Sis, in Zones 9A and higher, amaryllis can be grown in the ground, year-round. I have well over 100, maybe 200 amaryllis bulbs in the ground here in Jacksonville. You will have much better success and the bulb will multiply with offsets (bulblets) faster, too. Amaryllis are not thrilled about halving their roots cooked in black pots - whether plastic or ceramic. It is not normal for the plant. Roots are never cooked when the bulb is in the ground; there, the roots stay cool.

When newly planting a bulb in the ground, I cut all of the leaves to about 6" inches, in order to keep the bulb from rolling sideways due to top-heavy leaves. Until the bulb roots, it won't roll. Once it roots, which doesn't take long, it will put out new growth on the top.

I plant all of my bulbs in part sun/part shade. That is how they seem happiest. I plant the bulb to a depth of one half of the bulb in the ground and then mulch with pine bark mulch to about 3/4 of the bulb.

You will read here and all over the internet that bulbs should be planted higher because they "work themselves deeper" or "pull themselves deeper" into the ground over time. I have never had it happen here. Never. Not in 10+ years of growing these.

Good luck and have fun!
Carol in Jacksonville

Thanks, Carol. When I get more ambitious, I plan to plant some in the yard - maybe the daughter bulbs - but this one is for indoor enjoyment. I'm just trying to incubate big healthy blooms for the Christmas season and don't want to bury and lift.

GrowSis

Here's the short answer: Keep it in the shade. It doesn't like the pot and cooked the roots.

I noticed a few things which could be affecting your plant.If the container is a pot without drain holes,as it appears to be, that could be a problem. Unless my monitor is lying about the color of your leaves,you seem to have a plant which shows a lack of fertilizer,iron or both.Of course if the leaves are recieving too much sun that will bleach them to a lighter green. Hippeastrum will sunburn to a yellow,then to a white,then to dead leaves,depending on exposure.
Del

npublici, I thought as long as I was giving it afternoon shade as my research instructs, it would love as much morning sun as possible barring sweltering temps. I have been extremely careful to keep the soil just moist and not wet. Fertilizer every other week. Otherwise nothing fancy.

All the above advice is right on..bottom line if you don't want to plant it in the ground, repot it in a larger clay,(breathing) most definitly not ceramic pot!! And, move it out of the hot sun..an hour or so either side of noon may be too hot as you are cooking the roots, as has already been said.
These bulbs do love the sun but you can cook a bulb, I know, because I actually did cook one two years ago in my hot deck, the plant was in a small clay pot and it just got too hot for the poor thing..the bulb turned to mush...

Donna

Thanks a lot for your help everyone. I will be dialing back the sun exposure.

I keep a few bulbs in large pots outdoors during summer, and I only allow them the morning sun. They sit under an overhang at the entrance to a garage that faces east... so before noon, they're already out of the sun.

I prefer unglazed clay, because it breathes through the pores and normally has decent sized drainage holes... but I will use plastic in light colors, as well. The light color helps keep the pot and soil cooler, which in turn helps keep the roots cooler, and the plastic helps it maintain a bit of moisture longer... mainly because I have an immense amount of yard work and other plants to maintain, and I don't have time to continually check on the few bulbs I have outside. But I do use a more porous, grittier type of medium.

Jodik, amen on 100% I use clay pots, too, and water the few bulbs in pots just about every single day in the summer.

Carol