photosynthesizing and able to use all the nutrients in your fertilizer. Any all-purpose fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 will work fine. We suggest mixing the fertilizer 1/4 to 1/2 strength (according to the directions) and watering with this solution every other week while in active growth. Stop fertilizer about 1 month before dormancy to give the plant a chance to slow down and prepare for its winter slumber.

Dormancy: Letting your Amaryllis rest or go dormant is actually quite misleading. Although your plant will not be growing new leaves and photosynthesizing, it is hardly sleeping or resting. During this stage in it's life cycle, your Amaryllis bulb is like a caterpillar spinning a cocoon, in preparation for becoming a beautiful butterfly.

In their natural habitats, these plants enter into the dry season. To conserve energy, the bulbs adsorb what nutrients they can from their leaves, much like our own trees do in the fall. As the leaves dry up and the nutrients are absorbed, the plants prepare for the making of flowers.

Providing the plant received enough light and fertilizer to produce enough stored sugar, it will set to work producing the immature flower buds deep inside the bulb. The bulbs have to work hard and fast, because in only three to four months, it will be time to produce the show we've been waiting for all year.

In the fall, stop watering your Amaryllis plants. This will encourage them to enter into their natural life cycle when there is little water available to them. Once they've absorbed all the nutrients in the leaves and they are dried up, simply remove them from the bulbs. Leave the bulbs potted up in their pots and place them in a cool, dry location and forget them until next spring.

A trick we have learned over the years is when tucking the plants away for the winter, lay the pot on it's side. The bulb can actually tell which side is up by the gravitational pull of the earth! Being on their sides, the bulb detects that something is a-miss and tricks the bulb into producing flowers when normally it wouldn't or actually producing more flowers per bulb.

Timing: After resuming new growth, it takes 6-8 weeks to flower. So, repotting time should be 8 weeks before you want your plant to flower.

Bulbs are forced into dormancy in August for Christmas blooms. That's why bulbs we get at Christmas never bloom again during that time of the year. They would have to be forced into dormancy again every August.

Amaryllis bulbs will naturally go dormant in the fall during the months of October and November. They begin growing again in the February or March and even into April. For continuous bloom from December to May, you can actually stagger the start of dormancy every two weeks from September to January.

Amaryllis requires a minimum of 6 weeks of dormancy to produce flowers for the next growing season.

To induce dormancy, withhold water and lay pot on it's side in a cool location. Bulbs will tolerate temperatures near freezing but only require temperatures in the low 50's to insure the development of flowers.

Propigation: Amaryllis are easily produced from seed and are easily pollinated by hand. Simply place your finger on the stamens where plenty of pollen will be deposited. Brush your finger over the wet, sticky end of the pistol, and viola! You've pollinated your plant. The ovary behind the flower will swell up as the seeds inside develop. The ovary will soon dry up and break open with dozens of round paper-thin black seeds. Sow the seeds in the same mix you grow your bulbs in keeping them moist while they germinate and grow through their first season. We sow our seeds in a flat and keep it in the greenhouse were it's warm and humid. We don't force our seeds into dormancy and let them grow through the first year until they go into dormancy all by themselves. When we see that a seedling has gone dormant (as evident by the dried leave), we dig up the bulb and store it in a dry cool location until spring. Every year the bulbs get bigger and in 5-7 years we'll have blooming size bulbs.

We haven't hybridized many Amaryllis and when we did, we didn't get anything superior to what is currently available on the market today. It was fun, though and something we encourage everyone to do. It makes a GREAT project for school kids and adults alike.

Seed production does takes energy away from the plant, so if you're having trouble re-blooming your Amaryllis, you might want to hold off on trying to grow them from seed.

Besides seed production, Amaryllis reproduce via 'bulblets' or miniature bulbs on the side of the mature bulbs. For a bold display, leave these bublets attached to the mother bulb. They will eventually develop in to blooming size bulbs each producing a beautiful display of flowers. If you prefer, gently remove any bulblets and plant them individually.

Bulbs can also be cut up into sections where each section has a part of the root and a part of the upper portion of the bulb. Each section can be grown on into a blooming size bulb. We've never tried this, but if you have a bulb you'd like to experiment with, let us know how it goes. Take pictures and we'd be happy to post them here and share your experience with others.

