Another view...

Neon Rose from Garden Center, 10/26

Neon Rose from Garden Center, 11/1

Neon Rose from Garden Center, 11/2

Bulbs from ETG (Clockwise from bottom left): Ruby Star, Exotica, Siren, Bogota

Exotica after removing the packing material

Exotica in its new pot

I try to always leave at least 1" between the bulb and the sides of pots and 2" between bulbs. In my opinion, you'll need to repot those 4 bulbs as, for starters, I don't think there's enough room for the roots those 4 are going to put out.

Then think about this. If they all bloom at the same time (or near the same time) you'll have a tangle of up to 8 scapes and 32 blooms. I don't think you'd be able to appreciate any of them. If it were 4 of the same, that would be different. How about 2 bulbs per pot?

JMO

Kristi

I agree that you might rethink those 4 bulbs in one pot. They will bloom at different times and as Kristi says and there will be a tangle of roots, scapes and leaves.

And, suppose one or two of the bulbs don't want to bloom or grow leaves for several weeks which is possible and the other two do then, when watering the two that do grow the others might rot from too much water. Don't mean to confuse.

Your other bulbs look great as single bulbs in single pots. Maybe you should give them each their own little home....Donna☺☺

Ok, thanks for letting me know! I tried to follow the instructions in the Hippeastrum book that I bought, but it looked really crowded to me, and I was wondering how the scapes flowers would all fit together.

I took the Bogota out and I plan to take out at least one more. The roots are now moist- can I let the bulb roots dry out again, or do I need to plant them again right away?

Can I plant them in temporary containers and then move them again before ithey bloom?

Thanks!

Hi!

What book did you get??

I think putting one per pot would allow you to showcase them as they bloom.

Also, if you want to make any crosses, it will be a bit simpler giving them some space. You'll surely want to make some of your own crosses!!! Just wait til you smell Jewel!

Kristi

I bought:
Hippeastrum: The Gardener's Amaryllis by Veronica M. Read

I am considering whether I can do one per pot. It will require me to find space to display a few more pots. I don't have any space on my window sills (they are too narrow). So, my original plan had been to have 3 large pots centered in front of 3 of my windows, with 3 bulbs in each (I got carried away when I put 4 in this morning). I bought plant dollys to lift them off the floor. This would put the blooms right in front of each window. Then, I was going to put a few smaller pots on the kitchen counter, dining room table and on a plant stand our bedroom. My husband was on board with this plan.

I really like the idea of displaying each in its own pot, but I'm not sure how my husband will react to me adding several more pots. I could cancel part of my WFF order (it is the only one that hasn't shipped yet) so that I will have a few fewer plants to start with. I could always add more later in the season.

Hi!

You are in zone 5, so what are your plans for the bulbs in the springtime?

Under ideal condition with a single bulb per pot, if you had a vigorous mother bulb that put out offsets, you could easily end up with more than 4 bulbs in the one pot and, for a while, they'd grow just fine. I think part of the point is that each will get lost in the jumble of blooms. BUT... If it's all you have room for, just ride it out and see if it work.

Great choice on the book. It will make you want more!!

Kristi

Just a slightly different perspective. I agree with the concerns of Kristi and Donna, but I don't think it is a matter of terrible urgency. If you don't have the space and/or the pots, then everything should be fine as is. I have planted multiple bulbs in the same pot at approximately this density without problem, and in my experience they grow more vigorously this way than in individual pots. Since the large pot almost certainly has more than 4 times the soil as your small pots, they will be fine until there is literally not space on the surface for the bulbs and offsets. Even so, they can handle quite a bit of crowding. But the large soil volume means that you need to be more careful about overwatering during the first winter. On the other hand, the pot will become increasingly cluttered, and you will probably need/want to transplant in a couple of years. It will be a hassle to try to separate the roots without causing much damage.Now for aesthetics and convenience I try to avoid mixing varieties in the same pot.

My point here is although individual pots should be better, you can keep the large pot as it is without worrying that you will have certain trouble ahead.

Bill

I would agree with Bill... this configuration will work in the short term... say, a year - two at the most... but after that, you will need to re-pot them. Tangled roots may be a slight issue when re-potting, but not to the point where I would avoid multiples in a pot for that reason.

