They really don't require a drying time... but it is helpful to hold the papery sheaths up to a light source to ensure there's a little embryo inside... so you know the seed may be viable and worth planting.

Most of us plant harvested seed rather shortly after the matured pods have browned and cracked open to reveal their bounty.

Genetics are anyone's guess... what you get as results will be dependent upon how Mother Nature stacks those alleles. You could get any combination of characteristics... from either or both parents, or from ancestors. But that's half the fun... the surprise of what might show up in the progeny!

well I was letting them dry so I could store them, to prevent mold.

I was investigating my seeds with a light and realized that of the 9279372 seeds that came out of the pods, a very tiny percentage actually have embryos. I'm sad!

Mold wouldn't be good... this much is true!

However, most of us try to plant Hippeastrum seeds within a short time following harvest... the seeds don't really store well for long periods of time, and if I'm correct, the germination rate lessens as time goes by, with about 6 months to a year the longest you'd want to store them.

Perhaps Kristi or someone else could verify that for us... but I'm pretty sure that's fairly accurate.

Personally, I'm always happy to find at least a few seeds that are viable, having that tiny little embryo inside! I have no idea how I'd grow thousands of seedlings, or where I'd keep them if so many germinated! I usually grow a dozen or two for myself, allowing for some that might not make it, and either give away or trade the rest of my seeds for other seeds or cuttings, etc...

The fun part, I think, is growing them to maturity and finding out which ancestors they get their characteristics from! It takes a lot of patience... but I think it's worth it!

Happy Growing!

Well okay that does make sense! If every single seed was viable.. I'd have about 500 baby amaryllis! Lol!!!!

How long does it take from seed to bloom? Can you get a bloom the same year of sowing?

If I remember right, from seed to bloom is at least 2 years... if not more... depending on the care they receive.

I do believe that with optimal care... light, water, nutrition, etc... you could get one to bud in just a couple of years.

It's definitely a game of patience... but the results are worth waiting for!

Awwww. that's quite a while... but I will be super excited if I can get any germination, so I'm going for it! :D

It is quite a while... but gardening is mostly about having patience, waiting for growth, waiting for flowering, waiting for seasonal changes, etc...

Really, though, two or three years is not that much time when put into perspective. For example, puppies aren't adult dogs until at least their second or third year of life... other animals take a lot longer than that... and humans take many years to go from infancy to adulthood.

But I find the anticipation of waiting for a bulb to flower, or waiting for seed germination, or waiting for a tiny bulb seedling to reach adulthood to be quite exciting! I notice every little change they go through as I care for them, and when they finally bloom, it's like a reward for good care and for having good patience!

I wish you good luck in germination, and I hope they grow into something wonderful! :-)

Wow... If you got 9 million seeds out of 3 to 24 pods, they must have really been huge pods! Hehehe. Just a slight exaggeration perhaps?
K

well it SEEMS like that many........ :)

I sure know how that feels!! Give yourself a few years and you'll realize that you can get by with planting only about 10 seeds each!
;-)
K

It is fair to say that the majority of Hippeastrums crossbreed easily. When one scape is going to bloom at home, then attentive and considerate lookout for the availability of pollen in due time is a key to success, as well as not giving up if some first attempts end up unsuccessfully.
For a long time I thought that Cybisters from crossbreeding H.papilio with H.cybister were infertile. But I am now raising lots of seedlings from crossbreeding "Nr.15" (the one and only of 18 siblings which will readily produce seed) with "Nr.18" (Pollen Donor).

"Nr.15" (of "Chico" x H.papilio)
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"Nr.18" (of "Chico" x H.papilio)
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Hans-Werner,

No. 15 is truly beautiful and with a mother like that I'm sure the offspring will be just amazing!! For those of you who don't know, you can just click on any picture and it will almost double in size. The color really pops in the larger photo of No. 15 as well as No. 18.

This is such an easy cross that any of us can do and that many of us have already done and are just waiting.âºâº Should my results be half as lovely as yours, I will be thrilled, even more so if one should come close to your No. 15!!

Donna

After decades of diligent work in canine breeding, which is an incredibly serious undertaking requiring so much research and so much knowledge, strict record keeping, a level of dedication that few people possess and much more... the simplicity of pollinating my Hippeastrum bulbs just for fun is refreshing... almost a guilty pleasure!

I feel like I should be doing a whole lot of number and data crunching before dusting the pollen from one flower part to the other!

Within a week or so, here, I'll be sowing a few seeds from a selfing I recently did on a mislabeled bulb. Though I can't recall the exact name on the tag, it was one that would indicate a greenish flower... but the actual bloom was a gorgeous, deep red.

The seed pods that mature always look like they are holding millions of seeds, but I'm sure not going to count each individual one for a total! I'll pick out a dozen or so and call it a day!

It will be interesting to see what characteristics show themselves.

Hans' work is always lovely! Nice photos!