Have you receievd bulbs looking like this?

Or like this?

Or have a non-performing bulb that would not leaf out good inspite of everything you try to do with it? Like this Snow White of mine that would leaf out some, then leaves would turn yellow and dry out. Bulb stays firm but just won't give out any new decent growth for months. Unpotting it, this non-performing Snow White looked like this. Very thick and hard/tough basal plate and NO ROOTS!!! An old and spent bulb!

The thick and tough basal plate prevents your Hippie bulbs from producing new roots. Slicing the basal plate would expose the fresher /softer part of your bulb's basal plate.

You can leave like 1/2 an inch of basal plate.

Or even just a thin one if that's all that's left after cleaning off the rot or thick/rough part from your bulb's basal plate. With the tough part removed, new roots can now easily push out and grow from the softer basal plate. The younger cells(?) are more capable of producing new growth.

As long as there is a piece of that basal plate, your bulb has a chance for life or better performance. This slicing of basal plates are done in commercial nurseries to "rejuvinate" old hippies so that they'd perform like they used to. Grow back to be a healthy plant and be productive again...give out flower scapes for cut-flower production.

Now this is the most important part. This cut needs to be dried good with fungicide applied to seal the wound before planting. If not, you will end up with a dead bulb.

Snow White blooming the next season after I cut off it's basal plate. White double in bottom of pic.

A beauty I would have never seen from that old bulb, had I not rejuvinated it. It would have just dried itself to death not being able to grow new roots from that thick/hard basal plate.

My thoughts about the HD bulbs:

If the bulb is rooting, with some basal plate intact, then the process of cutting it's basal plate was not done wrong or for a bad purpose. As a very reliable source confirmed to me, that is how they do it in Holland...slice the basal plate so as the bulb would give better performance. Fresher/younger basal plates gives out more new roots than hard thick ones.

It being marketed as a "Finished product" is totally misleading. The Hippie can be grown and let to bloom in this method BUT will need to be planted in soil eventually for it to flourish and grow to be a healthy plant.

This method will work IF the buyer would follow the watering instructions. NOT all buyers or recipients of such kits are gardeners with enough knowledge unfortunately. OVERWATERING and stale water will lead to these bulbs eventually rotting in this system.

Hippeastrums WILL NEVER be an indoor plant forever unless you have a decent (correct watts/growing area) grow light to use or window space that will give it enough sunlight it needs. Years of marketing Hippies as "indoor plants" has led to it's downfall as a plant that gardeners would regard with horticultural value. They have clearly stated that, this bulb kit is a "flower" growing system. This is very sad.

A bulb I recently bought my brother (because he felt sorry for it, and I told him I'd babysit) has a huge basal plate like the one above. It only has healthy roots growing from one side of the plate. I don't want to do anything until after it flowers, but now I feel like this must be done.

It just makes sense really. As your post says, the older the bulb, the bigger the plate. The bigger the plate, the less room for root growth. Most of the bulbs in HD, obvious by their size, are pretty darn old.

Thanks so much for saving me what would have probably been hours of searching! This is really great!

I think the initial shock of seeing these poor things has worn off for me. It's not so much now "AAAHHH! Poor babies!" as much as it is, "Okay. So why are they doing this? Does it actually help something?"

Kate

I personally do this to some of my old bulbs for the main reason of "rejuvinating" them when I see that their performance is going down. If I see a Hippie that is not leafing out like it used to (leaves getting smaller and or paler) inspite of being repotted and fertilized, I would check the roots and basal plate. A happily growing Hippie would have LOTS of fresh white roots. No or very minimal white roots means something is wrong. Either the bulb is sick and weak OR it cannot or is having a hard time growing new roots due to basal plate problems. Most of the time it is due to basal plate rot or old/thick basal plates.

This is what Paul of Royal Colors said about this slicing of basal plate when I asked him about the topic. Paul or Royal Colors is in no way connected with the suppliers of these HD bulb kits.

"This is absolutely not harmful for the bulb. It is even better to this, because the bulb MUST now make new roots and the bulb WILL do this.
All professional growers do this with older bulbs to make them younger and more vital. After 3-4 growing seasons the basal plate is thick, old and will hardly make new roots. By cutting of the complete basal plate, and 1 new growing season, the bulb will have a beautiful new, vital root system. Also will the bulbs grow better with their new roots!!"

It does look very drastic at first. But after I saw my Snow White improve, leaf out good and flower for the first time since I acquired it, I knew I did the RIGHT thing for it. It was not too hard to do with the other Hippie bulbs after the first time specially knowing that you are actually helping your bulb prolong it's life.

Anybody grows Afrian Violets here??? This is almost the same process of what is done with AVs with long necks. Cut off the neck, scrape the hard skin around the neck attached to the plant, apply fungicide, dry out and plant. The AV would then produce new roots and become "rejuvinated".

Some have popped up spikes, a couple have developed roots (a light tug doesn't move them), and some are just sitting in an indentation of medium in the pot without putting out leaves, flower spikes or roots, even though the bulb is firm and appears healthy.

If they don't wake by spring, I'll take another look at the bulb.

G

I would like to mention, though, that although I agree with Maria concerning the rocks and the glass container, I have been successfully growing hippis in hydroponics. You just have to make sure to give the bulb what it needs in terms of nutrients.

allstargymnast-- a few days of drying should do it.

Maria thank you so much for this great info!!!!

Ryan

Sulphur is an anti-fungal, but I'm not that knowledgeable about it. I use Captan powder, myself.

I would think that a few days of drying time would be necessary for the newly cut basal plate area to form a callous. Variables would include the humidity where the bulb is placed to dry, etc...

Donna

This helps so much to be working with these plants (the cheapies) so that I can get experience to eventually get the good stuff and know what to do.

I'll see how this works out.

The following photo is of a mother and daughter bulb that I separated because they had outgrown their pot.

Notice the bulb on the left, the mother bulb... her basal plate is quite a bit thicker than her daughter's...

So, yes... basal plates gain thickness with age whether container grown or garden grown.

If you can get any of the Rooting Powders (Rootone) they have a fungicide in them along with hormones to aid in root development. Be sure to get the powder form though and if the label reads "Rooting Hormone", even better. Once potted you can water the "rejuvenate bulb" with "root stimulator" (Schultz puts out both products).

Phoenix Ryan

After I pot up anything, my usual course of action is to lightly water... to make sure there's a bit of moisture, and that the bulb or existing roots make good contact with the medium.