Congratulations! That hasn't happened for me yet. What was your method? It would be nice to be able to keep them around and have them bloom for years to come.

Hi sandyslopes. You have very similar weather to me, so this may work for you as well. After bloom, I cut off the bloom stalks and left the green leaves. I replanted the bulbs into black nursery pots a bit larger than the bulbs with good potting soil. I left them in the house in a sunny spot until it was warm enough for them to go outside (May-June here). I placed all the pots outside in a spot that received morning sun. I watered them daily and fertilized them weekly along with my annuals in containers. Believe it or not, one of them (the Aphrodite) even bloomed in July but the earwigs ate the bloom. In September, I stopped watering and let the pots dry out. Then I moved them into my garage in my little red wagon. I ignored them. What puzzled me is that for the most part, the leaves remained green on them. In December, I took them out of their pots, cut off the leaves and trimmed the roots. Then I repotted them in decorative planters for the season. I used new potting soil again. I started watering them a little bit as I would with newly purchased bulbs.

I am still kind of incredulous that this worked! Seems so close to other "systems" I have tried before. Maybe the fertilizer in the Summer was the key. I don't know!

Confirmed that the remaining bulb from last year also has a bud. So that's a 100% success. I am over the moon!

I agree, T. I think the fertilizer made a difference and keeping them growing during the warm season. I guess I'll find out next year since I have now been entrusted with some more bulbs.

Thanks for the details on how you did it, popmama! (Sorry it took me so long to come back and find your response). I'm going to follow what you wrote. Although, I may put them into the basement because my garage can get very cold.

I have two Amaryllis that I bought this year so, of course, they bloomed beautifully except for having to stretch too much for light. But I really want to keep them and have them bloom again. The one I had from last year has not bloomed again since then but it's alive so that's something. I fertilized it when it was outside last summer when I fertilized the annuals in pots but hardly any new growth. Might need more than I was giving it.

So Sept through Dec. you let them dry out and left them alone. When you say you trimmed the roots, do you mean trimming even healthy looking roots? Or just taking out any that looked dried or rotted? Or did they all look dry by then?

I trimmed all the roots because they had grown very long and were difficult to squeeze into the decorative pots I use around the holidays. Most of them are done blooming and I started putting them back into their nursery pots. I did not trim roots for this transfer. Now I just have to deal with them in the kitchen until it's warm enough for them to go outside. And my family heard about my success and everyone started giving me their bulbs. Now I have too many! haha

T.Tran, I agree, fertilization is important as well as adding a systemic pesticide to keep pests and disease at bay.

Popmama, thanks for sharing your experiences with us!

Depending on what your local challenges are it may not be necessary or desirable to use any kind of systemic pesticide. I avoid using these for anything that might bloom outside, in case pollinators are visiting the flowers, and instead keep a close eye on the plants and deal with any potential issues early, using the least toxic options possible. Also, a healthy plant can often fight off or tolerate some of these kinds of issues until disease-producing conditions change, or the outbreak of pests abates, or pest-predators move in.

I would never trim any roots, it is like cutting someone’s fingers. Not to speak about leaves (unless they are yellow)