What kind of bulbs?

usually most bulbs/rhizomes etc want to thow out leaves (and flowers), recharge and go dormant again

skipping a whole cycle would probably harm them

but yea, what kind of bulbs?

Are you referring to hippeastrums, Rouge? Yep, you can store them until summer - water is the main trigger into growth. Needs to be somewhere dry and cool but I am not sure about keeping them in the dark although they will have been kept in a box for a while.. I have planted bulbs at all times of year - narcissus in summer even (they grow but come up blind for the first season).

note the second forum linked to ...

did you look at them and see if they are still in good shape???

if you had any room in the house near a window.. i would ask why you cant just pot them up and grow them for an easter show or some such ....

i would also wonder if they can skip a whole year.. and still come back with VIGOR ...

ken

f you had any room in the house near a window.. i would ask why you cant just pot them up and grow them for an easter show or some such ....

Hi @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, I have a bit of a amaryllis obsession and so all sunny spots are taken with previous years saved Hippeastrum bulbs!

Yep, you can store them until summer - water is the main trigger into growth

Thanks for this confirmation @rosaprimula. (I would have thought that it would have been heat and light that would trigger growth in these brand new, store bought, never bloomed bulbs.)

The closet needs to be cool as well as dark.

My youngest had a white garden for a few years which used to have a couple of huge amaryllids flowering at the same time as rose Madame Alfred Carriere and thalictrum delavayii album. Christmas something. He grew them a bit like dahlias, lifting, cleaning, storing (in the bike shed).

My daughter-in-law has one she has been keeping going since she was about 10 or something (she is also an orchid and succulent fan too).

As for myself, they were another seasonal plant I managed to kill every year (along with christmas cactus, poinsettia, cineraria, various primroses, streptocarpus...and on and on. Plants which spend any amount of time indoors almost certainly dwindle and die. As soon as plants become wholly dependent on my untender care, their days are often numbered. Over watering, underwatering, nutrient imbalances, infestations, etiolation, chlorosis...always something.

I believe that if they are kept cool enough they will not bloom for weeks. The ones blooming in stores have not been kept cold. I get some get some every year for Christmas presents. My kids then have a race to see who gets the first and biggest blooms. I keep the bulbs in the dark an unheated porch until they can be planted up.

I believe that if they are kept cool enough they will not bloom for weeks.

Well I am hoping I can delay it months :), keeping each in their box.

Is a low of 2C too cold?

I can’t tell you the precise temperature. But 2c would be colder than my unheated porch.

I would be a little worried that it was a bit on the chilly side. The bulb is dormant but still alive so everything is just slowed down a lot. 2C is colder than my fridge...where I store my dry seeds or stratify moist ones, I would be a little anxious about storing tender bulbs (although tulip bulbs are fine at 38-40F). It gets trickier at the other end in spring, when outside temperatures start to rise. They grow away quickly, once triggered into growth - weeks rather than months. So you basically need to be able to maintain a fairly constant temperature, cool, dark and dry, for the next 6 months.

The hyacinths I force for my kids are kept in an outdoor cupboard so rarely dip anywhere near freezing at this time of year...and they are started into growth much earlier than their natural cycle.

I have a bit of a amaryllis obsession and so all sunny spots are taken with previous years saved Hippeastrum bulbs!

==>>

i suspected and seemed to vaguely recall such.. along the lines of you stunning us with mid winter pix of tropical indoor flowers ... cant wait...

in other words .... i set you up ... lol ...

ken

Are they showing any signs of active growth. If they are, the will complete the flowering cycle (think of all the bulbs flowering in their boxes. They don't require prime real estate to flower at this stage and afterwards let them go dry, dark and cool to initiate dormancy and plant outside in summer. They may, or may not bloom that year, but will in future years.

If the are not showing any signs green growth, then you have a good chance of them flowering in the spring/summer if you keep them dry, cool and dark and plant out then.

I was able to get my amaryllis that I grew last year in 2021, to rebloom this year (2022). Here's what I did: after it finished blooming, I treated it like a houseplant and watered it once a week. When the weather warmed up, I placed it outside (in it's original container), in a semi-shady area. I watered it occasionally. I left it outside until I think mid-Oct. It did experience some cooler nights, but not freezing. I brought it back inside and cut back any dead leaves. It's now reblooming - see pic below.