I frequently group more than one bulb in a larger pot, but I try to pair up bulbs with similar bloom time and cultural needs. It's a nice solution when you have more than one adult bulb of the same variety... or you're trying to avoid admitting that you have a slight obsession, and need to make it look like you have less bulbs! :-)

Forgive me, but I cringe every time I see a pot filled with such fine, peat or coir based, moisture retentive material in it... knowing how easily bulbs can succumb to rot and fungal issues, and knowing that over-watering is a leading cause of health issues and demise among containerized plants. The basic physics of such an arrangement say that the center, lower end of the pot will take a long time to dry out in relation to the top and sides in between waterings... so, it might be a good idea to use the wooden skewer method for testing moisture, to be sure you aren't watering too soon.

Good drainage plays a very important part in moisture control, so I maintain only one layer of medium from top to bottom in a pot, and I make sure to empty any water that might sit in a saucer after watering. If a drainage hole is too large, I cover it with a small piece of screen. The plastic needlepoint kind of screen works great for this, and is readily available in craft or sewing supply sections of most larger stores.

Options in Mediums (soil) ~
I'm a huge proponent of using a more aerated, porous, sharper draining type of medium for all my containerized plantings, from bulbs and cacti to orchids and everything in between. I mix it myself in small batches, adjusting ingredients and proportions slightly depending on the type of plant, size of pot, cultural needs, where it's most likely to be located in my home, keeping in mind my climate and environment, or micro-environment. I save the ideas and methods of organic gardening for the gardens outside, where Mother Nature plays a big role in management... and stick to a more inorganic, controlled regimen with regard to any plants grown in pots. This is where I leave convenience behind, and use a little devotion and effort to ensure optimum growth of my plants, and enjoyment for myself.

The medium I mix and use might be associated more with Bonsai, or Orchid growing, as examples... though the ingredients are smaller in size than the Orchid bark typically sold. I use fir bark pieces, coarse perlite, granite chips, and turface. Other ingredients considered appropriate might include other small gravel bits, like cherry stone, pumice, lava rock, Acadama, diatomaceous earth in small particle size, some types of oil-dry or litter materials, etc. Some ingredients can absorb and hold moisture for a length of time, and others are more inert.

The fir bark is the main ingredient and makes up the largest portion of my medium, with perlite and the other ingredients in smaller quantities, proportion-wise. Particle size should be fairly consistent, keeping basic physics in mind.

Why does a plant need a medium to grow in? Basically, medium, or soil, is used as a support system for anchorage, a catalyst for moisture, nutrition, and the exchange of gases and air to and from the root system. From the article I attached:

"Container soils are all about structure, and particle size plays the primary role in determining whether a soil is suited or unsuited to the application. Soil fills only a few needs in container culture. Among them are: Anchorage - a place for roots to extend, securing the plant and preventing it from toppling. Nutrient Retention - it must retain a nutrient supply in available form sufficient to sustain plant systems. Gas Exchange - it must be amply porous to allow air to move through the root system and gasses that are the by-product of decomposition to escape. Water - it must retain water enough in liquid and/or vapor form to sustain plants between waterings. Air - it must contain a volume of air sufficient to ensure that root function/metabolism/growth is not impaired. This is extremely important and the primary reason that heavy, water-retentive soils are so limiting in their affect. Most plants can be grown without soil as long as we can provide air, nutrients, and water, (witness hydroponics)."

Once we know why plants need medium, and how that medium works, it becomes easier to understand the needs of our plants and to fulfill them. I wish I had learned the basic, simple science and physics of growing decades ago... instead of all the wive's tales or commonly repeated misinformation that floats about the world of gardening, and extends into gardening as a retail industry. That's right... gardening as an industry exists to make profit, and not necessarily to ensure that people have good or great growing experiences.

If everyone grew optimally and kept plants living and healthy for the natural life spans of those plants, the gardening industry wouldn't make the profits they do. It's to their advantage if plants die, to put it bluntly. Consumers are more likely to replace plants or buy something new.

The only way this will change is if the consumer demands better products. We do this through our buying power, only purchasing or having a store order the items we want. I haven't bought regular bagged potting soil in about a decade... because it really serves no purpose in my own growing situation. I do keep a commercial sized bag of high quality potting mix available in case I need to use something with such high moisture retention, for seed starting or other such applications. But for the most part, every plant I have is potted in a "Gritty Mix" type of medium.

