Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have 4 amarylis bulbs that I rebloomed this year.  They were beautiful!  After they flowered and the flowers dried up I pinched off the flowers.  Two of the stalks then had another shoot come out with a triangular,green,roundish pod type thing on the end of it.  One has dried up and inside it looks like a zillion dry seeds.  An amarylis is a bulb so I am confused.  What are these things?
Thanks!
Betsy

ANSWER: You can grow Bulbs from scratch two ways, my friend.

One of course is to take a bulblet off the side of the mother Bulb.  This takes a few years in general to reach blooming size, then it will split up into more bulblets as the old Bulb reaches maturity, and the cycle starts anew.

But there is another way.

Let me ask you this:  What do you think these flowers are for, anyway?

Do you think Amaryllis plants just like to look pretty?

Those SEEDS are the reason for every flower.  No exceptions to this rule.  SEEDS propagate.  You get SEEDS from Flowers.  No place else.

In fact, MOST propagagating of Amaryllis is done by dividing the bulbs.  But you don't get new hybrids that way.

Now, if you're thinking now of planting them, hold your horses.  This is easier said than done, I'm afraid.

Seeds must be fertilized by hand pollinating -- yourself -- when the Amaryllis is blooming.

As you probably know, seeds don't often yield offspring that look like the parent plants.  The seedpods appear quickly and take a month or longer to ripen.

You can remove the seedpods when they have yellowed and are showing signs of opening.  Extract the seeds and leave them on a paper towel to dry several days, then plant in a semishady pot, with rich loam, and wait.

When you see that any of the seeds are germinating, increase the light exposure slowly until the plant(s) are growing in full Sun.

Remember, my friend, these are persnickety plants.  And like many tropical flowers, germination is unpredictable, uneven and can take forever.

Me, I would rather watch grass grow.

Thanks for writing.  Keep in touch.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your answer.  I was unaware that any bulbed plant had seeds.  I thought they were always propagated by splitting the multiplied bulbs.  My question is this-If the seeds have to be hand pollinated when the amaryllis is blooming, how do you do that?  My seed pods didn't come out until after my blooms had dried up.  I am obviously a novice gardener, but I love learning about gardening!

Answer
Your thoughts about Bulbs being Seed-less makes perfect sense.  Why would you need Seeds?  Right?  It's not the first time I've heard this assumption -- I would say it's quite common, and if you surveyed 20 people on the street, 19 of them, or maybe all 20, would think hard about the answer and come up with the same one you did.  That's why I think we have to ask the question, Why would a plant need to make flowers?

Self-pollination is a little tricky, but easy to get the hang of. You will find illustrated instructions on hand pollinating Amaryllis at the LandsPro website:

www.landspro.com/page009.htm

Once the Amaryllis is pollinated, seedpods appear.  They mature in four to five weeks.  Seeds are VERY thin.  Amaryllis Seeds are found in the seedpod.

The seedpod turns yellow and shrinks, then dries.  Inside the shrunken pod is where mature seeds are stored.

The seedpods should be picked as soon as they turn yellow and begin splitting open.  Open a pod over a piece of white or waxed paper so you can see them.  Remove seeds and air dry for a few days before you plant them.  Plant the seeds in regular potting soil on the surface, barely covering. Keep constantly moist at room temperature.

It takes around 5 years for new Amaryllis plants to grow big enough to
flower.

The original bulb that you harvested seeds from should be producing
offshoot bulbs.  You can divide them and get new plants, too.  New Amaryllis plants should be ready to flower in 3 to 4 years.

A long term project, but you know how time flies.  Good luck -- and if
you need any further instructions here let me know.  Thanks for writing.  Your further followups welcome,

L.I.G.