Q: Every year my bloom stalk bends and eventually breaks. What am I doing wrong.

A: Large bloom-type hybrids may require staking. Placing a bamboo stake on each side of your bulb and tying a string from one stake to the other and back again with the flower stalk in between the string does this nicely.

A: Lower light levels will also make for longer, weaker flower spikes. Increasing the amount of light will solve this problem.

Q: I'm giving my plant plenty of sunlight, but the leaves keep growing too long and breaking.

A: Even under ideal conditions you may find that you need to stake your leaves to prevent them from dropping and breaking. Again, try supporting them using 3 or 4 bamboo stakes evenly spaced around the inside of the flowerpot. Tie a string or twist tie, from one stake to the other until you go all around the pot supporting the leaves with the string.

Q: Should I deadhead my flowers?

A: deadheading is the process of removing the flower, after the flowers have faded. This prevents the plant from putting energy into the production of seeds and back into the plant for future flower production. If you're not interested in growing more plants from seed, then by all means, deadhead your flowers. You'll want to remove the flowers where they meet the top of the flower stalk. Leave the flower stalk in tack until it collapses. Without seed production, the bulb will re-adsorb the nutrients in the flower stalk and put it to good use producing leaves and therefore energy for next years flowers. If the flower stalk becomes soft and mushy, remove it so it doesn't cause rot in the bulb.

Q: Are all Amaryllis treated the same?

A: No. There are a few species and hybrids that you shouldn't allow to go dormant. These include A. papilio, A. reticulata and A. Silhouette and possibly others. These species will grow and bloom without a dormant cycle. In fact, when forced to go dormant, they can be very difficult to get growing again. If you have one of these plants, just be aware that they are special and should be grown year round like tropical foliage.

Q: Why does one of my Amaryllis produce flowers first and then leaves and the other one produces leaves and then flowers? I grow both of them exactly the same.

A: What comes first, the leaves or the flowers is determined by the species in the hybrid's background - not the growing conditions. Some species naturally produce flowers first. Others produce leaves first. The belladonna or naked lady Lilly, is actually an Amaryllis that produces flowers in the fall and leaves in the spring. During the summer and winter months, the bulbs lie "dormant" in the ground and totally hidden.

Q: I've been told that the more leaves I have on my bulbs in the fall, the more flowers I will have in the spring. Is this true?

A: The more leaves your bulbs produce, the more energy they can produce to store and make flowers the following spring. So in a sense, you were told correctly. You want to produce and keep as many leaves on your bulbs during their active growth, so it will produce more flowers the following year.

Q: I have 2 to 4 beautiful deep green leaves on my bulbs during the summer. I fertilize properly all summer long, yet I only get one flower spike with 2 flowers. What am I doing wrong?

A: With only 2 to 4 leaves, your bulbs probably aren't producing enough energy to make more flowers than what it is. The dark green color of your leaves indicates it might not be getting enough light. When receiving enough light, your leaves should be a bright lime green. Try increasing the amount of light, this will produce enough energy to produce more leaves and hence more flowers.

Q: Should I put my plants outside during the summer?

A: We put all our Amaryllis outside in the summer. If you can, place them where they will receive bright, indirect or filtered light throughout the day and direct sunlight either in the early morning or late afternoon - when the angle of the sun is low enough so it doesn't burn the leaves.

Q: I'm afraid of putting my Amaryllis outside for the summer because I don't want them to get bug and then bring them into the house.

A: it's entirely possible you will have bugs in the potting mix after a summer of being outside. The good thing about Amaryllis is you can dry them out while they are still outside in a protected area and then remove them from the pot and potting mix before you bring them in and store them in a cool location for the winter.

Q: How often should I repot my Amaryllis?

A: Ideally, you should repot every year just before your plant breaks dormancy.

Q: Should I use a blossom booster fertilizer for my Amaryllis?

A: Flower production is produced via the dormant cycle and proper care through out the year, not through the makeup of fertilizer. We never use a blossom booster and never needed to. If you grow your Amaryllis in the proper light, keep it watered and fertilize it with a well-balanced fertilizer, there shouldn't be a need for a blossom booster.

Culture tips provided by:

Orchid Enterprise Inc.

www.orchidenterprise.com