Get em drunk!

There is a post a little while back about alcohol influence on scape height.

Jason

But I'm not forcing in water--the Amaryllis is rooted in soil (actually, peat mix). How do I use the alcohol in that situation? Do I water with the alcohol instead of with water?

Thanks,
gardenerzone4

Don't believe every how to get em to grow better secret you hear gardenerzone, the booze might be good to rid some pest if misted from time to time but not for overall health of bulbs and growth

Re-pot em after flowering in a more open free draining non peat moss medium

He's right I personally wouldn't waste the time or the alcohol for that matter. However a good support stake and more sunlight seems to help the plant from becoming etoliated. Plus there are other hybrids with shorter scapes.

And...there are some that are very tall! My Tosca is very tall and my Sumatra was an extreme 42 inches tall!!! Just enjoy them and stunt the cheap paperwhites!!
:-)
K

well, as i am in your camp of desiring that hippies be kept shorter, i disagree w/ the others. i, for one, am going to, once the bulbs start to put up their scapes, water w/ the alcohol dilution recommended in the article i posted in the other thread. i will eventually be posting about what happens.
best,
mindy

Watering a potting medium with alcohol and having the bulbs in water with alcohol is two very different avenues, the latter being the ideal choice.

Once the plant has bloomed it isn't recommended to continue the alcohol regimen so you must be prepared to re-pot with fresh potting mixture as the old will be tainted.

To continue with the alcohol treatment would eventually adversely affect the bulbs performance unless your plans are to totally discard the bulb after blooming which doesn't seem to be the case.

Josh, now I don't know if the alcohol would stay in the soil all that long since it does evaporate fairly quickly. Not to mention if watering would just rinse it out of the soil. What do you think?

A peat based soil will hold any liquid be it water or alcoholic longer than a more free draining medium.

As Kab said there are some that do get taller scape than others as a natural occurrence.
For radar: It's harder for any liquid to evaporate if the liquid is ALREADY in the soil compared to a liquid that isn't. As well they may want to consider the residual wanted and/or unwanted components that could have an effect on the over all health of the bulb. If someone said water with left over tea bags steeped a second time would also yield the same commented results Lastly what to use to water a plant with isn't or ever was meant to be as complex as you suggest.

Repeating that a simple solution is to enjoy the flowering may and then change the soil to a more free draining medium when the bulb is resting.

I agree whole heartedly that watering should not be so complicated I didn't write the article about the alcohol. I personally don't ever water with anything besides a little fertilizer. But as I know there are a lot of people that aren't serious growers but casual ones I only suggested it as an option. Just a side note too I use peat soil with all my hippeastrums with excellent results. It's all about water control, and environment. During the summer when it's 105 degrees my mix doesn't stay wet for more than a day or two. I think it's one of those things that need to be played around with and find out what works for you.

Radar....and now that you are moving to OHIO...you get to figure out what works for you all over again! Is the move going as planned? Need any "foster care" for plants since I'll be driving to OH in June?
K (just N of H-town)

Kab,

Thanks for asking, although unfortunately it is not going as planned as of a few days ago. The agency just canceled my assignment much to my dismay. Now its back to the drawing board. I havent a clue were we will be moving. There is a hint as to little rock, but I cant say anything for sure, I just love living in limbo. I hope it happens sometime soon because I dont know how long hippis can be forced to stay dormant. I have boxes already dried and keeping cold. In a few month my amorphs as well will start to wake up and then im in a world of problems as I have about 50 species of them to pot up. I did get a topper for my truck along with an outlet built in for a heater if it comes to moving plants in active growth, but its only one truck bed! I may be parting with some plants come spring if this thing still hasnt been resolved. And thats only ONE thing I have to worry about! Ha.

Jason

Since the curator of the National Botanical Garden is on this forum...from time to time... let’s see what he says!

From the expert at the National Bitanicsl Garden: “No we sure don’t use bottom heat to keep scapes short. We will sometimes use bottom heat for newly potted bulbs to get them rooting faster. Mostly we ‘force’ older bulbs in a cool greenhouse that is really bright. Still many cybisters actually are really tall for us. Chico can go over 3’, Bogota is quite tall as well. The shorter scape types are bred for that trait (Floris Hekker, many Hadeco cybisters).

Hope this helps to clarify!”