Since the flowers are formed INSIDE the bulb, by the time they emerge, a lot of the energy has already been spent. If you remove them, you're only shorting yourself the beautiful blooms the bulb has already worked so hard to create.

I think your best bet would be to feed them regularly with a weak water-soluble fertilizer. And once they are done blooming, allow the bulbs some time out in the sun to let them recharge naturally.

As for changing the soil, please read Jodi's thread titled "The Naked Truth about Soils". This will get you off on the right foot for the proper soil mix for potted hippi's.

I agree with Ryan... I would let them flower, and make the most of the aftercare this season. Once the flowers fade, move the pots into a sunny location and begin feeding very regularly with a diluted liquid fertilizer.

Allowing Hippeastrum bulbs to be dormant for too long a time can be detrimental. Bulbs are made up of quite a bit of moisture, and if they're kept dormant for too long, they have to draw on their moisture reserves to stay alive. Sort of like onions that are kept for too long in the pantry... they begin to dry out and die.

I grow my bulbs indoors as houseplants, and I've never forced a dormancy on any of them. They grow and rest on their own schedule, and most bloom every spring. They occasionally drop their leaves and go to sleep for a short time. The only problems I face are making certain they all get enough light, and running out of room to keep them all!

My personal feeling is that you've forced them to remain dormant for too long. I would immediately pot them up and get them growing again. If they want to bloom, allow them to do so, but make certain the aftercare is well handled.

A forced dormancy should be about 8-10 weeks, but not too much longer.

If you don't force them and allow them to do their thing, how do you know when to stop watering and when to start? I am thinking of my bulbs that must winter outside because I don't have enough space in the house.

They won't freeze on the porch, but it does get cold.

The plant will let you when it's time to go lightly on water... it will begin to lose its leaves. They will slowly yellow and die, and this is a sign that the bulb needs to rest. I don't completely withhold water... I simply allow it to remain drier than I normally would, and when I do water, I go very lightly.

Once I see new leaf tips starting to peek out the top of the bulb, I resume normal care.

When it's colder than normal, go easy on the watering... cold and wet together equal rot, fungi and other possible problems.

That's probably the key. Water sparingly once it begins to get cold and resume when new growth appears. Perhaps avoid all water during the coldest month or two. Here that should be mid-December to mid-February.

I have made both mistakes. I have watered for too long, since the plant did not lose its leaves or go yellow, and then rot set in when the cold weather came. I have waited too long to resume. No rot, but all the roots were dry and dead.

On the plus side, the 3 plants I put into the ground last year, as well as the four in a large tub, are doing fine.

When Hippeastrum bulbs are put through a forced dormancy, all water is withheld... consequently, all the leaves die back, and I would guess, most of the roots would die, too. Once the 8-10 weeks of dormancy is observed, new growth should begin to appear... hopefully, in the form of scape tips. But even if it doesn't, you would bring the pot back into a bright, sunny location and water it. Once watering is resumed, the bulb will grow new roots.

My point is, it's not that critical if the roots dry out somewhat... when forcing a dormancy, it cannot be avoided... the trick is to not allow the bulb to dry out completely. That's why a too lengthy dormancy is not good.

Cold and damp doesn't work very well for any plant... unless we're talking about plants grown directly in the garden. But gardening in the ground and gardening in containers are two very different animals!

I'm not surprised that the bulbs planted directly in the ground did fine... Mother Nature has a way of making sure everything is fairly balanced. Using a large tub for multiple bulbs would be closer to gardening in the ground than a single bulb in a small pot, but even so, some of the ingredients that are found in the garden are not found in containers... such as worms and nematodes and all those tiny little critters that help keep the balance.

Hippeastrum bulbs are very versatile, and rather forgiving... but even they have their limits of what they can take. I grow mine as houseplants, and allow them to schedule themselves. Others prefer to force dormancy to have blooms during the Christmas Holidays, and still others are lucky enough to be able to grow them right in the garden!

As long as you understand the needs of the plant, and you observe it and take care of those needs, you'll have lovely blooms almost every year, for years to come!

