Well Dell, You have probably been buying apples that are wax coated but not with as thick or kind of coating the bulb has. Rutabagas, yuck! Frankly, the waxing of the bulb is a cynical practice backed by the thought that the consumer is too ignorant of proper bulb culture and would discard after Christmas. I am sure some are like my mother who would put gift plants in the canned fruit cabinet until they browned. Then she discarded them. She did not know that at the minimum the azaleas likely would have survived in our Portland yard which was USDA 8. Be well, Joyce From: Dell Sherk Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2016 1:38 PM To: Joyce Miller ; Pacific Bulb Society Subject: RE: [pbs] Christmas waxed Hippeastrum Well, Joyce, You are very brave! Buying something like that, which is coated in wax, sounds unnatural – like buying a mummy (I think they are more expensive.) But you say it bloomed. What will the commercial horticulturalists think up next? (Well the phalaenopsis colors that I see in the supermarket are pretty unnatural too.) I buy rutabagas that are coated in wax, but they never bloom. Happy New Year, Dell Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Joyce Miller Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2016 3:16 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Christmas waxed Hippeastrum Hi Gang, This Christmas I purchased a Hippeastrum (aka Amaryllis) for my Sister. It was unusual because it had been waxed with instructions not to plant and not to water. In due time, it bloomed. I bought it out of insatiable curtiosity (with apologies to Kipling's tale of "How the Elephant Got His Trunk." As soon as it goes out of bloom, I plan to remove the wax coating, pot it and keep it in the house during the winter. My guess is the roots were shaved closely to the bulb plate. If so, the bulb might survive. It the plate was damaged not so good. Has anyone had experience with this wax treatment? Best wishes and Happy New Year to All Joyce Miller, Gresham, OR where it has been bitterly cold with a nasty wind chill factor to boot. At present it is snowing but barely sticking. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/