How to Care for Amaryllis Flowers Year-Round

Many people grow amaryllis bulbs to have plants blooming indoors in winter. Amaryllis flowers are generally hybrids from various species in the Hippeastrum genus, a group of tropical plants from Central and South America.

There is also a true Amaryllis genus, containing just two species native to South Africa. These are not, however, the amaryllis plants commonly cultivated in the U.S.

Amaryllis plants have strappy leaves and huge flowers shaped like trumpet lilies. The blooms are typically a deep red, pink, white, or blend of these colors. You can expect your amaryllis to bloom for seven weeks or longer.

Amaryllis has components in the bulbs, leaves, and stems that are toxic to people and pets.

Amaryllis Care

The way you care for amaryllis can vary, depending on whether you're growing it indoors or outdoors and when you want it to bloom.

Caring for Amaryllis Indoors in Spring and Summer

To bring your amaryllis care indoors, partially fill a pot with a quality, well-draining potting mix. Then, plant the amaryllis bulb so that the top third is exposed when you fill in the rest of the pot with potting mix. The bulbs should be planted 10 to 12 weeks before you want them to bloom.

Place a bamboo stake alongside the bulb. The flowers can get top-heavy, and inserting the stake at the time of planting will help you avoid damaging the bulb and roots later.

Indoors, these plants prefer a little bit of morning sun with bright, indirect light the rest of the day. Keep the soil moist but not wet.

A thick flower stalk should shoot up within a few weeks after planting. The flat leaves will follow as the flower stalk matures. Turn the pot every few days, so the flower stalk receives uniform sunlight exposure on all sides and grows straight.

Caring for Amarillis Indoors in Fall and Winter

Many people purchase amaryllis bulbs and pot them in the fall so that they can be in bloom over the winter holidays. If you're doing that, simply follow the setup steps used for spring planting.

But if you're engaging in amaryllis care year-round, you can take some specific amaryllis care steps after flowering to encourage those winter blooms again.

After your amaryllis has bloomed, cut back the flower stalk but allow the foliage to continue growing. You can place your plant outdoors in summer in partial shade if you like. Water your amaryllis whenever the top two inches of soil becomes dry.Feed it with a half-strength,water-soluble fertilizerevery two to three weeks.

Stop feeding in August, and bring the plant indoors. Its foliage will be depreciating, but the plant should never be exposed to frost. Cut back any fully depreciated amaryllis leaves. At this point, it's time to expose your amaryllis to dark conditions.

Move it to a cool (55 to 60 degrees), dry indoor spot that doesn't receive any light. Also, stop watering it either at this point or 10 to 12 weeks prior to when you want it to bloom (if you're targeting a winter holiday).

The lack of foliage and water will induce the amaryllis to send out another flower stalk. Resume watering at this time, and move the plant to a warm, sunny indoor spot. Leaves will appear, and blooms will soon follow. After flowering, withhold feeding for eight to ten weeks to induce the dormancy needed to reset the bulbs.

Caring for Amaryllis Outdoors

In USDA hardiness zones 8 to 10, amaryllis can be grown outdoors. You can grow the bulbs in well-drained, fertile soil, planting them whenever the soil temperature is 70 degrees or above.It will grow infull sun to part shade conditions, but partial shade is the best environment outdoors.

If your area is entirely frost-free, plant the bulbs with their necks at or slightly above ground level. In areas where frost is possible, plant the bulbs with five to six inches of soil above them, followed by five to six inches of mulch. Water thoroughly after planting, but then water only when the top two inches of soil is dry.

After leaves appear, feed with a balanced fertilizer once per month through blooming. When flowering is complete, remove the flower stalks but keep the foliage to continue growing. If any leaves turn yellow, cut them off.

In fall, apply a layer of winter mulch if your area experiences winter frost. The plants typically go dormant over winter.

Types of Amaryllis

There are dozens of different amaryllis varieties, and the choice really depends on the flower color that most appeals to you. Some recommended varieties include:

• 'Samba': This variety has large red ruffled blooms with white markings.
• 'Apple Blossom': This popular variety has blooms that has mixed pink and white with green throats.
• 'Faro': This plant has delicate flowers in pale salmon and white. The blooms are smaller and more delicate than most varieties.
• 'Summertime': This plant has large seven inch blooms in a unique watermelon pink to dark rose hue with greenish centers.
• 'Matterhorn': This is a good choice for a pure white amaryllis. The throats are yellow-green.

Pruning

When the flowers fade, cut the flower stalk back to just above the bulb. Keep watering the plant until it goes dormant in the fall. You can move the amaryllis outdoors for the summer, placing it in a partial shade location.

Propagating Amaryllis

Amaryllis bulbs will produce small side bulbs similar to the way daffodils multiply. You can carefully remove these bulbils and pot them to produce more plants once the parent plant has gone dormant and its blooms have died—typically late winter to early spring for outdoor plants and the fall for indoor plants.

1. Using a spade, carefully dig up the entire plant and remove any soil.
2. Twist the bulbils gently away from the parent bulb to separate. If they are not disconnecting easily, you can use a knife to split them apart. Make sure to keep any roots on the bulbils intact, and do not take any small bulbils from the parent bulb.
3. Replant the parent bulb in the same spot in the garden bed or container.
4. Plant the bulbils in prepared containers filled with rich potting soil, leaving about 1/3 of the top of the bulb visible above the soil. The container should allow a maximum of two inches from the bulb to the side of the container.
5. Place the container indoors in a sunny location. Water to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Expect to see new growth in three to four weeks.
   

Overwintering

Amaryllis plants located in USDA hardiness zones 8 to 10 can be left as-is for winter. But in zone 7, they can be overwintered in the gardenby applying a heavy layer of mulch.

In other zones, you should store amaryllis bulbs for next year by carefully removing the bulb from the garden bed and placing it in a cool, dry, dark spot.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

Keep on the lookout for spider mites and mealybugs, which can be treated with horticultural oil. Outdoor plants might be feasted upon by slugs and snails.

Amaryllis also can be infected with what is known as red blotch and mosaic virus. Red blotch spreads rapidly from bulb to bulb and looks like reddish brown spots on the leaves, bulb, and scape.

Any plants with the mosaic virus will show less blooming and growth, and the leaves will have a yellow streaking on them. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about either of these diseases.

How to Get Amaryllis to Bloom

If grown in a frost-free garden (USDA hardiness zones 8 to 10), amaryllis will naturally bloom in March, April, and May with a fall re-bloom possible. Amaryllis bulbs are often purchased to grow as potted plants for holiday bloom, which is only possible if you plant the dormant bulbs at precisely the right time: about 10 to 12 weeks before.

When you buy commercial bulbs from a grower for holiday bloom, these are dormant bulbs that should be kept in a cool, dark, dry spot until the right planting time.

If you already have potted amaryllis plants, you can control blooming by placing them outside in summer, bringing them back inside at the end of the season, withholding water and fertilizer to induce dormancy, and then restarting the bulbs.

If your amaryllis doesn't bloom, it is often because it received no rest period after the last bloom or because it is not receiving adequate light.

From: thespruce