By following the suggestions, what did you do? Did you put them in 47F cold and dark place? That should make them sleep (if you really wanted that). If you keep them growing year round (as you are saying), you might have not prepared them for dormancy. I am not saying you should put them to sleep. I am just saying that if you tried, you might have missed some aspects, so your bulbs are not willing to sleep.

Well I've only had the bulbs for one year now-- and what I did was allow them to flower and then once the blooms were spent, I continued to treat them like any other house plant until the risk of frost was gone. They got some prime real estate in the garden and they pretty much took off from there. Several times during the summer, different bulbs decided they wanted to flower again. I let them, of course, and figured they wouldn't give another scape later in the season-- thats ok. Then near the end of August I began to cut back the water. I saw no change in their growth habit-- so I continued to cut back. Here in CO, the air is very dry-- and clay pots (unglazed) dry out quickly. But the bulbs kept pushing leaves and in some cases, scapes. Finally it became too cold to reliably let them out at night and so I put them in their winter time spot, still waiting for the leaves to die back-- it has been a month and half since they came inside and of the 20 or so bulbs I have, only about 6 of them do not have scapes growing. Most have a bunch of babies growing, too-- even though I cut off the watering! I'm glad they're doing so well but I kind of wanted them to bloom in the winter. I won't keep trying to force those pushing scapes into dormacy but those who only have a scape peaking out I will not yet begin to water again. Those that show no scapes are beginning to yellow their leaves so I suppose they will soon give up and sleep.

So it isn't that I didn't put them in a cold place-- its that I was told never to cut off green leaves and when the leaves keep coming, I haven't much of a choice. The minervas I mentioned in the original post were root bound (badly) and were put into a very large tub-- they're huge now and obviously ready to put on a show!

Ryan - I'm in central Illinois, and I grow my bulbs as houseplants, never putting them to sleep. I've never had one bloom more than once a year, except last year... my Apple Blossom bloomed a second time, but just one scape.

I just water them when they need it, lightly fertilize them every couple of weeks, or so... I taper off on the fertilizer in fall and don't give it so often until spring, when they show signs of flowering and/or new growth.

Right now, my mature bulbs are slowly dropping leaves... they will do this until they are gone, or it's very early February... which ever comes first. Then, they will send up scapes and bloom. They are kind of "self-resting" right now, dropping leaves and not growing. By early February, they will perk up and grow new leaves and flower.

Since I've never forced my bulbs to sleep, I don't know what to tell you... I would say that if they want to grow, let them grow. If they are sending up scapes, bring them out and water them. Perhaps someone here with more experience than I have could elaborate on what you should do...

I would think that if your bulbs are flowering that often, they would be shrinking instead of increasing in size... I don't know if there is enough time in between flowering to rebuild a decent energy supply, at 4 times a year with blooms. Again, maybe someone with expert status can tell you why and how this could happen... I know I don't understand it!

I'm fairly happy with the once a year blooms I get, and the slow but steady increase in my bulbs' size.

jodik--

That is interesting that your bulbs will only bring up one scape per year. Do you put them outside at all during the warmer months? When I planted my bulbs last autumn, they bloomed and shrank-- a lot in some cases. My Picotee decreased by half of its size. I later moved it to a different pot (non-glazed pot) and it seemed to take off from there. But once all of them were safely put on the deck (I don't run the risk of critters eating my plants), the bulbs put out a lot of leaves. My dancing queen, which did not bloom until late April, had as many as 14 leaves-- all green and vigorous. She later went on to give two more scape and is not showing signs of a 4th. Not only did she not shrink, but she grew! When I got her, she had a big gouge out of her side and by the summer's end, you cannot even tell there was ever a wound there.

I didn't use any super fertilizer nor did I do anything different than the occassional tending and watering. But one thing I did notice is that the leaves that grew from the bulbs inside the house were thin and later were burned by the Colorado sun (at 6700 feet, the sun is pretty intense). The replacement leaves are all very thick by several millimeters-- almost to a consistency of leather. The toughest part of growing them outside here in CO is the wind, as their leaves would fold easily and once that happened, they stayed that way.

But I would like to be clear-- none of my bulbs shrank this summer. Some may have stayed the same, but my star performers (Minerva and Dancing Queen) all increased in size substanially and flowered several times since I've had them.

If you keep them in the pots, they most likely will go to sleep later, since there is a lot of moisture not visible to you for the roots inside of the pot. So that is why they are still thriving. Once they run out of everything completely, then they start yellowing and dropping the leaves.

