Many of us postpone blooms by refrigerating bulbs, as do the growers. They must not freeze and you need to make sure that no fruits that emit ethylene are stored in the same fridge (ie, apples, etc). These may result in your bulbs not blooming (as per a recent post).
Kristi

I have old frig in basement used only for bird bread( buy out of date bread to feed birds etc) Is it ok to store bulbs with packaged old bread. THANKS Bill

Don't see why not...just make sure that temps don't approach freezing! Or you'll have mushy bulbs!
K

Thanks for answers!

hippifan, have you tried this yet? I am thinking about purchasing a mid-size dorm refrigerator for this purpose. I was going to stop watering the Amaryllis and let the leaves die, then put the entire pot with the Amaryllis in a small brown paper sack--maybe need to punch a few holes in the sack. Then I was going to put all of this in the refrigerator. What are you doing?

Has anyone tried this refrigerator method?

Like hippifan, who started this thread, I do not have a cool place for the Amaryllis to go dormant.

I bought said "fridge", but the problem is that it has a small freezers, hence there is a lot of moisture in the lower portion. The drip tray doesn't hold that much water, especially if you turn the temp to where the freezer doesn't freeze. Mine is a constant 50 degrees. If you can get a beverage frige only (with no freezer) that would be great.
K

Kaboehm, I have been looking at mid size dorm refrigerators. They do make them without freezers. Have you put Amaryllis bulbs in the refrigerator to get them to rebloom? If so, please supply some details on what worked for you? (Did you just put the bulb, wrapped in anything? Or did you put the pot and all, wrapped in anything, and for how long?)

I have been told by someone (via the Internet) that should be knowledgeable that as long as you withhold water and let them go dormant, they will bloom again.

I am growing these beautiful green leaved plants and I don't know what to do with them to get them to rebloom. (I do have a small backyard greenhouse that I heat during the winter.)

Thanks.

If you go back in this forum and look around last March-April (May and June too) you'll see my greenhouse full of reblooming hippis as well as others posting their rebloomers. I kept them in the greenhouse, which didn't get below 45 and over 50% of mine rebloomed. I posted several photos in many threads. This fall, as usual (ALTHOUGH MANY DON'T AGREE), I will cut the leaves back to 1/2 height or more. Right now I have 150? pots with plants some at or over 4 feet tall! I have written this all out (post about 'to cut leaves or not to cut leaves'). I cut them down to a manageable height and will put them in the greenhouse prior to our first freeze. Then let the leaves die back. THEN...and again...lots of disagreement here....I take a sharp knife and level off the neck. I don't cut it way down, but I cut it level. There is still a neck and shoulders, but I find that this keeps the bulb ready for reblooming and any scape that emerges will not be "pinched" by a narrow/tall neck (as our bulbs tend to develop these after a couple of years). I dust the cut with Captan powder and disinfect the knife between each plant (as I do when I cut the leaves back). THEN....wait....and be patient! As soon as I see ANY growth I water THAT bulb...well, those bulbs....and then, last year I had over 50% rebloom. I think I had over 60 blooming hippis in my greenhouse. It's 6'x6' so it was crazy! Search the forum and you'll find helpful threads.
Kristi

PS...I did a search on this forum for "reblooming" and saw loads of posts! SEARCH AWAY!

Here is a link that might be useful: some shots from the greenhouse spring 2011

Kaboehm, thanks for all of the information. I looked at the link you provided and your flowers are gorgeous.

kristi,
I have a question, because I did not understand - what you call reblumers?
Is this re-flowering purchased bulbs in the next year or re-bloom for one season?
Second - how many months your plants grow in greenhouse or outdoors during the year? Are they there all the time? You Texas, zone 8, zone 5 so the focus will not pass, is not it?

rebloomers are bulbs that I get to bloom again the following year. Some threads have "rebloomers" as those bulbs that bloom in the spring and again later in the year, so you have to read the context of the message.

My bulbs are in the greenhouse from just prior to the first freeze, until the danger of freeze has passed. Typically Nov to April. The rest of the year they are on the side of the house under partial shade cloth (Texas sun is HOT) with automatic watering system.
Kristi