I am also begging for an answer.

Please... we are waiting for your answers. TIA.

Xuan

I agree with Xuan. Under the best growing conditions the bulb just keeps getting fat without blooming.
Hedco advised me that I must induce dormancy even if it is for a short period.
But how to go about it if you have a thousand bulbs in the ground? The only answer was WITH HOLD WATER.
This year I stopped watering the bed from 1st of October. The Hippies kept smiling and it rained on last day of December and now they are laughing at me.
{{gwi:371281}}
Now I am thinking of decapitating them all except the bulb lets (out of spite). Should I do it if so when? Normal bloom time here is in April.
Arif

Hatta and Xuan...I wish I know what to advice you both. I have no experience growing Hippies in the ground. I am no expert, but my experience with my Hippies in my growing conditions tells me that this might work or it's something you might want to try:

Before the coldest months in your area, stop feeding and watering. Perhaps you can place a plastic drop cloth over them so they won't get rained on? This way, once the cold weather comes in they are dry. You can try to cut their leaves too at this point as you want them to possibly rest. Keep the plastic over them for a couple of weeks or until it's spring/blooming time in your area. Dryness is necessary with leafless bulbs to avoid rotting. Once spring comes or warmer temps, you can water them a little. Just to wake them up. Water more as they grow leaves and hopefully flowers. Remove the plastic once new growth appears.

I really don't know what else to advice you both. Experiment with a few and hopefully your Hippies will teach you what they like. Learn from them. Good luck!

I'm so sorry.

I meant ARIF instead of Hatta.

Getting old is not that fun. :-(

Thank you for your advice, Maria.

In fact, I took your instructions on forcing amaryllis to bloom way back in 2007 and I have been successful in doing so.

What I'm eager to know is what induces scapes to emerge. Is it cold, dry, or both? And what about damage?

I include "damage" because I witnessed once at my uncle's: his grandson playfully used some stick and punched a potful of amaryllis bulbs with it. Literally, each and every bulb got pierced. The uncle re-planted the bulbs and... they bloomed but the other healthy bulbs in other pots didn't!

But I guess these questions cannot be answered quickly. Maybe I should try to do some more research.

Thanks again for your advice, Maria.

By the way, I have "forced" three of the four seedlings your sent me in 2008 (Candy Floss, Exotic Star, and Fairy Tale) to bloom. They are about 3 years old already. They have been out of the fridge more than two weeks now. I will let you know soon when I see scapes.

Xuan

For the majority of DIP Hippeastrums, and for almost if not all TETs, storage below 20�C approximately 11 to 17�C and at perfectly 13�C = 55�F respectively, for several weeks effectuate most reliably the elongatioon of preformed scapes in mature bulbs.
Dryness is not the trigger, but moisture during cold storage bears risks: Rotting, dissemination of pests and diseases, and premature formation of new leaves. If you store potted plants IN FULL LEAVES at a BRIGHT place at 13�C you should not let them dry out THOUGH!. Administer very low amounts of water into the soucoupe every other day.

Thank you very much for your explanation, Sir Hans. That reinforces my understanding.

Xuan

I thought I read this somewhere. It made sense to me. I am certainly no expert about this. So, please take this with a grain of salt.

In the plant world, flowers for the most part allow the plants to reproduce. It seems that when a plant is being threatened, somehow it will encourage the plant to "think" that it is time to reproduce or otherwise. As a result, we human being have long been trying to trick the plants into blooming by various means.

Putting Hippis in dormant is one way to make it think that it is time to reproduce through blooming. Likewise, deadheading for similar reasons encourage many plants to continue to bloom after earlier flowers are spent.

Hope this helps.

