First of all, I live in the north and do all my breeding indoors... so, there's very little chance of unwanted or accidental breedings taking place... I would suggest little paper bags loosely fastened over the just-opened flower to prevent unwanted breedings. I'm fairly certain that if you Google the subject, you'll find some information on outdoor pollinating and the like.

Second, the stigma on a Hippeastrum is ready to accept pollen when it appears slightly turned up... that is, facing skyward. I notice that mine, although indoors, curve upward as they become ready for pollen.

Since I pollinate indoors, and there's no wind or insects to contend with, I don't worry about removing anthers of pollen or stamens from any flowers... however, that might be an option for outdoors. Again, I'd suggest Googling the subject to see what the experts have to say. Many times, you can find online papers written by horticultural departments of colleges or any number of other knowledgeable "plant people".

Hope this helps... perhaps some of our local resident experts can add more... anyone?

Mike,

If you are familiar with daylily ploidy, then Amaryllis ploidy considerations are very similar. I first learned about ploidy (diploid vs. tetraploid) when hybridizing daylilies.

The biggest difference is that with daylilies, you pollinate early in the morning, right? Before it gets too hot and the bees eat all the pollen (in my case), right? Also, you only have one day for each bloom, but you most likely have many more scapes and many more blooms.

Well, it is a little different with Amaryllis because their blooms are opened for a week and many times more. The stigma is not usually ready before 2-3 days. In most of the Tetraploid hybrids, you can wait until the stigma opens up to three segments. In some of the diploids, you need to pollinate sooner.

There is no harm to trying to pollinate too early. As soon as the pollen will stick, that is a good thing. You can always apply more the next day, if you wish.

Yes, you should remove the pollen (anthers)ASAP, especially on the Tets. You can store the pollen in the refrigerator, similar to the way you store daylily pollen. I have several in my patio that I never hand pollinated or removed the pollen, and they are forming pods.

However, the seeds will not last as long as daylily seeds, even if you refrigerate them which can be done.

Have FUN and ENJOY!

Ann

P.S. Jodi, Welcome back! We have missed you, and I need to email you regarding shipping some 'goodies'.

Thanks, Ann... I missed you guys, too! I shut my machine down before leaving, and even though we travel with a laptop and my son has plenty of technology available, I tried to go cold turkey for the duration of our visit! I did a good job, but really missed the conversations and lovely flower photos!

Now, I must try to catch up and read all about the happenings while I was away!

Feel free to email anytime... I check it every morning!

It's fun to travel and visit... but it's nice to be home, and back in touch with all my gardening friends! :-)

As a footnote... I did some Daylily breeding over summer, and have a few of the resulting seeds planted and growing. I crossed an unnamed prolific orangy-red variety with a large deep red named variety... Chicago Apache, I believe... I hope the results are more red flowers! The unnamed variety is the hardiest and most giving plant I have grown in my life! We'll see!

Breeding Daylilies is almost as fun as breeding Hippeastrums, and even though the flowers only have a short time span for breeding, I've been lucky in my attempts so far... the only drawback I see is that Daylilies are being bred, named and introduced at a very fast rate, and there are so many of them! But... it's all fun!

Mike and all,
Even those who pollinate indoors may wish to remove anthers when pollinating. Although the insects aren't pollinating them, I have had a number self pollinate when they hadn't been hand pollinated. I think when the flower closes up some of them pollinate themselves. If you wish for a specific cross, I'd remove the anthers to be safe.