Amaryllis belladonna
jimlykos (Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:59:18 PDT)

Hi ,

I grow around 70 different collected and bred cultivars of Amaryllis
belladonna and its hybrids. The optimum flowering in Amaryllis occurs if
the bulbs experience are able to grow strongly during autumn and winter
followed by dry climatic conditions from mid Spring to mid Summer - broken
by a summer rainstorm or heavy watering during the 2nd to 3 month of Summer.
If sufficient rainfall doesnt fall at the close of summer the bulbs wont
flower - or flower poorly that season.
It is also clear from my cultural experiments that planting a bulb too deep
results in lots of pups but a distinct lack of flowers. Some varieties and
particualry those with some hybrid genes grow and flower best with up to
half of the bulb exposed to direct sunlight. I have found that all
Amaryllis in common wont flower if there is too much shade - and while it is
hard to qualify the exact amount of sunlight needed in the crucial flower
bud forming period, I get the best flowering from Amaryllis varieties that
are exposed to direct sunlight for most of the day.
It is also likely that if the bulb mass is cramped and covered with large
amounts of Amaryllis leaf from these bulbs, then the area around the bulbs
remains cooler and shader - impeding flower initiation.

There are early and late flowered varieties, the most common species forms
that tend to be light pink to medium pink coloured are the earliest to
flower and the multi flowering darker rose to red coloured forms with 30 to
40 flowers per umbel are the last to flower usually around the last month
of summer - with up to two months of separation between the early and late
varieties.

Cheers

Jim Lykos
Blue Mountains
Australia