It's Amaryllis time again!!!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Wow, great Hipistratums, love them!

I have a NoID one similar to the Monaco you have a picture of. It's still dormant in the greenhouse just now, will have to bring it in and start watering to get it going. I've let it grow side bulbs which is not usually advised (to put all the energy in the main pulb) but I got fed up of keep removing them.

I read somewhere that the number of leaves you get one year directly relates to the number of flowers the following year. I think it was something like 8 leaves for a spike with 4 flowers the following year. Don't know if it's true but it certainly is true that the better it grows one year the better the flowering the next and the relation of 8 leaves for 4 flowers certainly seemed to hold for me for a few years. I didn't care for it well last year and only had 3 leaves... so not expecting much from it this year.

My MIL always buys them for flowering them throws them away. She was really surprised at Christmas this year when we told her we still had the one she had given us years ago and that if you let it grow after flowering it would come back up the next year. She thought they needed specialist care to flower again (which is actually what I thought about orchids with my first one )

How can you not love these beauties?

If you have something similar to Monaco, then it most likely is Monaco. There quite a few red with white star or stripes, and a few pink with similar pattern, but I don't think there's any hybrid that looks close to Monaco.

Growing side bulbs do not harm the mother bulbs. I don't know where you heard this, but it can only benefit the grower because over time, all those side bulbs reach maturity and make flowers. They look amazing in a big pot!!! so stop removing side bulbs. I mean you can, but if you remove in fear of harming the mother bulbs, no worry!

It is also in the gene. Some hybrids readily make side bulbs or split itself up every few years, multiplying like crazy, while many do not follow this same pattern.

What I read about the relationship between the number of leaves made during the growth phase and the number of scapes produced the following bloom season, and based on my observation of a few that I have grown, is that for every 4-5 leaves, there will be 1 scape made.
Mine usually make about 9-14 leaves and make 2-3 scapes each bloom season.

3 leaves are unheard of for me unless yours is very small. Give full sun all day if possible. Do not let the potting mix dry (especially toward the end of growth cycle when the bulbs fatten up), fertilize regularly.
Even without enought fertilizing, full sun for all day (at least half day) and good watering ensure lots of leaves and big fat bulbs, which translates into good flowering!

Number of leaves produced also has to do with individual plants vigor. Some start out with 3-4, then make a lot more, while some start out with 7-8 and make some more. So I always keep the ones that start out with lots of leaves as these are usually very healthy strong ones.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

3 leaves are unheard of for me unless yours is very small. Give full sun all day if possible. Do not let the potting mix dry (especially toward the end of growth cycle when the bulbs fatten up), fertilize regularly.
Even without enought fertilizing, full sun for all day (at least half day) and good watering ensure lots of leaves and big fat bulbs, which translates into good flowering!

The first few years it had 8+ leaves each year. The last couple of years far less, but I think it's because we've not been watering well. It's been known to get to the point the leaves can't support themselves because it's too dehydrated... our fault and as soon as it happens we water and it strengthens up again, but lack of water is certainly the reason it's lost strength the last couple of years.

[camille1585]

Mine only made 2 leaves, but I think it's in a weakened state since last year some strange disease killed off everything when the scape was halfgrown (scape and leaves turned red and dried up). It didn't try again after, so didn't build up any new reserves before growing this season. The red die off happened again on the little baby bulb offshoot next to it. Any of you hippie experts know what it is?

My leaves are very floppy, but I can't do anything about the lack of sunny days, and it is way too tall to go under the orchid lights.

[fotofashion]

Camille: The red is a fungus. You need to spray the plant when it is just sprouting new leaves a time or two. That should cure the problem. I have had that happen too but spraying early does the trick.
Beverly A.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by RosieC

The first few years it had 8+ leaves each year. The last couple of years far less, but I think it's because we've not been watering well. It's been known to get to the point the leaves can't support themselves because it's too dehydrated... our fault and as soon as it happens we water and it strengthens up again, but lack of water is certainly the reason it's lost strength the last couple of years.

Underwater was the cause then.

I have to water mine everyday during the summer. Drying them is really bad for them!

---------- Post added at 01:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 AM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

Mine only made 2 leaves, but I think it's in a weakened state since last year some strange disease killed off everything when the scape was halfgrown (scape and leaves turned red and dried up). It didn't try again after, so didn't build up any new reserves before growing this season. The red die off happened again on the little baby bulb offshoot next to it. Any of you hippie experts know what it is?

My leaves are very floppy, but I can't do anything about the lack of sunny days, and it is way too tall to go under the orchid lights.

As Beverly points out, it is called Red Blotch disease and it is the most common fungal disease that attack amaryllis. It can show up as small red spots on the leaves, but when the infection is severe, it shows up everywhere, inside bulbs, on the surface of the bulbs, scapes...and the red blotch gets larger and larger to a point where affected plant part gets holes here and there, and sometimes these holes merge making a long slit and collapse. and as you mentioned, they get this dried up look too!

I read copper based spray helps, and also read hot water treatment, but I doubt its effectiveness. I haven't tried.
The best thing is to buy healthy bulbs, of course.

Oh, another thing, this particular disease hit field grown amayllis in the fall and any time of the year for the ones grown in the greenhouse.
High humidity and lower temperature combined with lower light contribute to the occurance of this disease.
so keep them leaves dry, give strong light and warmth while growing.

I do not buy amaryllis from big box stores, most I've seen (almost all!) that are sold as growing kit that come in paper box are badly infected, although there are exceptions. Even if I see just a few dark red specks on leaves or scapes, I stay away away. come home and wash my hands like crazy with soap.

Lucky, mine are all disease free, but I had some bad experience with one online vendor in Arizona. Every single bulb I ordered (and I ordered quite a few!) were infected, dried up, small, and just looked terrible.
I contacted them, they didn't care saying all bulbs have disease. I just threw them away and never deal with those people. They sell on their website and on eBay.
How ignorant or if they are intentionally selling sick bulbs to make some money to unsuspecting people, how sick!
They changed their ID name on ebay and for location is just says United States instead of Thatcher, Arizona (wow I still remember that name of the city!)
But their online store name hasn't changed and is still posted on their ebay listings.

My local farmers market flower guy carries healthy amaryllis, so I'm happy! I've bought quite a few from him every year and never had any problem. He buys from Dutch growers (where the best quality bulbs come from).

Many amaryllis sold around December in flower district here in New York also are infected. some look really bad even a blind person can tell!