How do you prop up an Amaryllis?

That stem is 80cm ...

The cane I put in is bending under the strain, so I've had to lean it against the "counter" ...

I need a better system. Most of my Amaryllis turn out like that. Well ... that is until they become this:



I was thinking of using a wire coat hanger, turning a circle at one end, and putting that in the bottom of the pot in the hope it would be held in place by soil / rootball, and then a loop at the other end, to contain the leaves and flower. Maybe I would need two coat hangers, with loops at 30cm and 50cm above the pot surface.

 

@Kristen Nice amaryllis. I know the problem well and generally have ended up wedging the pot in the corner of a windowsill with flower supported by the corner and pot trapped against something heavy.
The problem is that the pot is too small for the flower head so anything based in the pot will have problems. It requires fastening to an external independent support or increasing the base area of the pot for example by securing pot to a square of plywood. Neither necessarily attractive solutions.
Maybe a jardiniere might work.

 

Thanks. I have (in the past) put pots into bigger "outers", and filled them with gravel, under and around the plant's pot. That definitely stops the pot falling over, but the plant is still too top heavy (and may have grown weak, because indoors/forced at this time of the year ...) so I reckon I still need a support that will stop the "top" flopping.

They are in tiny pots - much the same as they come with in a "kit". Been like that for years ... they are on the irrigation bench in greenhouse in summer, and get fed there with everything else. I could go for a bigger pot? although they have never seemed to need it.

 

No they don't seem to need big pots and may be more likely to suffer from root rot if in a bigger pot and not drying out between watering or when dormant. Yes the stem is probably too weak from for the flower head due to light levels etc. The best one I had flowered on a stem about a foot tall no problem with stability, never repeated that though.
Possibly put coat hanger wire down centre of hollow stem out at the bottom and into the compost, not keen on that myself.

 

Thanks, good to know that, I'll leave them as they are

I did think of using some florists wire down the stem (I don't own any to try), but not sure that it would be strong enough - its very thin, so if it "won't bend" that might be viable?

 

You're on to something there:


Chelsea 2013

 

Real problem is you are growing it at the wrong time of the year.
They sell them as houseplants but best overwintered in a cool greenhouse leafless.
It then comes into growth around April, (in a normal year, but May in one like this year), and flowers in June on shorter stronger stems, it then remains in leaf until you dry it off for its winter rest around September.