My first Amaryllis
Good afternoon everyone 
My partner came home with a bulb last November. It was already potted and ready to be watered. At the time we had no idea of what kind of plant it was, but we soon discovered it is a beautiful Amaryllis with deep red flowers. We are young and we come from a warm country, so this is the first time we have to take care of this kind of plant. Now, I am extremely affectionate to it, because I had to leave it alone for a very long time, without anyone watering it, as I had to leave due to family problems. When we returned to our apartment, we were expecting to find it dead, but it was still there, two beautiful green leaves and a strand with dried flowers. I cut the dry parts and put it in a bigger pot with new soil. The two leaves it has are very long and heavy, so I tied them together because they bent under their own weight and were about to break.
Apparently the plant is doing well, so we keep the soil moist and cross our fingers. The problem is that I don't know whether I did the right thing by preventing the breakage of the leaves, and I would like to know if there is anything I can do for this beautiful and heroic bulb that surprised me with its strength in a hopeless moment.
I am looking forward to your advice, I really hope that someone more expert than us will tell me what to do.
Last edited: 07 May 2017 16:54:59
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Amaryllis are really easy. I have 7 which all flowered really nicely this year. Last year when I was new to plants and gardening I didn't know what I was doing, and cut the leaves off a couple of them too early. Then I had put them in a car port where I thought they'd go dormant. But in june the ones which I'd cut down were re-growing the leaves. So then I brought them all outside to soak up the sun over summer. The leaves grew very long. Then after the that, the leaves died back and the flowers bloomed after bringing inside in the autumn/winter. If you have tied the leaves it's fine but in my experience they always come back. You have done a good thing by repotting it too. Good luck.
Thank you for your reply! Our plant has always been indoor, in a well lit place. Unfortunately we cannot put it outside or in a dark and cool place... Do you think that I should untie the leaves and let them break and die just as it would happen naturally?
Hmm yes I think just untie them. Or leave them, it doesn't really matter. Also I don't even think you really need to have a dark or cool place. I only put mine into the car port because I ran out of space inside anyway. But if you leave them inside they will go through their natural cycle anyway and stop flowering, dieback and then regrow! In hot countries where they grow outside I am not sure it would go that cold anyway.
Alright, we'll see how it goes!
I also noticed that the soil stays moist for a longer time. I don't know if it is because of the low temperature, or if there is something wrong with the roots... Shall buy some fertiliser?