Forcing Amaryllis for Winter Blooms
A detailed guide on selecting, planting, and forcing amaryllis bulbs.
Amaryllis are amazing winter flowers.
Most houseplants do not flower or if they do they aren’t that amazing. Amaryllis is a stunner, she really knows how to put on a show. Picture yourself sitting next to a beautiful amaryllis flower on a cold winter day. I bet that brings a smile to your face!
3 tips for getting the most out of your amaryllis.
The bigger the bulb the bigger the show.
How to grow amaryllis?
How to save your amaryllis bulb for next year?
1. The bigger the bulb the bigger the show.
The bigger the bulb the bigger the show.
What does that even mean?
It means that I try to find the biggest amaryllis bulb I can find. My favorite are 34 cm or bigger.
Picture in your head a big fat onion. Amaryllis bulbs this size can be difficult to find sometimes, which is why I love offering them to you! You can grow doubles, giants, mini’s in pink, red, salmon, red and white, white, and many more.
Why grow the big amaryllis bulbs? Because big amaryllis bulbs send up the most flower stems. Two to three and even four or five sometimes! A bigger show.
For an even bigger show, plant multiple amaryllis bulbs, put 2 or 3 amaryllis bulbs in a cool container or pot. It’s a great way to extend the bloom time and it’s so pretty. It will definitly light up a room.
2. How to Grow Amaryllis
Growing amaryllis is very easy.
Take your amaryllis bulb and soak just the very bottom or roots in warm water over night, in a shallow pan is the trick.
Find a pot or container, does it have a drainage hole? If it does then take a coffee filter and cover the whole. If it does not, that’s great too. You don’t have to do anything except not over water.
Look for potting soil. Not dirt from outside, but bagged potting soil. Premoisten your soil if it is dry. Fill your amaryllis pot halfway or at least 3 to 4 inches with soil.
Take your amaryllis bulb and set the amaryllis bulb on top and nestle the amaryllis bulb into the dirt. Then add a little more dirt, but don’t cover the amaryllis bulb. Leave at least 1/3 showing. These ladies do not like to be buried.
Now you can place your beautiful amaryllis pot in a warm bright place. We want to wake up sleeping beauty. This can take several weeks, so just be patient. Some amaryllis bulbs shoot right up and some just keep sleeping, there is no definite here. Also, do NOT water your amaryllis bulb until it starts growing. You do not want to rot the amaryllis bulb.
If you have a potted, sprouted amaryllis bulb garden you can skip steps 1-4. Now that our amaryllis is growing we want to keep it in a bright spot and turn it everyday so the stem keeps growing straight and water your amaryllis as needed. Amaryllis do not need a lot of water but just keep the soil moist.
Once your amaryllis starts blooming you can place your plant anywhere you want in your house and enjoy the blooms. The reward is so wonderful.
As flowers fade, cut them off. You do not want your amaryllis bulb to spend any energy on them once they fade.
Be patient as your amaryllis bulb may send up more stems when one is finished blooming.
Once your amaryllis is finished blooming cut the stalk right above the bulb, but make sure to leave the leaves.
3. How to save your amaryllis bulb for next year
After your flowers have faded and all the flowers on the stem are finished blooming it is important to cut the stems off your amaryllis but NOT the leaves.
Once your amaryllis is finished blooming and you have removed the stems, set your amaryllis in a sunny window and continue to water when the top inch of soil is dry.
In the spring, when it is going to stay nice and warm outside, set you amaryllis outside in full to part sun for the rest of the summer. You can leave your amaryllis in the pot or plant it in the ground. The idea is to encourage your amaryllis to grow big, strong leaves, which creates a BIG, healthy amaryllis bulb. The bigger the bulb, the more flowers it will produce next year!
In the fall, after the first frost, cut off ALL the foliage just above the bulb, bring the pot or amaryllis bulb indoors and put it in a cool (50-60F) dark place for 8-10 weeks. DO NOT WATER AT ALL DURING THIS TIME. Amaryllis must go through a dormant period to develop flower buds inside the bulb.
After 8-10 weeks, bring your amaryllis out and start the process all over again. If you want blooms for the holidays start the process in the beginning of August by cutting off the leaves and forcing your amaryllis bulb into dormancy. Bring it out end of October and wake your amaryllis bulb all over again.
Amaryllis have changed winter for me. Adding this beauitful flowering bulb has given me beauty to look at it when everything is grey, dead, and dark. It’s a little sign of life still, like a little small voice.
If I wouldn’t have experienced it myself, I wouldn’t believe it.
You need to grow these amazing gifts from God.