Jodi, For what it's worth, I must force mine into dormancy because there is no place to store them. Last year, I cut the leaves off (what a heartbreak to cut off those healthy leaves), then the end of October they go under the little "deck" that is in my greenhouse. There they stay with no water until they start to send up new scapes (sometime in Feb.), then I water ONCE. As the scapes get taller, they have to come out into the stronger light. As for the roots, mine do not dry up. The pots are completely filled with roots.

I would imagine that bulbs left in their pots for a dormancy would lose less roots, and have rather substantial root systems to begin with. When I think of 'forced dormancy', I tend to picture bulbs like the ones we receive from our purchases, un-potted with very little in the way of roots.

Having never forced any of my Hippeastrums into a dormant state, it's not one of the facets of growing these bulbs that I'm really familiar with. The technicalities, I know from reading about them, but I admit to having no first hand knowledge.

Kitty, you're lucky to have a place to keep your potted bulbs for a dormant spell... I have nowhere to put mine! The fridge is out of the question because I eat a lot of apples, and the two do not mix!

As my bulbs drop their leaves to rest, I move their pots to lower shelves on the shelving units... and I bring any bulbs with new growth beginning to the top shelves so they get more light.

When I ship adult bulbs, I occasionally need to cut back the leaves so the bulb fits in the box... it's rather heartbreaking to lop off all those green, healthy leaves. But, I know the bulb will grow new ones in short order... they're really very forgiving plants.

Well after I finished repotting them I put them in the sunlight and they just started throwing off leaves again. Of course like clockwork the flower pods started coming out right away as well. I'll do as suggested and let them flower but will cut the flower back after the blooms wilt.

I had no special need to put them in hibernation. But everything I read about them said that you needed to do that so as to mimic their natural environment. It is kind of convenient however since it is too cold outside in the winter in DC to keep them out because they will freeze. And I can't bring them in the house while growing because the cats will want to constantly play with the leaves until they are broken to pieces and the pots knocked over. (Have you ever seen a cat near amayrillis leaves? The only thing worse is a cat near a fly!)

I did not know that the length of time they were kept in hibernation was important, but I can see how that would be the case.

So far they appear happy.

-T

...oh and thanks everyone for your help!

-T

T, I think the general consensus on here in previous threads was to leave the scape attached until it dries up and can be removed without cutting.

Two reasons for this:
1. the bulb will draw down excess nutrients from the scape to help recharge the bulb. If you don't want seeds, you could remove any seed pods that may form, but wait to remove the scape until its faded on it's own.

2. Cutting the scape results in a point of entry for disease and bugs.

Does anyone agree or disagree with that?

phoenixryan, you have shaken me up. There seems to be some logic behind your point of view.Let's wait for others'opinions.

Oh of course, let me clarify. By "cut the flower off after it wilts" I meant that I would snip the flower itself off right behind the pod where the seeds normally form. Is "scape" the term for the entire flower stalk--the hollow tube on which the flowers sit? I never cut the tube itself until it is brown and shriveled.

As I mentioned, I brought the plants to seed the first year I had them, and that definitely has to take something out of the plant to form all those seeds. There were a couple thousand of them. I thought each flower would form eight or ten little seeds like an apple. So I let all four flowers form seeds because I figured I get a couple from each flower. ...guess I should have read more!

It was actually funny when the seed pods dried and started to open. I thought I didn't do something right because all I had were little black slivers of paper almost. I thought that can't be a seed! I stuck them in a pot and figured I'd dump the soil out again after a month when nothing grew. Something started to grow out of the first pot. I then thought that has got to be a weed that got blown into the pot! Then all eight of the little pots I put the seeds in had a similar single little blade of grass coming out. Like I said, today they are about the size of a tulip bulb.

Sorry if I am clueless, I am not a major gardener. If it doesn't grow when I stick it in dirt, I am lost!

-T

Hehe, I'm not far behind you on the clueless meter. I'm relying heavily on the folks in this forum for any success I might have.

Yes, the scape is the hollow tube that the flowers sit atop. This forum is great at teaching you an entirely new vocabulary! Jodi posted this earlier for my reference, so I'll post it here for yours....