SO glad you reactivated this thread. Here are three of my that were all in bloom at the same time a couple of weeks back. (All three were bought in past years):

...you have a good chance of them flowering in the spring/summer if you keep them dry, cool and dark and plant out then.

Yup. 3 in unopened boxes in a dark location. I will plant a couple outdoors come June and maybe the other in a pot for indoors a month or two earlier.

UPDATE: March 2023

This one was one of the bulbs I purchased in November 2022; stored in its original box since then in a dark but room temperature location.

Bored, having no plants in flower in the house at the moment I decided to pot it up yesterday. For sure it is a bit pale ;) having had no light these past 4 months. I'm betting that I will see a blossom .....before I see daffs in flower.

If they are big box type boxes, you better check to make sure they didn't already bud blast from the heat in the store. Otherwise storing until June is no problem if you keep them 55 F dry and dark.

You can also rebloom big bulbs that have already bloomed by putting them in this same environment for 8-12 weeks. (Boxed bulbs or big box store bulbs are not nearly big enough for this) You can do this over and over until the bulb basically disappears or won't bloom because it's too small and all it's energy is spent.

As Ken pointed out it's a long time, but those bulbs are dug up in September or August and it won't be quite a year at June. They could also dry out too much. If they are shriveling or losing size, You can pack them in freshly opened, damp peat or potting mix for storage. That small amount of dampness will help hydrate them.

Good Luck! Here are a few of mine this year.

If they are big box type boxes, you better check to make sure they didn't already bud blast from the heat in the store.

Well as you can see from my pic@cocrazywoman there was a naked bud present when I removed it from the box 4 months after purchase. But I have seen this before and so I am confident it will bloom just fine in a month or so.

You can do this over and over until the bulb basically disappears or won't bloom because it's too small and all it's energy is spent.

Interesting. I thought that with regular watering and fertilizing while out of dormancy the bulb would maintain a healthy size?

(Gorgeous pics. I need to do similarly next season i.e. plant multiple bulbs in the same container, a mass planting of amaryllis. Do those containers you show have drainage holes?)

Hi,

When forcing an amaryllis to bloom over and over, you would not be allowing leaves to grow. You also would not be watering and fertilizing. You would put it back into dormant storage at around 55 F for 8 -12 weeks after the buds stop and before leaves start. I would not do this if it's a treasured bulb.

You would water and fertilize the bulbs and grow in full sun to recharge the bulb. This is typically done AFTER blooming when leaves appear. In my experience the leaves appear before the bulb on only a couple cultivars naturally. If you are seeing leaves before buds, your bulbs are being stored and started too warm.

You can also remove buds to size up your bulb by not allowing it to bloom. If your bulb is very depleted you can do this to help it recover. Or, for instance, if you are hosting the family holiday in a couple years and you want a drop-dead display, then remove the buds and grow it in as much sun with heavy fertilizer during the summer and you can continue to grow it inside in a South facing window during the winter and outside again before forcing it dormant starting August 1st ( removing all buds along the way).

There are also some bulbs that with throw buds while in storage. Again, I believe this is because they are too warm and they actually prefer it cooler.

You need approximately 6 healthy upright leaves to get it to rebloom 1 bloom stalk. So about 12-18 leaves in a year to get lots of bloomstalks.

Some of my pots do have drain holes. The white ceramic and terracotta have drain holes. The Hyacinth basket is lined with plastic - no holes. I move them out of these cramped pots in late spring/early summer.

Hope this helps!

There eems to be as many techniques to get flowering in subsequent years as there are different varieties of amaryllis/hippeastrum!

FWIW, I water and fertilize regularly until I put them in storage in our cold cellar, in their pots, sometime during the month of September. (And then bring them up to the light and warmth...8 weeks later...so mostly throughout the month of November.)

Actually there's not. They are all basically the same. If you don't need advice. Don't ask for it. Google next time! 😂

YIkes!

I thought we were exchanging information.

I did have a question or two of you of which I did learn things from your replies.

(My original post did have a single nebulous q i.e. I am assuming I can just put the boxes in a dark closet and take them out in 6 months? But then as can be the case in such threads, the subject expands. I never think of this as a problem.)

Yikes is right! A happy face does not mask rudeness.

This amaryllis had been in its box unopened since probably December 2022. I had it in a closet the whole time and brought it out a couple of weeks go. Out of the box it had a white nub of a leaf. It has been greening up and growing just fine.

I place all of my amaryllis outside once the weather warms up - I'm in Zone 5 - and one actually bloomed in Aug!