I would not recommend you either to keep on cutting back on the ones that are showing scapes. Just treat them well, so they can bloom for you well. The ones that do not show scapes, you can keep in the dry, colder, darker spot, so they can go to sleep if they wish or push up the scape for you, in which case you bring them out and water them again.

I experience that by removing them from the pots and keeping them bare-root will induce the sleep cycle with them. If you want to keep yours in the pot year-round, you can expect the same life cycle as jodik. There are hidden treasures in a pot that are invisible for you, but still enough for your flowers to survive on...

Ryan - Let me clarify... my Minerva sends up more than one scape, at last count she had 3... but only once a year, in February. Apple Blossom sent up 2 scapes last flowering.

No, I don't take them outdoors... not ever... there are just too many risks where I live, and I don't want anything to happen to my bulbs! So, they are in pots sitting in an east window... they love the morning sun! My Minerva is about 7 years old, and I bought it originally because my personal dog's name was Minerva... Minerva the bulldog passed away last November, and so, Minerva the Hippi is very precious to me.

Minerva has never shrunk, and in fact, is the largest bulb I have! Huge describes the size, without actually measuring! Apple Blossom did shrink a bit, but it was my fault... I over-watered it. It's just recovering now, and doing well.

I try to always plant my bulbs in un-glazed clay pots... they're very healthy for plants... they allow the root systems to breathe, and also allow accumulated salts and minerals to leach out. I've never had a plant complain when put in clay!

Even though I got my first Hippi about 7 years ago, I just recently began collecting them, with the intent to breed. Within the last few months, my collection went from 2 to 27... and my wish list doesn't even have a big dent in it yet!

From what you describe, your bulbs seem to flower quite often... I wonder if it has anything to do with your altitude? It's certainly not due to your zone! :-)

Soultan and Jodik--

Something I'm interested in finding out more about is whether or not a bulb can stave off blooming even though a tip of a scape appears on the bulb? For instance, my Picotee is pushing a scape and its obvious it wants to bloom-- but my white peacock has just the very tip showing. If I continue to without water, will the scape just stop where it is and continue to a dormacy? Really i just want it to sleep for maybe another two weeks and then I'll be ready to have it come out.

Jodik-- I misunderstood your last post-- sorry. I have to ask, though-- how did you come about the name Minerva for your pup? I like the name, but never would have come up with a name like that. If you're able, you should give your minerva bulb a quick measure-- I'm curious how big it is! When my minervas bloom (they are now) they send up one scape at a time but will do so with 3-4 scapes each. I've never had a bulb send up multiple scapes and bloom at the same time.

As for my growing conditions, I was amazed when I went to the Denver Bontanical Gardens with their demonstration of plants grown in Colorado. As I mentioned before, if a plant has adequate water here at 6700 feet, they do exceptionally well compared to plants at lower altitudes at the same latitudes (zones). It may have something to do with the water, too-- it is mountain water and has so few parts per million of anything-- including salts, sulphur and other elements. Some plants just cannot handle it here though-- such as some maple trees. The sun is too intense and the air way too dry that their leaves burn in the sun-- despite having plenty of water. Amaryllis seem to adapt well to every situation and their leaves become very thick during the warmer months when outside. But now that I think more about it-- I do believe I put some alpaca manure on my plants this summer-- I'm sure that helped.

My minervas were sharing a pot last year and by the time I could replant them, they were so root bound that there was hardly any soil remaining about the roots. They got planted, roots and all, into a very large planter and have taken off in terms of size and performance. They were my first bulbs, too.

If the scape is showing and you don't have a place with constant 47F temperature, I would not try to keep the bulb back from developing. I have bulbs that show the scape, but when I put them in the bulb fridge, they stop developing, or develop so slow that the scape does not advance out for months. Thouth I must caution you that trying to hold the scape back once it has started emerging, you are running the risk of abortion.
So thinking of your conditions as you described them, I'd let the ones that show the scape grow. I'd water them and let them flower. I'd only keep the ones dry that do not show scape.

We have been breeding Performance American Bulldogs for around 25 years... names must be given to every pup born for our records, regardless of whether or not we keep it. Our kennel "name theme" is cartoon characters. Minerva is a character from Loony Tunes or Disney... I forget. Anyway... Minerva came in as a stud fee pup, and my husband gave her to me as a gift. The name just stuck, and I called her Minnie, for short. She was trained in Street Protection, and was the best personal protection/companion I ever had. She passed away at age 11, last year. I miss her still, and if I were to lose my bulb now, I'd be heartbroken...

