That is a happy surprise! :)

It's great to know that trimming thick basal plates can really help! I must keep that in mind when it's time to dig up stubborn bulbs.

I actually had two bulbs I "shaved" but the other one had already started to go soft; so it was almost certainly too late. At any rate it didn't work on that one.

This one was still nice and firm all over; and I figured I had nothing to lose, and I couldn't think of anything else to do that might have saved it. It looks like this worked at least 50% of the time, and probably should have been done sooner for better results on the one that failed. All my hippies are going outside this summer. Hopefully to grow on and get nice and plump. The Sonatinis already are fat little things and should just plain glow from real sunshine. (I hope I hope I hope)

I am so happy to hear that you revived this bulb, Old Dutch, by doing basal plate trimming. It's been a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine, to make sure that as many amaryllis fans as possible know about the potential effects of thick basal plates.

You really weren't taking much risk: the bulb was underperforming anyway, so all you had left was addressing the one thing you'd probably heard about.

I don't have enough bulbs nor have been raising them for long enough, to be able to state with any authority at what point thick basal plates must be dealt with. I'm the merest amateur. All I know is that it's a real issue.

I'm starting to keep actual notes on a spreadsheet now, about which of my (few, maybe only 15-18) bulbs develop such plates, when I trim them, and what the response is in terms up bulb bulk-up. No promises of a report; it'll probably be for my personal enrichment only, and even if I make mention of my observations here, it'll only be anecdotal, and may not adequately account for overall care and environment.

In any case: good for you.

(You might want to consider taking that flower stem off once the pedicel fully emerges from the bulb, if your intention is to bulk up the bulb instead of having it send its energy toward flowering. You don't need it to flower, right? Because you know what it is, already. Just a thought.)

Joan

Hi Joan,

For me the point of having the bulb is to have it flower. In the case of my hippies - to have them reflower. Once the buds start to open I will take the flower stem and hold it in water while it completes the bloom.

This particular bulb has thrown 4 pups over the last year or so and figuring out how to grow them on is one of my next projects. The Sonatinis seem to have responded real well and got nice and plump even when crowded, pups as well as mother bulbs. It seems to me that they have a different set of requirements from the full sized hybrids.

The whole works are going outside for the summer once it warms up enough.

Well its not Red Lion. More like Apple Blossom, but the flowers are now gone; so we need to wait until maybe next winter.