Florida Gardening: Need Help to Re-bloom Florida Amaryllis for Holidays, 1 by Wyckoff

Wyckoff wrote:
Dear All,

I love the enthusiasm and support. I too am an avid fan of Google and IFAS. And I have Veronica Read’s book.

Most every suggestion for re-blooming Amaryllis includes some form of cooling or chilling.

Specifically 55° is highly recommended.

*** CAUTION *** serious whining ahead.

This is Florida! I should be cooling my bulbs right now. Except overnight temperatures are still above 70°.

Some instructions say to place the bulbs in a cool, dry place like an attic or a basement. Hello!!!! This is FLORIDA! Attics are stifling hot and my house does not have a basement. No one in my neighbor has a basement. I truly do not know of any basements in my city of over 120,000 people.

Some people have recommended wine coolers or converting an old refrigerator from 38° to 55°. That could be interesting but at the last count I have over 2,000 bulbs. I can’t afford that many refrigerators and that much electricity.

~~ le sigh ~~ (rant over)

Back on May 17, Plant_Thang shared a reference from a Texas gardening book. The instructions were simple enough that I could follow them and required no special equipment.

So here’s an update.

On September 3, I put 3 large, healthy, potted bulbs on my back porch. They get defused light but no water. They remain in their pots.

Today (October 3), I updated my records.

ID = WB2R (has produced large, single generic red flowers in the past)

Size: diameter in line with leaves has increased slightly, opposite diameter has also increased.
Leaves: 3 of 6 leaves have declined, turned brown and been removed. Remaining leaves upright and healthy but have not grown in length.

ID = CG4 (verified large, single, white flowers, sold under the name Christmas Gift)

Size: diameter in line with leaves has decreased slightly, opposite diameter has increased slightly.
Leaves: 1 of 2 leaves has declined, turned brown and been removed. The remaining leaf is upright and healthy but has not grown in length.

ID = MY2 (has produced large, single, generic white flowers in the past)

Size: Both diameters have decreased slightly
Leaves: 1 of 3 leaves has declined, turned brown and been removed. The remaining leaves are declining and appear wilted.

That’s it at the moment. I’ll probably note when MY2 goes completely dormant and perhaps let it rest another week or so after that. It depends on how much diameter it has lost. The losses thus far are around 3% which doesn’t concern me at the moment.

I apologize for using use this Thread almost like a blog but I thought people might be interested...

Candace