Yes, it does require more frequent checking to ensure that moisture is kept available to the plants, but this small sacrifice of convenience is nothing compared to how much healthier my plants are, and how much nicer their root systems are. On the plus side, it's much harder to over-water when the medium drains so well and doesn't hold onto too much extra moisture.

I did want to mention one thing regarding bulbs... something I hardly ever see talked about, and that's the basal plate and how it sort of needs to shed tissue layers as it ages and grows. When re-potting a bulb, I check the basal plate for dead tissue, and peel that off so living tissue will make the connection with medium when re-potted... much like we peel the dead layers of tissue from around the body of a bulb. If the basal plate is kept healthy, the bulb will grow a lot better. As bulbs age, the basal plate grows, too... and they can become so thick that removing any dead tissue, and sometimes shaving down the thickness of that plate is necessary. I've not had to cut many basal plates, but I have removed a lot of dead tissue layers from them while in the process of re-potting. It's not usually necessary when a bulb is new, because the company offering the bulbs has, or should have, already prepared them for holiday blooming... but after growing in the same pot, within the same medium, for a span of 2 or more years, such tissue begins to build up and requires removal for optimum health of the bulb.

Here's a link to a discussion on rejuvenating bulbs through basal plate trimming:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/amaryllishippeastrum/msg1200292513174.html

Well, I hope if nothing else these links and what they contain give someone a greater understanding of container growing. One size never fits all when we're talking gardening, or container growing, but if we know and understand the basics, we can more easily adjust things to fit our individual growing environments.

Happy Gardening!

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention XX

My concern wasn't so much about short-term room, but rather was about the 4 very different bulbs (bloom type) and the impact on the inability to appreciate individual blooms due to the crowding.
Kristi

Thanks for all the responses. A lot of food for thought. I did take all 4 bulbs out of the big pot. One of the bulbs was so big (the Cherry Nymph) that even with that just that one and Jewel, they still seemed too close together.

I did basal plate surgery on the Siren bulb- that one is now sitting on top of potting mix in a plastic pot to see if it will root. I also potted up my Rock N Roll- I found a little rot on this one, and so peeled off a few layers. I'm pretty sure it was free of rot when I received it, so it something to do with how I stored it before planting it.

I left Jewel, Cherry Nymph and Bogota to replant later. Cherry Nymph will definitely get its own pot.

So at the moment, I have 4 potted up:

Neon Rose (now with 3 full blooms, and another almost open)
Exotica
Rock n Roll
Siren (in a temporary situation to see what happens)

Thanks for the post about the mix. I am using a skewer to check the moisture level. I used a standard potting mix, with extra perlite (3:1 ratio) to help with drainage. My options for other add-ins were pretty limited, but I will keep my eye out for alternatives.

Where are the photos of the beautiful Neon Rose!! Please...first blooms of the season!!
;-)

Mismatching for bloom time or cultural needs would be my concerns, too, Kristi... otherwise, I'd go ahead and group them. I find it much neater to have less smaller, individual pots, and I do like the look of a nice full container of green growth. But I do like to enjoy the individual blooms, so keeping them grouped or single depending on bloom time and cultural needs is a consideration.

For example, I have 3 adult "Lemon Lime" bulbs and a couple of younger offsets of the same variety all potted together in a large, squat unglazed clay pot. It's a nice look, and I know that they all need the same culture and will bloom at the same general time, give or take.

Other groups of bulbs were chosen for their similarities, too, and share larger clay pots. One grouping is comprised of cybisters, and most others are either a single variety, or similar varieties. The only single bulbs I have potted are specialty items, or bulbs that don't have cousins of any similarity.

Everything is potted in a gritty, porous mixture of fir bark, granite chips, perlite, and turface. I just did a mass re-potting this past spring/early summer, giving everything fresh medium. It gave me a chance to check root systems, get rid of any dead roots and tissue, and always seems to be a generally inspiring process for the bulbs. They always reward me with nice new growth following a re-pot!

Keep in mind that due to how basic physics works, adding materials of other size to a peat based, bagged potting soil isn't really helpful. The smaller particles will simply settle and fill in around the larger particles, leaving very little space for air/oxygen, which is essential for the growth of healthy roots. Ideally, all particles of a medium should be around the same size, as noted in the article I linked in my previous post.

After some time passes, the smaller, finer particles will end up at the bottom of the pot, skewing drainage and causing a perched water table to form.

