It has taken about two weeks or more for my seeds to sprout, so don't give up on them! I just add water to replace evaporating water, but not much evaporates as I keep the lids almost closed on my containers, emulating little greenhouses. If your water is clear, there's no need to change it. I have well water, which tends to get yucky after being stagnant for a while, so I am forced to change water in some containers.

It sounds like you are doing everything correctly, so the only thing to do is wait for the seeds to sprout! Keeping the water a bit warmer than room temperature can help hasten germination. I keep my floating seeds on a small heat mat, and it seems to help them sprout faster.

Not every seed in a pod will be viable, so some won't germinate. That is to be expected. So far, I have floated three separate containers, each having about a dozen seeds of a different variety. Limona x self had a nice germination rate, with almost all of the seeds sprouting... Exposure x self had about a 50% germination rate... the third kind are a cross sent to me by Cindee, and they haven't been floating long enough to make a determination.

I wish you luck with your seeds, Lawrence! Be patient, and if Mother Nature allows germination, you'll have your own little forest of baby hippeastrums!

Thanks for the help & tips on my germinating. At least I know I am heading in the right direction. As I write this, today is the second day the temp hit over 40, finally! This is like being up in Thule watching the ice in the harbor break up, warmer weather is on its way, Yippee!

I got into the photo mode a few minutes ago so here goes.

This is the second scape in bloom from when I originally brought the plant home.
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This is after I pollinated the flowers and they peacefully went away shortly thereafter. You can see the first scape that is withering away. I did read elsewhere in the forum that when it finally withers and turns yellow I can cut it off the bulb about 1" from the bulb. When I touch it, it feels soft. The second scape with the four pods is firm and sorta straight. Also, thank you Hans for your bottom watering suggestion, no bugs flying around since I started that last month.
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This is a photo of the original 1st scape that two flowers broke off of the scape on a very windy and cold January PM, that after the flowers went away, I placed the bulbs in water to see if they would grow. Grow they did, I change the water every few days, thats it.
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This is my newest project for our patio, making room for all of my future Amaryllis family members to soak in the rays during the warmer times here in 5b when those pods finally open up and give me their babies.
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This is the wall I am building, Home Depot gives a discount
for military personnel, so I just show my ID and they thank me for my service to my country, Lowe's people don't have a clue what it's about, so I am good friends with the HD garden center folks these days. Each one of those blocks weights 40 lbs+ so I am not using any mortar, don't think they'll move much. That 50 ft tower in the background is great for hanging plants too, they never get knocked over. In my younger days I use to work on bigger towers, but now my wife forbids me to climb higher than the roof if she is not looking.

This is my back yard, finally figured how not to cut the grass twice a week. Between my amaryllis and other flowers I plan to turn it into my own private botanical garden. I am however looking for plant types that like cactus and other flowers, do not require taking in for the winter. The amaryllis are just to beautiful to give up though.
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Nice pictures, Lawrence! Looks like you've got quite the outdoor project going on! You could really turn that back yard into a showplace, if you don't mind a little digging and planting! There are so many plants and so many planting schemes and ideas you could use, just figuring out how to arrange nice perennial beds for the best effect could be a project in itself! You should take a look at some of the photos in the many galleries Garden Web has! There are lots and lots of shrubs and perennials and bulbs that would grow in your yard without too much trouble once they were established! The sky is the limit right now, and you have a wonderful blank canvas to work with!

Just to give an idea of how I sprout my seeds, here's a photo of one of my groups of floating seeds... I keep the containers on a heat mat for optimum sprouting...

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And here's a photo of floating seeds on the left, and planted seedlings on the right... note the plastic covers used as a buffer zone between the heat mat and the containers... the heat mat was making the water a little too warm...

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This year, hopefully, I'll be able to photograph our perennial beds in full bloom. Last year, I took mostly close-ups of different plants and flowers. By the time I got around to using the camera outdoors, the gardens were looking a little worse for wear! I was in the middle of revamping the beds and planting lots of bulbs and iris rhizomes!

Now that you have some free time on your hands, creating perennial beds and borders in that back yard of yours will be a good project! I can just imagine a nice path winding through abstract-shaped nicely mulched beds of Daylilies and Iris in wonderful colors... with lots of other perennials as accents... and perhaps that path leads to a garden bench for sitting and enjoying your yard... and at the edge of the woods every spring, bulbs push up and bloom in daffodil yellow and muscari blue, looking quite natural as they pave the way for other flowers to bloom! Oh, the wonderful things you could do with that nice expanse of yard and a good shovel!

Yes, you are 100% correct. I spent most of yesterday on line reading and learning and I figured that I would take it slow to get the most usage out of my space. I do have a lot of time now on my hands, my first project after the patio wall is completed, is a bed of yellow roses as my wife & girlfriend love them. I have your photo's for flotation stored in my notes and I have been using yours and others comments as guidelines. On the back yard thoughts, yes I do intend to make a walkway or walkways. The local BX (military exchange) had a 50% sale on solar light sets so I bought a few for future usage. I am also planning on putting in a wooden Trellis, but after going to a mill outlet store last Friday, one of my kids could do better than what I saw for $$$. Perennials that do not need a lot of maintenance other that watering and grooming are the plants of my choice. Any suggestions? Color is of the utmost importance though. Of course I have to make room for my Amaryllis seeds that I am trying to germinate for the first time. Hopefully in 3 years I will have a Forest of Preludes outside if all my seeds germinate. More flowers equates to less grass to mow twice a week.

I wish Hippeastrums would grow outdoors in our northern gardens year 'round, but since they can't, and require digging in fall if they are planted out in spring... I recommend starting with easy perennials, such as daylilies, iris, stachys, heuchera, echinacea, liatris, veronica, columbine, gaillardia, rudbeckia, coreopsis, aster, asclepias, siberian iris, monarda, penstemon, salvia, hosta, astilbe, lobelia, dianthus, and paeonia... just to name a few! Most of the plants I listed will grow in sun or part shade, except for the hosta and astilbe, which prefer a bit more shade than the others. Actually, I grow most of these in a bed that gets morning sun and afternoon shade.

I emailed you regarding perennials and such. As I'm sure you're finding out, proper preparation of the planting area is the first order of business. After that's done, choose the plants that will be the "backbone" of the bed. Perhaps a dwarf flowering tree or shrub, a rose or a perennial that grows fairly large... or perhaps a piece of statuary or a bench... the main focus of the bed. Then, choose complimentary plants of different heights, bloom times and colors... there's really no right or wrong way when it comes to creating your own beds and borders... you have to like the end result! Just don't skip the first step... soil prep!

jodik- Thanks for the picture of your floaties. I recently put some white-something-or-others in a plastic cup, and they germinated fine in city tap water. I didn't know "which end was up" til you posted your pic with the leaves, since mine don't have any, and someone here said to pot them up...which I thought was premature.
I'll wait for the leaf, THEN I'll pot up.
Thanks!