Growing amaryllis: planting and care features at home

Amaryllis is often confused with its closest relative, hippeastrum, but these plants differ in both varieties and flowering. A real amaryllis belladonna is a very rare guest on the windows of apartments, and even those who have found a rare bulb, after a few years give them to other hands, since most often it does not bloom in an apartment. To provide a flower with good care at home, you need to make a lot of effort and time.

The origin of the amaryllis

The amaryllis was discovered by the Swedish scientist Karl Linnaeus, and it happened in 1753 in the Cape province of South Africa.

Amaryllis is a perennial bulbous plant, an adult bulb can grow up to 10 cm in diameter. In nature, flowering occurs at the end of summer. It blooms in a leafless state, releasing a bare peduncle up to 60 cm high. At the end of it there is an inflorescence with funnel-shaped flowers. Most often, from 2 to 12 flowers of pink color bloom, but recently white flowers have also begun to be found.

Amaryllis homeland is South Africa, their feature is flowering without leaves

Around the same time, on another continent - in South America, hippeastrum were discovered and brought to Europe, which became the favorites of many gardeners.

For a long time, collectors and sellers called hippeastrum amaryllis, and only in 1987 at the International Congress of Botanists they were expelled from the genus Amaryllis and now they form their own genus Hippeastrum.

Hippeastrum was found in South America and is similar to amaryllis, but leaves and flowers appear at the same time.

Table: how to distinguish amaryllis from hippeastrum

Indoor types and varieties of flowers

For a long time, the only representative of the amaryllis species was considered to be amaryllis belladonna with a color of flowers from pale pink to deep purple. But in 1998, a closely related plant was found in the more arid and mountainous areas of Africa, calling it Amaryllis paradisicola.

The new species was distinguished by wider leaves and the number of flowers in the inflorescence (up to 21), in addition, the color of the flowers was uniformly pink.

Both species have a strong aroma, but the paradisicola is much richer.

Amaryllis belladonna was cultivated in the 1700s, it was exported to Europe, America and Australia, where much later it was crossed with Crinum and Brunswigia. The resulting hybrids have a variety of colors, including stripes and veins and lighter corolla centers.

Types and varieties of amaryllis and hippeastrum in the photo

Table - conditions of detention

Planting and transplanting amaryllis

Since amaryllis bulbs cannot overwinter even at minimal negative temperatures, it is better to grow the plant in pots. However, in the southern regions of Russia, in the Krasnodar Territory, it is also planted in the ground.

Amaryllis can grow outdoors only in places with warm winters.

Pot selection

The diameter of the pot for amaryllis should be 4–5 cm larger than the diameter of the bulb itself, that is, when planting from the bulb to the wall of the pot, it should be about 2 cm. The same rule should be followed when transplanting grown plants into a larger pot.

Amaryllis planters are selected depending on the size and number of bulbs

It is better to take the pots themselves high, stable, and for group plantings of several bulbs - large pots. Since the plant produces an abundant number of children, group planting is preferable.

Soil selection

Amaryllis is undemanding to the soil - any purchased land with neutral acidity will do, however, for better air exchange per 10 liters of earth, it is better to add 2-3 liters of coconut substrate and 1 liter of vermiculite.

Since most often amaryllis belladonna is sold in bulbs, and not in flowering plants, they are planted in soil or pots.

Landing

1. We pour 2-3 cm of drainage at the bottom of the pot, it is best to use modern material - expanded clay.
   

   2-3 cm of expanded clay are poured at the bottom of the pot

2. We fill the pot with soil so that the top of the bulb is slightly above the level of the walls of the pot.
3. We put the onion and cover it with soil, 1-2 cm short of the edge of the pot for easy watering.
   

   The bulb is placed on the ground and covered with earth

4. Lightly crush the soil around the onion, spill it with water.

In hot climates with very warm winters, where the temperature does not drop below +10⁰C, amaryllis are planted in the ground so that the entire bulb is submerged in the soil, then the flower stalks come out of the bare ground.

Attention, all operations with planting, transplanting, pruning or treating amaryllis bulbs should be carried out only with gloves, since the secreted juice is poisonous.

Do I need support

Flowers growing in the ground do not need support. When planting bulbs in pots, especially if the bulb is not completely submerged in the ground, sometimes supports must be placed to support the peduncle. With a lack of light, the leaves can also be frail and fall apart, they can be collected using circular supports.

To prevent leaves and peduncles from falling, use circular supports

Caring for amaryllis at home

Amaryllis is a very rare and exotic plant, caring for it is somewhat difficult.

Watering and feeding during cultivation

The growing season of amaryllis begins with the release of a flower arrow at the end of summer, emerging from the bare ground, the peduncles grow rapidly upward and soon bloom. At this time, watering is needed abundant, you should also feed the amaryllis with fertilizers for flowering plants.

Any fertilizer for flowering plants is suitable for feeding amaryllis.

Leaves appear soon, but if it is cold, then this period can last until April, but already at the end of spring the leaves die off and the bulb gathers strength for flowering. The period of leaf growth is a very important stage, because at this time flower stalks are formed and nutrients are collected, so you need to fertilize every 2 weeks.

Flowering period

Unlike hippeastrum, making true amaryllis bloom is not easy. In the ground, it blooms itself, but in pots purchased bulbs are not always in a hurry to show the arrow. Even with leaves it grows reluctantly. However, it is believed that if a plant spends the summer in a hot garden in the sun, then with the onset of winter it will definitely bloom.

After flowering, a bulb with seeds may form, and most often leaves appear. Seeds can be collected and planted to produce new plants, the peduncle is broken out or cut, and the plant itself is well fed.

