Amaryllis - Seed propagation

[orchidsarefun]

yep, we have a momma possum that is a regular visitor.
The one Xmas we brought back all types of shells from the beach and I left them outside on a table in a bag. The resident possum scrounged them out and it was quite funny to see it working through all the shells with its snout - in the middle of a snowstorm. They are omnivores, basically eat anything. And the saying "playing possum" is true. Although they look like giant rats, if you have the nerve to nudge them, they roll over and play dead. Personally they give me the heebie-jeebies.....

[NYCorchidman]

How interesting!

They must have a strong stomach as Amaryllis bulbs should taste pretty bad because of its chemical content.

Narcissuss and Amaryllis bulbs are good examples of rodent and deer safe garden plants.

I guess even these bulbs have their enemies. lol

[samarak]

Re the resting question, most Hippeastrums do have some kind of dormancy but as with many orchids it may be just a period of inactivity rather than actually losing their leaves (the bulbs sold commercially are usually defoliated and forced into dormancy). Generally with seedlings amaryllid growers try to keep them actively growing as long as possible, since that reduces the time to flowering. If they stop putting on new leaves, then reduce water and fertilizer somewhat until they start again, but otherwise let them grow if they will.

(Back before we kept all of our cats indoors, we'd come home sometimes to see a possum or two eating dry cat food side by side with them. Strangely the cats didn't seem to mind.)

Steve

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by samarak

(Back before we kept all of our cats indoors, we'd come home sometimes to see a possum or two eating dry cat food side by side with them. Strangely the cats didn't seem to mind.)

Steve

yep, we have cats that are allowed outdoors. We learned quickly not to leave anything remotely edible overnight, not even on a table or higher up off the ground. We don't have raccoons, but we did have skunks ( which stink up the place just by being around ). I haven't smelled a skunk around for years.....
I have never had an amaryllis bulb eaten, just the leaves.

[WhiteRabbit]

Opossums are prevelant throughout the country. They ARE marsupials - the only marsupial species native to the US

[NYCorchidman]

oh, I didn't know there were here in the US.

[Island Girl]

Yep... We have opossoms here... A couple that come thru my yard are so big they set off my motion detector lights... They have to weight over 20 pounds (they waddle like ducks... Really fat ducks Lol ) they are HUGE!! ...I keep my cats inside at night... My not-so-small cats are dwarfed by them!

EDIT: and, no, I don't feed them... But someone in this neighborhood has too.. I mean they r huge, I don't think they did that by themselves!

[orchidsarefun]

update.........these seedlings are about 18 months old, so about another 1yr-18months to go before flowering.
I am going to have to dig them up this next weekend. Already foliage has been damaged by frost.
I found on another blog that seedlings can be allowed to go dormant, I am going to have to do trigger that as I just don't have the space !!!

they are in there somewhere, my raised veggie bed that is now predominantly amarylis.......



also home to basil, parsley, snapdragons, spring onions and tomatoes !

---------- Post added at 03:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 PM ----------

and this is momma ( notice a couple of offsets ), looking a bit worse for wear - but preparing for a winter rest of about 8 weeks

[fotofashion]

Merkity: You may be thinking of Lycoris radiata. They are also a member of the amaryllis family. I live near the Texas Gulf Coast so practically anything in the amaryllis family does well here left outside all year. The Lycoris bloom in August and September without foliage, therefore the name 'naked ladies'. After blooming, the foliage comes up and lives through the winter. When warm weather comes, the foliage dies down and then the cycle repeats.
The plants under discussion are hippeastrum, commonly known as Amaryllis. Amaryllis bulbs get huge like a softball whereas Lycoris bulbs are considerably smaller. All the family wants to be planted with the top at or near the surface of the ground. They generally are not hardy in very cold areas. Other members of the family are rain lilies and zephranthes.
Beverly A.

[orchidsarefun]

lifted all of them today......don't seem to have lost any, and a few have offsets growing ! The mother only produced an offset this year - after 3 years.
Any advice on storage or growing on ?