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Rootbound?

B-Cool
11 years ago

I've had a beautiful Cherry Nymph Amaryllis for the past two years. It has bloomed each year too, so I consider myself lucky. The bulb in now about 5.5" in diameter and I have it in a 9" pot, but now I have three babies growing (one has three leaves). As you can see from the pics it is quite rootbound and I am looking for help to decide how to proceed in it future care. Should I divide the bulblets off? Should I repot to a larger pot (there are more roots than dirt now)? Should I wait until I plan on letting it go dormant in the fall? Any suggestions are welcome - Thanks

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Comments (19)

  • karanb1r
    11 years ago

    I would clean the roots with a hose, to get rid of the dirt, and cut back all the dead/rotting roots, and plant it in a slightly bigger pot or in the ground if your zone allows it.

  • dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
    11 years ago

    Hi B-Cool
    I have the exact same situation with my Cherry Nymph that just bloomed for me..a bulb I've had for several years. My offsets are actually a bit larger than yours and I have NO INTENTION of disturbing the roots for some time. If you wish you can do what KB suggests and put it in a larger pot, or better yet, plant in the ground for the summer. These bulbs do spectacularly in the ground and you'll find that at the end of the growing season your bulblets will have fattened up considerably (more so than in a pot) and at that time when you pull it up for the winter, you can then seperate the offsets from the mother bulb if you wish. The choice is yours, but I would in no way disturbed the roots at this time.
    Cherry Nymph is a lovely flower as you know, and a pot full of them would be a sight to behold. (this is just MY opinion of course)
    Good Luck,

    Donna

  • joshy46013
    11 years ago

    Amaryllids typically resent being disturbed and are better left root bound. If you do put in a larger size I would stick the rootball the way it is in a larger pot and add soil around it and make sure not to disturb the roots.

    If it were my plant, I would not separate them, not at least until they are much larger. Many Hippeastrum look good clumped together and grow well with several offsets in a pot.

    Josh

  • grant_in_arizona
    11 years ago

    Congrats on the blooms and the offsets. That's fun. I rarely separate offsets from the mother bulb. When they get crowded I just move them all to a slightly larger pot. I end up with large pots with lots of bulbs, but I'd rather have than that a lot of small pots each with just one bulb. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I like the look of clumps. Let us know what you do and how it works out!

    Take care,
    Grant

  • B-Cool
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestions... I ended up re-potting in a slightly larger pot and decided to give the offsets this year to grow. I'll separate the largest ones at the end of the summer and pot them on their own.

    On another topic... I've read in several places that Amaryllis grow a flower for every 5-6 leaves they produce. How do I get my bulb to produce more leaves and faster? I was considering experimenting by cutting off the outermost set of leaves. Would that encourage the bulb to make new leaves? It seams that once my bulb has 6-7 healthy leaves it stops making new ones for the rest of the year. Any other ideas on how to get it to produce more leaves?

  • brigarif Khan
    11 years ago

    I have many questions in this regard.What is the right size of pot for a bulb? How long the roots can grow? Do the bulb keep shedding roots like leaves (When ever I have pulled out a bulb from ground or container I have always found dead roots, mature roots and young ones). Why the roots spread along the walls of container and are not uniformly distributed? If you trim the roots on re-planting will the existing roots grow branches or these will get replaced with new roots growing from basal plate.
    Please make me wiser.
    Hans had a shallow oval pot full of bulbs of various sizes.

  • vetivert8
    11 years ago

    brigarif: if you are growing in plastic pots - the roots of most things head out to the pot walls and start to circle. I suspect it is to access water and air.

    On the trimmed roots - from what I've seen, they die back and new emerge from the basal plate. If you were to cut back to a natural divide in the roots (as for Cymbidiums or Clivias) then the root 'should' continue to grow. I have yet to check this assumption, though.

  • joy...777
    10 years ago

    I live in Southern Florida. I have two amaryllis plants in large pots. They seem to be blooming all the time. I can see the tops of the bulbs so I'm assuming that they are pot bound.
    Should I just leave them as they are?
    Thanks,

  • kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
    10 years ago

    Hi! Seeing the top of the bulb isn't an indicator of being root bound/pot bound. When the roots come out the bottom of the pot (or even through the top of the soil) that's a better indicator. I repot every 2-3 years.

    When you say "All the time" regarding blooms....how often are they blooming? Once or twice a year?

    K

  • joy...777
    10 years ago

    I have blooms on them most of the year. My neighbors can't believe it.

  • petrushka (7b)
    10 years ago

    joy777 - do you know what kind of bulb you have? can you post a pic of flowers?
    how often you fertilize them and where are they planted? how much sun are they getting?
    could it be they have naturalized? and diff bulbs produce flowers at diff time?
    can you post the pic of the bed they grow in?
    and what is your zone? do you dig them up or they are permanently in the ground? do the leaves die down?

  • joy...777
    10 years ago

    I will try to post a photo. I'm not sure how to do that.
    Maybe you can tell me.
    It is pouring rain in Fort Myers right now. It is our typical afternoon rainfall.
    I fertilize them with Miracle Grow once a week.
    They are in full sun in large pots.
    I pull dead leaves off once in a while.

  • joy...777
    10 years ago

    I am new to this site. Can anyone tell me how to post a pic of my amaryllis plant?

  • petrushka (7b)
    10 years ago

    people post from their phones, from 'photo hosting' sites like flicker, photobucket,etc. and also directly from your computer - if you have it on your drive/digital camera (last - one at a time only).
    search 'post photo' at top of the page, right corner and find the one best suited for you.

  • kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
    10 years ago

    I think that the FAQ at the top of the list also has info on posting, but now Garden Web has made it really easy if you have a photo on your computer, or even on your smart phone and you are posting from your phone. See the grey box under POST A FOLLOW-UP? You can browse and select a photo off your camera (or off your computer). This only allows a single photo, but using Photobucket or other photo storage software, you can download HTML code for multiple images!!

    GOOD LUCK!!
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    {{gwi:407720}}

  • Tigrica
    10 years ago

    Joy,
    copy your image URL and paste it in between "" :

    When you do this, you will also need to delete the spaces
    next to these

  • AuntJemima
    10 years ago

    If you were lazy you could simply add some soil to the bottom of the pot and plant it higher up.

  • Michelange.23
    9 years ago

    Ref: B-Cool's suggestion that amaryllis gets one blossom for each 5 or 6 leaves.

    Mine is four years old, has 11 long leaves and 12 blossoms (2 stalks with 6 each). Last year it was 2 stalks of 4 each.

    I have only fertilized once in the four years (Miracle Grow).

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
    9 years ago

    Regardless of your success so far with number of stalks and flowers I would say that that bulb is in desperate need of repotting unless the roots are growing out of the drainage hole into the pot underneath, are they??

    Donnaâºâº

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