-GM

The concept of the "emergency bloom" does not apply for amaryllids.
The rather LONG time period, that it takes to form the seed pods in Amaryllids, does a priori make this suggestion UNlikely.
On the contrary the follwing idea makes absolutely sense, from a "fictive psychology of the bulb": "I shall wait until a period of cold wheather occurs. THEN I shall start to elongate my scapes that I had initiated. My experience over generations tells me that, after a cold period, a warm period will begin, and then, I shall be prepared on the spot, to bloom and to produce seeds".
The analogous applies for Amaryllis belladonna and some other members of clade of the the African Amaryllids. These repose when the HOT and DRY season begins, and will produce their flowers when it is coldER and HUMID again.

What I find important in this emphasis is, in which state of climate the seeds are distributed so that they're treated with favourable conditions. Of course the cold and dry period doesn't help seedlings to develop.
What I've seen in my own seedlings is that they partake in a stagnation of growth even when faced with nearly perfect conditions. This stagnation lasts until they are around 1,5 years old, would you agree on that?
This may exceed Xuan's and Arif's contents of their question, but I still find it interesting in this context. Since this would lead to the conclusion that seeds germinate during summer, take a rest until they're in their second year in spring to boost the foliage growth and start to multiply and to take up starch for flower production.
Hippeastrum grow in different kinds of climate throughout South America, the mostly used hybrids derivate from H. equestre, H. leopoldii and H. reginae as well as vittatum if I remember correctly. Perhaps it would help to understand the growing conditions these plants are exposed to.

Many thanks to all for the information presented so far. Please have your inputs coming.

I believe not only me but many newbies will benefit from your discussion.

Xuan

ARIF...If normal bloom time in Pakistan is April. Then you might want to do it NOW!!! Try your thoughts on a small bed of Hippies. Stop watering, decapitate them as you said (LOL) and keep dry. Keeping them dry is a preventative measure for "decapitated" bulbs from rotting. Cover them with plastic if it is raining. It is the cool temps. that will initiate the formed flower embryo inside the resting bulbs to further develop. Warmer weather after the cool period makes the buds elongate.

I have no experience with "threatened" bulbs. If there are no developed flower embryos inside the bulb, I would think that no amount of threatening will make a bulb bloom.

Yesterday I visited a friend of mine a retired forest officer. He is a long standing Amaryllis grower. All of his bulbs are in pots scattered all around the house and many of them on the roof top. Depending upon the location the pots get full sun from 2-12 hours a day. The pots are not shifted; they get water throughout the year as per requirement. Old yellow leaves are removed, but good leaves are never cut. According to him our plants get stressed twice a year, during mid-summer when temperature is too high for a good growth and again in winter. Only some of his bulbs shed all leaves in the winter other remaining ever green just like mine.
As has Hans pointed out my Pancratium scapes shoot out of naked ground in rainy season, keep growing throughout winter and leaves dry out in summer except of those growing in shade (they remain ever green and bloom normally).

Maria; this year I will only remove old flappy leaves and with hold water. I also plan to take picture of every bloom for record.
Arif

What I've seen in my own seedlings is that they partake in a stagnation of growth even when faced with nearly perfect conditions. This stagnation lasts until they are around 1,5 years old, would you agree on that?

I cannot confirm that in the least. IF it even were so, then I would not have succeeded in blooming seedlings that were just 2 y old

Hi
Going through my past albums I Observed
Without decapitating They bloomed in mid April as below.

{{gwi:371283}}

On removal of leaves in January, they started blooming in 3rd week of March.
This is how they looked.
{{gwi:371285}}
{{gwi:371287}}

Now I plan to cut all leaves on7 th of Feb. Clean the beds, remove extra soil. Spray fungicide/insecticide and cover the bed with clear plastic
Any comments
Arif

Arif, your plants look spectacular. Thanks for sharing.

Are you going to leave a space between the bulbs and the plastic cover for ventilation to avoid humidity build-up that might cause rot?

I ask because I was going to do the same with my bulbs and a friend here suggested I do that since my bulbs are in full sun.

Xuan

Arif's spectacular garden has inspired me since long time ago! Thanks for posting the pictures again.

Also great discussion here. Thanks Xuan for initiating it.