Flower parts:

The anther is the part that contains the pollen.
The stamen is the little stem upon which sits the anther.
The stigma is where you would place the pollen.
The style is the stem-like part of the stigma.
The pistil is the part just below the petals and stamen, contains the ovary, and this is what swells when pollination is successful.
The ovule, or egg, is what the pollen combines with to form the viable seeds, and is located inside the ovary.
The sepal is the little flap that contains the flower bud, and hangs just below the petals when the bud opens.
The scape, stem, or stalk is actually called the floral peduncle.
Surrounding the pistil, but above the stem, is the receptacle.
We all know what the petals are on a flower.
The entire top part of a flower, including petals, stigma, anthers, style and stamens is called the Corolla.
The entire bottom part of a flower, including the pistil and ovary is called the Calix.

All these flower parts sound strangely sexual which I usually don't associate with a pretty little flower. Maybe Georgia O'Keeffe really did have the right frame of mind. And isn't it kind of oedipal giving my mother a bunch of these things for Mother's Day??? (I do because I would get bounced on the head if I didn't!!!)

What do you call the part that... oh nevermind!

-T

ROFL! Wow, T. You fit right in here! hehehe, I'm never going to look at Mother's Day flowers the same way again!

I frequently cut the flower stalk to use the flower as a cut flower. I cut just at the height needed and leave the rest of the stalk to dry. I haven't seen any problem with the open end of the cut stalk. Here, they are inside during flowering time so there is no rain or dirt entering the stalk.

I always left the stalk to dry thinking that the stalk has the ability to soak up light energy and thus nourish the bulb. As time passes, I am less convinced that letting the stalk stay on has any particular advantage and is sometime unsightly. I do think cutting the flower off, especially if done early on when still small takes a lot of stress off of the bulb.

It is true that the budding flower started long before, but a lot of energy goes into putting up the stalk and then enlarging the bud and flower. On a weak bulb, if I am worried about the plant, I cut off at least one of the stalks early on. Also if the bulb is shriveling and not putting out roots, I would tend to cut the stalk to save the bulb. I know not all agree with this, but it sure looks to me that it takes a good bit of energy to put up those big stalks and flowers. I seldom see this as a problem on the bulbs that have been held over from a previous year.
Vic

Deadheading flowers in the garden does save a bit of energy that the plant would otherwise use to "slough off" the dead or dying flowers... though, I also feel that if you're feeding your plants well, and taking good care of them, the energy expended is a lot less, and more easily recovered from.

I grow mainly indoors, and I allow the scapes, or stalks, to dry up and become unsightly before I cut them off. I have cut off scapes that haven't been completely dry, and I don't like to see the plant "bleed" like that. I think it's the perfect opportunity for insects to enter the bulb, and an unnecessary wound that the bulb must heal from.

If I were to cut flowers, I think I might dust the cut wound with an anti-fungal powder just to be on the safe side. I don't think there's a wrong or right answer to cutting the stalk... though, I do think that proper care of the bulbs in the first place is the way to go to avoid having to cut anything off. I'm not convinced you're doing the bulb a favor by "clipping its wings". After all, it did produce buds and then flowers, so it must have a store of decent energy.

Just thinking out loud, so to speak... I don't know what the correct answer is. I just know how I handle things. If my bulbs want to flower, I let them. If they want to rest, I let them sleep. Some bulbs are just not very strong, and never will be. Notice how some bulbs shrink or fade in spite of all the care they're given... I think some bulbs are simply destined to expire early. They may be of poor genetic quality.

I'm no expert... just a happy gardener! :-)

Me too, I do not like to observe "bleeding".
On the other hand, I think that there is little discussion potential about "Deadheading" "cutting the scape" "cutting the young bud just when it pokes out" (the Topic) - Dear Brotha's and Sista's, I tell you it is of no importance. What does count that is the husbandry you will exercise upon the plant during a season's growth (from March to November, approximately) THIS will decide whether you will receive one, two or three scapes or nothing. A momentary action is nothing as compared to a summer where the plant refiills the bulb by its photosynthetic action.

You can even completely "exploit" a freshly bought bulb without roots for example H.cybister "Chico" which CAN produce two scapes and TEN seed pods - without having and producing roots at this time, respectively - and IF you will take best care for it, afterwards, when the leaves emerge and finally roots will be developing - then you can achieve a bigger bulb size (as compared to when freshly purchased) after the season.