Photo gallery - amaryllis bloom in a private garden in the Krasnodar Territory

Video - flowering amaryllis in the garden, caring for a plant in the open field

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zc4NZM6DaMw

Dormant period

In the conditions of apartment maintenance, there is little reliable information about the dormant period: most often it is recommended to keep the bulb at a temperature of + 10 + 12⁰From until the leaves appear, without watering, fertilizing, and even without light. However, the calendar winter months fall on the growing season of the amaryllis, so the temperature should be + 22 + 24⁰C with a day length of 12-14 hours.

Flowers behave in a completely different way in the garden: after flowering at the end of summer, they can go to sleep until April, without releasing a single leaf. And already with the arrival of warm days, leaves come to life and grow.

Like many other bulbous plants, amaryllis do not form: they do not pinch or prune.

Table - problems with growing and how to solve them

Table - diseases and pests of the amaryllis family

For 6 years of observing amaryllis, I most often encountered rot due to improper watering in the cold season, as well as with a red burn on freshly purchased plants.The pests were not noticed, despite the fact that neighboring indoor flowers were damaged. The treatment of a red burn was carried out in a standard way: first, treatment in the Maxim preparation, then cut out to living tissue, treated with greenery and dried for 24 hours. The planting of especially damaged bulbs was carried out in vermiculite.

Photo gallery - flower diseases and pests

Reproduction

An adult bulb gives a lot of babies, therefore, it forms beautiful thickets in wildlife. For reproduction, it is enough to separate the baby from the mother plant and plant it separately. Such a baby will bloom in 3-4 years.

Amaryllis bulb with babies

Unlike hippeastrum, after flowering, amaryllis forms a seed capsule with bulbs, which, after the peduncle dries, also sink to the ground and germinate. However, in indoor conditions, flowering is very rare.

It is considered inappropriate to propagate amaryllis by dividing the bulb, since it gives a lot of children. It is better to plant and divide the plant after the end of the growing season.

Photo gallery - seed formation of amaryllis belladonna

Reviews

Until recently, I thought that I was growing hippeastrum on my windowsill. Until I saw a flower very similar to mine, it was called amaryllis for some reason. And I decided to find out for myself what grows on my windowsill really?
It turns out that these two flowers are very similar to each other, and an inexperienced person can hardly distinguish them purely in appearance. But there are still differences. They are often confused because both have large bulbs that throw out thick peduncles of funnel-shaped flowers. Amaryllis is more rare; and the plant we usually buy called amaryllis is actually hippeastrum. The important difference is that, firstly, this is the flowering time. Hypeastrum blooms somewhere from late winter to spring, and amaryllis, around late summer and autumn. Secondly, unlike the amaryllis, the flower arrow of the hippeastrum is hollow and, therefore, is not able to withstand many flowers, therefore there are rarely more than four or five of them on this flower, the arrow of the amaryllis is fleshy and there may be more flowers. Thirdly, amaryllis flowers have a pleasant aroma, and hippeastrum is odorless. Fourthly, hypeastrum, unlike amalilis, form daughter bulbs much less often. But hippeastrum is still more common in our country, unlike its twin brother. There are other differences and who is interested in what actually grows in them. , if they wish, they can find out. Therefore, in order to really buy amaryllis, and not hippeastrum bulbs, it is better to buy in specialized stores.

I planted my onions in pots in mid-May and planted them in the garden in the open ground, where they sat with me until the end of August and did not give any signs, and then I started laying a new compost and watered each layer with Baikal-EM, and so I applied the remaining (a little) part of the watering preparation on the Amaralis bows and after a week they showed leaves. Then after 2 weeks I watered (again a little) minerl. fertilizer 8-8-8 NPK and they went with joy in growth, but so far only leaves. And now at night it became +8 and I passed into other pots and brought it into the house and put it in the place where +20, I water it a little through the pallet and there a few drops of NK 3.4-6.8.

You saw a photo of amaryllis belladonna on the internet, right? Beautiful pink narrow-petaled flowers. There are such flower forms among hippeastrum, yes.But among precisely the amaryllis belladonna, which is sometimes sold in flower shops, there are no white ones with a green throat. In general, from my experience and the experience of our forum, amaryllis belladonna at home (i.e. when grown in a pot) did not bloom in anyone. On the street - yes, in the east of France, the girl showed amaryllis thickets. He hibernates there in the ground. Perhaps, somewhere on the coast, amaryllis also grows and blooms, I didn’t track much :), but after three years of torment (both myself and the Eva: D), I refused. At home, it is very difficult, almost impossible, to achieve flowering from amaryllis belladonna. (therefore, it is also a rarity in online stores, and the price for hippeastrum is adjusted, although generally amaryllis belladonna, as a species, is cheaper than varietal hippeastrum). Hence the conclusion - hippeastrum are widespread in our country, not amaryllis, because it is much easier to get flowers from them. And in Internet stores, varietal hippeastrum is often called amaryllis, it is believed in the west that this name is prettier: D. Well, on a note - distinguishing hippeastrum from amaryllis, even sleeping, is as easy as shelling pears. Tear off a scale (you can dry it, you can even have a leaf), if the veins-strings follow, this is amaryllis. Nothing stretches behind the leaf scales of the hippeastrum.

Amaryllis belladonna is so far the only representative of amaryllis in indoor floriculture. However, due to the confusion that occurred in the 1700s and continues to this day, hippeastrums are often called amaryllis, although they were singled out in their own genus back in 1998. Amaryllis very rarely bloom indoors, but in southern Russia and in Europe, in countries with warm winters, they are very common and grow in gardens and parks.

Related entries:

Planting tulips in autumn - methods and instructions

Differences between amaryllis and hippeastrum, photo of these flowers

Aglaonema: types and photos, features of home care