Christmas Gardening – Forcing Amaryllis

Amaryllis bear large, lily-like trumpet blooms on tall, straight stems, with a base of strap-shaped leaves. The impressive flower range from white to deep red and include some eye-catching striped varieties and remain in full bloom for anything up to eight weeks.

If you’ve been given an amaryllis, you can be quite confident that will reasonable care it will become dormant naturally and re-bloom sometime during winter – although whether that’s November or February can’t be guessed! This is the reason many people prefer to force their amaryllis into bloom for the holiday season. Many ‘prepared’ bulbs are sold in the autumn, ready to pot up and have in time for Christmas. Here are directions for forcing home-grown amaryllis so that they produce the maximum Yuletide display.

Select a bulb that’s fat and still has some roots at the base – the size means it has plenty of stored sugars (as starch) to turn into growth.
Make sure the pot you chose is just large enough for the bulb. Generally a five to seven inch pot is best, as the bulb needs to feel constrained to bloom.
Partially fill the pot with potting mix and place the bulb so that top third of it will be exposed when you fill in potting soil around the sides of the pot. Use a soil-less potting medium , because it is light and drains well - and most bulbs require excellent drainage.
Place a bamboo can alongside the bulb at this point. The flowers can get top-heavy and inserting the stake now will help you avoid damaging the bulb and roots later – you can paint your cane gold or silver if you’re giving the bulb as a gift.
Water the bulb in lightly. The mix should be damp, not wet. Then take the pot, bulb and all, and place it in a cool, dark place.
Keep an eye on it. Soon you will begin to see growth, which means it’s time to bring the pot out into the light. To reduce any possible stress on the plant, do it gradually, moving it from dark to dim and finally to light. At this point you can begin to water it again.
Turn the pot every few days, so the flower stalk gets uniform exposure on all sides and grows straight. At this point you can your Amaryllis with a half strength water soluble fertiliser every two to three weeks to get the biggest flowers.
When the flowers fade, cut the flower stalk back to just above the bulb. Keep watering the plant until it goes dormant in the fall.

Christmas gardening amaryllis photograph by Tasitch, used under a creative commons attribution licence