Maria, thanks! I know I could also benefit greatly from your insights :-)

Hatta

Plastic over arches of wire about a foot high, open on the sides.
What I was trying to project was that, If the leaves are long some blooms having short scapes are lost in the foliage. The new leaves are short which make the blooms more prominent.
With leave cutting the sun warms the soil earlier and I get early blooms.
Anti fungal and insecticid spraying is more effective.
It is easy to place solid fertilisers between the rows of bulbs.
You get to see empty spaces created on death of bulbs, which can now be filled.
If the bulbs have been pulled down some soil arround them can be removed to expose them.
Arif

These pics might give you guys some ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Tunnel Row Cover

Arif, I understand now how you were going to fix the plastic cover. Thank you.

Maria, thanks for the link. The stuffs look exactly like what I need :-)

Hatta, glad you've joined in. We all benefit a lot from the discussion.

Xuan

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had any success in growing the Hippie bulbs in coarse builder's sand alone?

I saw this church front once, where the gardener has grown these white amaryllis with hardly anything else except coarse sand. Believe me, it was a sight to behold. Apart from watering once a day and perhaps a bit of organic manure once a while, they just kept blooming! Doubt if there was any dormant period in the fridge for those bulbs!

So, has anyone had any such success as this church gardener to date? I live in Malaysia by the way. It's warm out here throughout the yr.

Length of day is the primary determining factor in the blooming of Hippeastrum.The average bloom time here,near tampa,Florida,is in march.I have had a few bloom in August,which has a day length similar to march.
These were bulbs which commonly bloom in March.
I have had several hundred bulbs bloom in January,after a hard freeze in December,where their leaves were all burned off.
The fact that They do not all bloom in August tells me that there is another factor involved, other than day length;perhaps even two other factors, In so far as physical damage,withholding water,or uprooting are concerned,that can both be survival by blooming and setting seed,or an artificial trigger. I don't know how one would study to determine the facts.I keep learning,and discovering how little I know.
I have one Lima which as bloomed three times in a year,two years straight.I've done nothing differently to it. It sits in the middle of several other commercial hybrids,of various types.
Del

I cannot gather evidence from my experiences so far, that the length of day triggers the bloom of Hippeastrum.
If I force bulbs very early, indoors, preferably at high temperatures, and set them outdoors afterwards, in May, THEN I can expect second blooming from July on. This can be very well be explained by the sudden temperature DROP that the bulbs are being submitted to, which effectuates the elongation of the new, preformed scapes in bulbs that had well matured again. Bulbs that I force later Or/And outdoors, will generally NOT rebloom in August.

Declining day length MIGHT trigger leaf formation and subsequent appearance of Scapes, in H.papilio, though. The same might apply for the Scape and the subsequent formation of the bush of leaves in Amaryllis belladonna.

Do you think that hippeastrums require "forcing" to bloom in Vietnam because the low latitude means natural variances in day length are insufficient to trigger a bloom?

The fact that in the Northern Hemisphere they bloom in March but not August seems to me to indicate that it is increasing the day's length, rather than a specific day length, that triggers blooms.

I also have them re-bloom midsummer if I move them from indoors to outside. Being moved might also get them to "think" they day is longer since they are exposed to bright light earlier in the morning and later in the evening than in a windowsill. So again, it seems that a sharp short-term increase in day length, rather than any specific day length, triggers the blooming.

Similarly... do you think that forcibly removing all the leaves (or forcing dormancy) "tricks" the plants into thinking day length is very short, since they are not getting any light at all, and therefore whatever internal chemical signal "recognizes" all the light is absent? Then when they are allowed to return to growth, the new leaves quickly perceive a lot more light, start producing that hormone, and then bloom.

I don't know why they bloom out of a naked bulb sometimes - that's a mystery to me. Maybe it is related to the fact that increasing day length corresponds to increasing warmth and water in their native habitat. But could there be a secondary possible trigger in addition to day length?