I'm having the same problem with a couple of my plants. Since it's been fairly warm here, I've placed all of the amaryllises I had indoors, outside in full sun. Ironically, one of the plants with a couple of floppy leaves has gotten worse. Before I placed the plant outside, the leaves still had their structure and were only slightly flexible, but were not able to stand up on their own. Now, the 2 outer leaves are flaccid, without any turgor. I don't think it's an issue of over or under watering. I only water when the upper 1 1/2 - 2 inches of soil is dry. Maybe too rapid change in climate?

Anyway, will the leaves recover? Or should I go ahead and cut them off? Although I've staked the leaves (loosely for support), they're starting to get tiny breaks in the center where they flop over.

Thanks in advance!
Alicia

They will most likely turn yellow soon, so cut them off when they start to die. My philosophy is not to cut off anything that's not dead or dying. a green leaf still feeds the bulb. It might not be a pretty sight, but at this point it is functional rather than ornamental. Though I agree, a well-leafed bulb looks pretty even without flowers.

I had a couple of leaves last season that were badly cracked toward the base, when they flopped over, and I was tempted to cut them. But as Soultan advises, while it's still green leave it be -and so I did. I propped them up with a bamboo stick and velcro gardening tape, and they never did turn yellow all summer, despite obvious tears and cracks.

My Ragtime grew nice healthy leaves after I planted the bulb. I thought this would be nice, having leaves with the flowers if ever. But one night when I came home, I just saw all it's leaves in the right side flopped over and cracked at the base/neck of the bulb. It looked like the uppermost leaf flopped over on the next lower leaf. And then that leaf flopped over the next lower leaf and so on...a chain reaction. I tried to save the leaves but they were so cracked and eventually seperated from the bulb. I ended up with a right leafless plant. Ragtime suffered a setback from this. It took forever to produce a new leaf and never bloomed. This just shows how important these leaves are for these bulbs. If you can save them, save them. No matter how ugly they are.

I'm glad I found this site because I just purchased about 10 amaryllis last week and all of the leaves are floppy. The nursery had them at 75% off (this was Christmas stock that had bloomed in December). Today, I was tempted to go and purchase the remaining lot at the nursery. When I got there, I realised that they had cut all of the floppy leaves off of the potted bulbs and they felt proud about it. I guess it was because the leaves were so floppy that they did this. By reading the posts, I'm guessing that I should not buy anymore.

Joy

Floppy leaves seem to just happen. I have had many very green leaves just turn wimpy overnight. I find removing them as soon as there is a hint of yellow reduces stress on the plant. I have also had very green firm leaves flop just because of their weight. I support them with fishing line tied around a bamboo stake, and turning the plant to receive equal amounts of sun on all sides and most will recover. I recently had some very green and firm leaves start to flop and yellow. I cut them and was instantly surprised that new leaves were pushing up at the base. Maybe it's just a cycle some plants go through?

Yes. If the floppy leaves are all cut, the bulb might go to sleep or start producing new ones rapidly... If you take care of it well, then it might still recover or even develop further... This is still early for them. They have the whole Spring and Summer to feed and fatten.

I don't mind the bulb going into dormancy for a bit. I just wanted to make sure that it was ok to purchase them with all of the leaves cut. The bulbs are jumbo bulbs, going to $2.50US each. The flowering bulb was $12.50US at Christmas.

Joy

Not a bad price, considering you are getting the pot with it too.

Buy them, it is still a great buy and don't worry about a lost leaf or two.

Plant_Guy

Here is a link that might be useful: My Amaryllis Page