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rsieminski_gw

Will this plant bloom again? What to do to get it to reflower?

rsieminski
18 years ago

I bought a few rhyzomes at HD, planted them, and they rewarded me with a wierd looking stalk with 3 beautiful flowers on top. Now the flowers are spent. Do I cut off the stalk, or just deadhead the flowers, or wack the whole thing at ground level???

Cool plants! Not much foliage. It looks like all it's energy goes into flower production. I'd just like it to re-flower.

Thanks,

--Rick

Comments (7)

  • haweha
    18 years ago

    Pardon - Hippeastrums do not usually base on rhizomes. A photo of what you assign as that kind of plant organ would be a great plan.

    Hans-Werner

  • rsieminski
    Original Author
    18 years ago
  • anna_in_quebec
    18 years ago

    Hi - this is what I had success with last year - I have a few Baby Stars. By the way, it's a bulb not a rhizome.

    1. Spent stalks I cut to one inch above the bulb, being careful not to damage the bulb (unless you wish collect seeds, I also cut the blooms individually as they fade)

    2. Following completion of all blooming (another stalk, or scape, may be coming for you), large strappy leaves will appear.

    3. Start to fertilize continually while the plant is in foliage phase (sometimes foliage will appear while blooming, but I think most agree that one does not fertilize while there are blooms)

    4. I kept all my amaryllis inside at a well-lit window - one I took outside, as I heard that can be done as well.

    5. Toward the end of the summer, the leaves started to turn yellow, - signalling beginning of the dormant phase - and when they did I cut them off and withheld water

    6. I then put them in a cool, dark area until around mid-November, when I brought them out and watered once (do not water again until you see active growth)

    7. All of last year's plants are now either in bloom or about to bloom. It was my first successful "revival" of amaryllis, and so I was just thrilled!

    8. Then it all begins again - once flowering starts anew, begin to water regularly once a week, and remember to rotate them, as the flower scapes tend to lean very strongly toward the light.

    Have fun - Baby Star is a real sweetie!

    Anna
    P.S. others in different zones may have different advice more suited to your climate - but this is what worked for me - with the help of all the nice people on this forum.

  • rsieminski
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    How many times will it re-flower in a season? Do they multiply like cannas?

  • kdjoergensen
    18 years ago

    Typically they flower 1 time per year, but if you keep them well fed with plenty of sun they may flower again sooner. I have never had one which flowered earlier than 15 months apart, but I grow them in a cool area including giving them a rest for a few months.

    While trying not to beat a dead horse, a rhizome is technically a plant stem which grow horizontally and on which new plants form along the stem. These plants develop their own new shots and roots and turn into individual self-sustained plants. This is why you can typically cut new planst away from the rhizome ("divide") and get seperate plants out of it. The rhizome in this fashion creates new plants as it grows from the mother plant.

    A bulb on the other hand is no more than one modified bud which will thickening on the part of the stem which is below ground. The bulb grows in size by having new leaves encapsule the bulb and energy is stored between these modified leaves. The heart of the bulb is the bud, the bulk of the bulb are modified leaves.

    (not easy, I know !!)

  • anna_in_quebec
    18 years ago

    Rsieminski - Some bulbs produce as many as three flowering scapes, will others only one, and this sometimes has various reasons such as lack of fertilizer or adequate light during the foliage phase. As for multiplying - some bulbs produce "offsets" or "daughter" bulbs which can be removed when they get bigger to "have a life of their own!"

    Anna

  • soultan
    16 years ago

    If you flower them out in Winter and tend for them, so they keep their healthy, green leaves and keep on getting enough nutriens, then you plant them out in the garden or place them out in open air with large enough containers so their roots would not dry out or get too hot in the summer heat, they could reward you with a second set of flowers during summer. You only place or plant them out though when the frost danger has passed. I had several bulbs of mine that gave me second flowers out in the flower bed in June-July, even though they spent four scapes in the Winter. Green Goddess is especially willing to do this.

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