Mary,

I would immediately take pictures of the mushy outer layers and send them to your vendor...then offer to send it back and tell them you want a replacement!! If they are a reputable source for amaryllis bulbs, they will tell you to keep the bulb and send you a new one! That's what happened to me last year when one of the bulbs I ordered from White Flower Farm came half rotten, they told me to throw it away, and immediately sent me another. I was able to save the bulb by the way, got to practice on my bulb surgery. But, from the sound of things (the way they packaged the bulb and all,) you're going to have trouble. If you do, maybe if you threaten to post it all over the Internet.. on forums and such, they will respond to you properly. Only threaten as a last resort. I wish you luck. If all fails, you can peel off the outer layers until you get down to hard flesh and it may be fine. Let us know how you make out.. and again, good luck!!

Donna

I had some really questionable bulbs from a VERY reputable source last week, they instructed me to remove all the rot and let it dry, they told me the bulb would "survive", I had to peel half of the bulb away due to rot and cut part of the basal plate off, on top of that a scape on another bulb was completely tore from the bulb and they informed me that they were "convinced" it had another scape, luckily the second scape has just started to poke through yesterday...

I didn't want to spend over a hundred dollars on bulbs to have to perform surgery in HOPES that the bulbs will "survive".... Luckily out of the 60 Hippeastrum bulbs I've bought this season I've only had 6 with some kind of rot!

Here is a picture of the rotting bulb I sent them, this is AFTER I peeled away maybe 5 layers, you can see there are a few spots that went quite a bit deeper..

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Here is a picture of the broken scape

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Another bulb I received from them literally was cut through the side, there were at least 5 or so layers exposed... LUCKILY they gave me wonderful advice....

I will see if they will ship a new one. If I try to peel off layers, should I let it dry out before planting? Will doing this mean it won't bloom this year?

Mary, If you peal off the outer layers you should let it dry before planting and I would give it a dusting of Captan, just in case..if the inside of the bulb is undamaged then you should still get flowers this year..just make sure you don't plant it too deeply, in fact, when I think I have had a rot issue I literaly sit the bulb on top of the soil only in the soil about 1/2 inch and if you leave enough room you can add another inch of soil later when you feel that the bulb is not rotting at the basal plate. Just a suggestion, you can do what you wish, but do let it dry for several days before planting. Good Luck. Oh, and one more thing, make sure you never get water down inside the neck of the bulb...

Donna

That bulbs looks like the ones I received at first before I eliminated the suppliers from my list. These suppliers were in the southeastern United States, about as far from my northwestern location as can be, and at my last request refused to use bubblewrap or other insulation, even crumpled newspapers, when packing them. I truly believe they had no real concept of our northern winter conditions and flatly refused to to change their packing routine at my request. I decided they didn't need my business and I sure as heck did not need theirs! And thus we learn! If bulbs can be shipped from Holland and arrive here in good condition, why can;t they be sent from the southeast of our own country by air?

I would send the photos to them and suggestions for packing that results in healthy bulbs at your location. IF they refuse to change for you, then who needs them! Buy where you get good merchandise! And as much as possible, order your bulbs when shipping conditions are still good, like arriving in late October before freezing weather starts in transit.

I had a similar experience from Van B. They had shipped my order after an early frost in the NE and quite a few bulbs were mushy on the outside. I had a problem getting them to address the issue. I did clean them up and the bulbs survived, but they lost so much of their size they couldn't catch up over the summer. It really does set the bulb back to lose so many layers - it's not ok to say they'll be fine, the vendors need to remedy the problem. Needless to say, I'm not ordering from them again.

Alana

Alana,

I agree, they should remedy the problem, I have never been treated like that with a company that sent me 4 out of six bulbs with severe problems, on top of that the only thing they offered was their two cents on how to keep the bulbs alive!!!! You guys should have seen the bulb before I peeled back the layers, it was awful! The basal plate I had to remove almost half of due to rot.. The other bulbs weren't as bad but they weren't something I'd sell to a client...

Bulb That Was Rotten, After Removing Part Of The Bulb
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Picture Of Bulb With Suspected Red Blotch
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Thanks, Donna, I will try that. I did call and they are going to send a new bulb, but only after I asked to talk to a supervisor. Very frustrating!