When a medium is made up of the same/similar sized particles, it will maintain its structure, and leave spaces between particles for air... so the roots can breathe.

Having more than one layer of particles within a pot is detrimental to good drainage. I used to believe the old wive's tale that one should use a layer of gravel in a pot for aid in draining, but after learning about the basic physics of how water moves through soils, and how particle size can affect this movement, I now know that it's better to use one single layer of material throughout a pot... so a perched water table can't form between layers, allowing moisture to pool and remain.

When too much moisture remains for too long a time under the soil surface, it can lead to root rot. The roots literally drown in the moisture laden environment, never getting a chance to dry to at least a semi-state, and the dead tissue then rots, or decomposes... which can lead to more and more healthy roots dying and decomposing.

Even when we can't feel moisture, some may be present in vapor form. It can take a little time and experience to know exactly when to add more water to a pot. In the case of potted plants, more isn't always better. I would say that less can be better. If I'm not really sure about what I feel when inserting my fingers into medium, I will wait a day or two and check again. Remember, over-watering is a leading cause of plant death among growers. I would say that it's better to err on the side of dry than to risk over-watering.

It seems as though a lot of growers accidentally kill their plants with kindness. The neat thing about using a medium with a larger particulate is that it drains fast and well, allowing more room for error when it comes to over-watering.

When it comes to locating materials to make your own medium, the Container Gardening Forum is a wealth of help and information. If there isn't already information available on where to go in your general area to obtain the items you need, through a search, someone will be more than happy to help you, and you may even find that someone else can name brand names and stores, making it easy.

There is plenty of pushback when it comes to the idea of using something other than what the retail gardening industry offers, but I think that in learning all the facts, and reviewing all the information, it comes down to the singular notion of modern convenience. Yes, it sometimes takes effort to locate the necessary ingredients, and to do all the preparation required... like screening everything to ensure proper size and for dust removal... and to make the transition from the care required using a bagged mix to using a more aerated, fast draining medium... but the results are well worth that effort, I think. I would never go back to using a bagged, peat or coir based soil. The negatives of doing so have been obvious to my eyes, and I've been gardening and growing containerized plants for nearly half a century!

Happy Gardening!

Nothing made more of an impression on me than a huge pot of H.Girrafe in bloom!!
K

Hello Kristi,
did you see mine?
I had grown a pot full, 8 Daughter Bulbs of Bloomable size around the mother bulb.
Later I would neglect them and at last store the pot in a cool, humid room, I rescued 4 bulbs which were still alive after 2 years of storage, no joke, and now I have pampered these to bloomable size again,

Here is a link that might be useful: Giraffe

This post was edited by haweha on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 19:41

Normally, I treat Amaryllids as they would be treated in their natural habitat, allowing them to bloom and/or rest as they see fit. This usually results in spring or early summer blooms, then good summer growth, and finally a slow-down in growth over winter months... but this year I am forced to force a dormancy!

I have no choice but to store my bulbs in a cool, dark basement environment until the danger of frost is past next spring. I cut all the leaves back and am withholding water.

I do wish I had the window space to keep them all growing naturally... but it is what it is.

Here, in this photo, all my plants are relishing summer temperatures and dappled sunshine on my son's back deck. This was taken before I finished re-potting everybody, but you can see some grouped bulbs in the pots on the upper rail of the deck.

{{gwi:42125}}

In the foreground, a giant "Minerva" has her own pot... a common variety, but one with good memories attached that will always be part of my bulb collection. Next to her is a pot of an unnamed deep red Hippeastrum, possibly "Red Lion", that needs to come out of the plastic it's bending, and be placed into its own clay pot of bigger size. I just need to find a bigger pot in the mess of gardening supplies I have! It will be the first project of spring, to get this group into fresh medium.

Here, in this photo, the "Red Lion", I believe it is, is in bloom. This was taken a few years ago, before the bulb filled the pot with offsets and began to bend the plastic!

{{gwi:434358}}

{{gwi:434359}}

{{gwi:434360}}

And finally, a photo of the ingredients I typically use to make my gritty medium... coarse perlite, fir bark, granite chips, and turface.

{{gwi:4845}}

Happy Gardening!

I just potted up Lemon Sorbet last night. It is a very small bulb- just over 14 cm. It's kind of fun doing them a couple at a time.

