Why are the bulbs rated by circumfrence and not by diameter, which to me is more logical.
Any reason.
ARIF

That one's easy. Because you cannot quickly and accurately get the measurement with a tape measure, piece of string, etc. My biggest bulb to date has been 42cm.

Plant_Guy

I found a this post last year from Mozart 2 on planting in large containers (16") and he said, "This employee - of German heritage - planted his Amaryllis bulbs outside in the late spring and early summer in a very deeply prepared and in a very loose soil structure. He fertilized and watered them on a regular basis and ended up with Soccer sized Amaryllis bulbs in the late fall."

Mr. Werner, would you care to comment on this? I have been doing this for 25 years and have never seen a soccer ball sized amaryllis bulb. I say impossible, unless he was living near a nuclear power plant.

Plant_Guy

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

Hi Plant_Guy,
I'll chime in till Hans-Werner gets here:)
I'm with you on the soccer ball size,it's just not gonna happen. I have a number of 36cm bulbs and one almost 40cm Nymph,but it's going to split. Maybe an entire clump,mother bulb with offspring,could reach soccer ball size. Not an individual bulb though. Lora

I do not know the circumference of a soccer ball... sorry;

the biggest individual bulb I ever had was the mother bulb of my "Cantate" cluster in a 25 Liter bucket, in October 2003 with a circumference of 50 cm when freshly reposed and then 47 cm when dried during the storage period.

The biggest bulb I was reported of late by a friend was one sold by a retailer from The Netherlands on the "gruene Woche" ("green week" happening)in Berlin. It had a circumference of concisely 60 cm (dry) and I have no reason to doubt on that.

Hans-Werner

Well,
A dog chewed,uninflated soccer ball measures 68 cm.Anybody have an inflated one? Lora

Well, we have Hans with a 50cm. bulb he personally witnessed, which is truly huge BTW, and a soccer ball which probably measures a good 70cm. There is a tremendous difference in volume, so I still say no go. Hey Hans, I saw your pictures in a thread back in November where you were discussing pot size, those clusters were very impressive. I have been giving much thought to the advice I gave out through the years, and I have some dormant bulbs that will be potted in different sized pots to put my advice to the test.

Plant_Guy

I would even not exclude a circumference of 70 cm to be achievable.
It is a question of the right culivar (species amaryllis are NOT apt to develop such enormous bulbs)
and it depends on the suitable environmental conditions - and, important: On the duration of the period of uninterrupted growth. I assume that it is very easily accomplished in a permanent tropical climate in plain soil.

Under our common growing conditions there occurs an annual cycling by the reposal period and subsequent sprouting of flower scapes which causes a considerable material loss of the ball - pardon, the bulb - which is mainly responsible for limited expansion.

Hans-Werner

LOL...Hans....you drive me up the wall!!!
Ummmm...that means you make me laugh!

Have a heart, it may be a cofusion of SAUCER and SOCCER.
Saucer size bulbs,YES but Soccer Ball size,NO.

Hi, Just have to add my 2 bits. The largest amaryllis bulb I have seen was about 46cm, it was a Red Lion. Here's my amaryllis web pages.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mimi's Amaryllis Pages

Mimi is still misleading the public after several of us have told her that her pictures of Elvas and Aphrodite are not true to name to her. She still keep the false pictures on her web site and sells the Philadelphia bulbs as Aphrodite and Elvas... I can just admire her determination of keeping the deception alive, even though she sees that she is mistaken.
She was sold two mislabeled bulbs and she just keeps the wrong name tags on the wrong bulbs... I wonder, if she got a red flower for Elvas, would she still call it Elvas? Or if she got a miniature, like Rapido that was called Aphrodite, would she still call it Aprodite for the end of time? I mean how far can she go pretending she doesn't see the fact and how long can he ignore all of us telling her to change the names?

So, you do not recommend that we buy amaryllis from Mimi?

Would these large bulbs be older or does this just happen in one season? I just started this year and my bulbs seem to be doing nicely but nothing like that! How many flowers would these monster bulbs put out? I am trying the bulbs in semi-hydroponics, so I will see how they do.
They seem to really like it so far.

hopflowers,

based on her behavior, I wouldn't recommend. What if she sends you something that is not true to name and she never replaces it because she believes that the red flower she sent was White Christmas?

alotofplants,

They are called Motherbulbs most of the time. You can get REAL motherbulbs from Royal Colors. Amazing. Like a grape fruit. Huge. Unfortunately, it only brought me 3 scapes, but I am tending it now, so it might give me more coming season. It is true though that the flowers were beautiful and healthy. I had Ambiance. I planted the bulb out after it finished flowering and it is sending out leaves by the dozens and it retains its huge perimeter... Glad.

Pffffft. i see alot of 50-60 cm bragging people. We have an small one on 57 and the long one is 87 and it hassnt bloomed yet..

You are referring to bulbs from Tropical Crinum Species.
If the leaves grow in circles then my presumption is already confirmed ;)

Similar to big foot footage, is this poor resolution YouTube video proof of a soccer-sized (futbol) amaryllis bulb?

Again - this is a bulb of a Crinum....I know without even having seen the footage, I know EXACTLY what the commercial source of this Video is. It is fair to say, anyone who is familiar with "Purchasing bulbs" and "Glorifying apparition on the Garden Watchdog" knows what I am talking about.

I agree with Hans,

The record is updated by this one at 37cm

OMG mine is small, I just went to measure it and it's just 31 cm, it's Apple Blossom I bought it one year ago.