Hi. Last Christmas I was given an Amaryllis bulb that developed into a very tall plant with lovely red flowers. I read that the plant will regrow for the next year so I have kept it watered and fed. The flowers long gone I cut the stalk down to the bulb but kept the leaves which have now grown very long but bent over. I've supported the leaves and the plant has grown more leaves. However, I read the leaves should yellow and die back but mine are still green and thriving. Can anyone tell me where I go from here. When do I stop watering the plant, what do I do next and how can I get it to bloom again? Thanks
I'd be inclined to stop watering about now and slowly dry it off. Keep it fairly cool, frost free is good enough once dry. Then start to water again next spring once the rise in temperature makes the bulb start to move, it should with any luck be a flower bud. I believe you can grow them as an evergreen, but they will become long and leggy over winter.
Thank you for your advice. Do I cut off the leaves and if so when should I do it please. At the moment they are very long and doubled over.
Dont cut the leaves off, wait for them to die down as you slowly dry the bulb off. The trouble with Christmas bought Hippeastrums is that they are being forced into flowering at the wrong time of the year. It's best to get them into a habit of spring/early summer flowering, when they do much better, then the subsequent leaves are allowed to grow all summer, feeding with tomato feed and repotting if necessary, Drying off in autumn, and keeping cool and dry all winter. Wake them up in spring as the temperatures rise and the days lengthen.
Thank you Pete. You have been a great help. I'm not the best gardener but plants seen to thrive! I hate to see flowers die and try to do my best to keep them going. There is so much conflicting information on the internet that eventually I throw my arms up and look totally confused. It's surprising how many so called nursery staff just look at you blankly when you ask them a question. Thank you again, and fingers crossed
Trouble is gardening, or growing plants is not an exact science, so you often get differences of opinion, its what works for you that is the best. Usually arrived at by experimentation. A knowledge of where a plant comes from in habitat is always interesting, some plants are much more adaptable than others. Just learn as you go along, and never give up on a plant until its dead