I still haven't decided if I will put any together in my big pots. I may do one container that way, perhaps with just two bulbs, just to try out the look. I have been picking up more smaller pots here and there, I've found some really nice ones on sale at K-Mart. I've now got a small collection of pots like the one that Exotica is in (see picture further up on this thread)- in both brown and white, in 7 and 9 inch sizes.

If I were to mix them, I see the advantage of planting very similar bulbs like jodik described. But what about the opposite? For example, where 1 bulb blooms, forms leaves, followed by another later bulb, that puts up its flowers after the prior one has finished blooming. That would make it easier to enjoy each plants flowers, but I don't have the experience to know whether this is possible. I suspect the issue would be that the watering/fertilizing needs of plants in these different stages would be different.

Another idea I had was putting one large bulb in each of my larger pots, and then putting something small around it, like ivy or oxalis.

If I try any of these experiments, I'm not averse to repotting them if it doesn't work out. I haven't decided yet whether they will live in their pots in the summer or if I will plant them all out in a raised bed type situation.

{{gwi:390661}}

Here's a group pot of H. Alfresco. It was so heavily scented, it filled the outside entryway.
K

That is beautiful! What size is the pot?

It was only 10". That was last winter. After that they got repotted.

Very nice grouping, Kristi! I didn't know "Alfresco" had any scent... so few do.

I think if I had the wherewithal, I would absolutely place every bulb in a raised bed for the summer, giving them good spacing, which would allow them the room to spread out and really grow healthy root systems and nice leaves with which to 'feed' the bulbs and help them accumulate better girth... but it's also a lot of work to keep potting and un-potting depending on the changing seasons, and I'd be a little worried about insect and snail or slug damage. Of course, one could use a systemic in the bed to keep insects at bay.

I hesitate to mix different types of plants in one pot, unless we're talking about seasonal arrangements of decorative annuals, mainly because I want all the nutrition to go toward the bulb, and not to be 'stolen' by a ground cover that is planted purely for aesthetic purposes.

I think Oxalis stands well on its own, and I wouldn't want to take away from its lovely blooms, interesting leaves, or its kind of odd schedule for growing and blooming, from my experience.

Ivy might be a different story, but again, I would hesitate because most ivies grown indoors as houseplants seem to be spider mite magnets, and prefer an environment that has higher humidity.

Of course, these are just my opinions and experiences, which should not interfere with what anyone else wants to try or do. Your own experiences may vary.

I try to study the needs and characteristics of each bulb before potting, so I know how tall it will grow, when it's most likely to bloom, etc... so I have a good idea of which bulbs match each other and which are too different to share medium in one pot. I could always plant them according to which bloom colors and sizes match, or by any other criteria, really.

Until this year, I had them all potted individually, but it takes up so much space to have all those pots... and space isn't something I will have the luxury of once we finally make the move north. Therefore, it makes more sense to group them, in my case.

Jodi, we had a long thread about scented blooms. There are so many scented Hippeastrum: Jewel, Santiago, Apple Blossom, Sweet Lillian, Alfresco, Splash, and others...search for the word "berries" and you'll find it.

Hans-Werner, I'm sure I had seen your H. Giraffes on the forum (and they were beautiful), but I saw Houston Pat 's in person while they were in bloom. Amazing!! About 10 bulbs, 20 scapes, and most were in full bloom all at a very uniform height. Super impressive!!!

Kristi

The only Hippeastrum variety I've ever actually detected a scent from is "Jewel"... none of my "Apple Blossom", "Sweet Lilian", or other blooms have had a scent that I could discern.

I know others have mentioned scents from some varieties, but I haven't come across any, besides "Jewel". It was delightful, though... very light and perfume-like.

Turns out even Johnsonii is scented!

Donna had some great fragrant bulbs (she called them eBay #1 and #2), and they were really fragrant.
K

I must have a dull sniffer, or something. I absolutely found "Jewel" to be scented... it was heavenly! So I know it's possible for some Hippeastrum bulbs to have a flower scent.

But to date, none of my other bulbs have given off a scent that I can detect... not beyond smelling like a plant, that is.

Well, my hearing and eyesight are going... my nose is probably going, too. It's probably less sensitive now than it once was. Maybe I'll get lucky and a future "Apple Blossom" will smell nice for me... or something. :-)