Minerva, the bulb, measures 12 inches around. I've had it for 7 years. It has bloomed every year, except one, and it currently has one offset/baby!

This is H. Minerva just after re-potting...

{{gwi:428580}}

Don't talk so much about losing the bulb. You have no reason to believe that your Minerva could be lost... Be prepared for the worse, but don't program it into your everydays. :o) Be happy with yorur Minerva. Then I'd say, repot it when you can if you keep the baby next to it, so the baby has some space to expand.

I don't expect to lose her any time soon, really... I enjoy her each and every day! She's one of the first things I check when I get up in the morning, and I have to smile when I look at her, because I can hardly believe this huge bulb was a clearance aisle $3 kit from Walmart! When I think of how many beautiful blooms she's given, and right on schedule every year... well, it's things like that that make me certain there's a God!

I plan on bumping her pot up one size next spring, but for now, I don't want to disturb her... she was just re-potted, and she is currently losing leaves one by one in anticipation of a little rest before she flowers in February. Do you notice how I refer to Minerva as "her"? I don't care how large my collection grows, or what special bulbs I am able to get... she will always be my favorite. She is sturdy and reliable, and she reminds me of the wonderful years I had with my other Minerva! :-)

Yes, I noticed that people like to refer to flowers as females... I am not too keen on doing it... I don't feel like flowers are feminine. Nor do I feel that countries are feminine or feel like a mother... I would not call countries Her either. It. They are not one part of an equation for me. They are individuals. I call my dog He though, because he is a male dog. And I feel really annoyed when people refer to a dog as IT. It is not it, It is a he or she. :o) Oh soft heart!

While a dog is either male or female, a flower can be considered both. They can be self-pollinated, therefore, have both male and female parts. I suppose they should be called "it".

I only refer to my one bulb, Minerva, as "her", or a "she". I only do this because that particular bulb reminds me of her namesake, Minerva the Bulldog.

If you notice, I never refer to my Apple Blossom as anything other than "it". Nor will I refer to any other bulb, regardless of it's female name, as a her or a she... Minerva is special. :-) I have a soft heart, too...

I completely understand your devotion to your bulb. I wish these kind of thoughts would never have to attack us... I dread the day I will have to part from Toto... But you know... It is more important to concentrate on the present than be lost in the future.

You bet! We only go around once... we need to make the best of every day! Live now, no regrets!

I sometimes with I were religious, beliving in reincarnation or something. :o) I wouldn't worry about what I have passed by and forgot or had no opportunity to do.
I bet, I will go to the grave still missing some varieties of Hippeastrum. :o)

LOL Soultan. You're going to be six feet under, wearing your best suit with your list of "have to get varieties" in your pocket.

In that case, there has to be something like reincarnation, just so Soultan can finish collecting his list! :-)

Yeah...He can be a good dog like Toto and sniff around for his wanted varieties...LOL! Or maybe a butterfly or a bee and taste the nectar of these varieties. Hmmmmm...not such a bad idea huh! I won't mind being like that and still continue pollinating amaryllis flowers.

Some of you might find it disgusting, but when I pollinate, my fingers often get sticky from the nectars from the flowers. It tastes good. :o)

They do taste good! I used to get Hibiscus flowers and suck the nectar of it when I was a child. Lola (grandmother) NEVER sprayed then.

I am a sucker for amaryllis nectar.

"Amaryllis nectar"? What on Earth are you talking about? I didn't think amaryllises produced nectar. Is the word you're looking for "sap"? Besides, I thought these things were highly poisonous....

Hello Oklahoma Tim. Welcome to the forum :-)! Yes, hippeastrum flowers specially the cybisters produce nectar. The nectar apparently is not poisonous.

If I'm not mistaken, all flowers produce some kind of nectar... it's what attracts the bees and butterflies that help pollinate them... flower color attracts them, as well. I find that fairly fascinating... they come to sip the nectar and their little feet do the pollinating, almost by accident, carrying the pollen from one flower to another... good thing they don't wipe their feet in between flowers! Hehe!

The amaryllis BULBS and LEAVES are poisonous. The nectar is not... Birds and insects would eat them and pollinate the flowers. I don't think that there is poisonous nectar out there.
It is actually very sweet, like a sugar syrup (because it is. :o) )