Amaryllis Growing Instructions

If you have a bare bulb, plant it in a pot that is at least twice its diameter. Make sure there is a drainage hole in the pot. You may plant more than one bulb in a bigger pot if desired.

Use a good potting soil mix. Fill the pot 1/3 full. Add the bulb and fill the remainder of the pot. Only the top inch of the bulb should be above the soil level. Adjust position of bulb if needed.

Water thoroughly and set in sunny location if possible.  Do not water again until plant starts to grow and the soil is dry to the touch on the surface.

As the stalk grows, rotate the pot so the stalk will grow toward the light and re-straighten itself.

Once the flowers appear, water when the soil is dry on the surface.

When the bulb is blooming, it does not need to be in the sun.

As the blooms fade, simply cut them off.  When all blooms are finished, cut the stalk off at the base of bulb. At some point large leaves will appear.

Continue to water when the soil is dry until all danger of frost is past. You can now take the bulb outside.

You may leave it in the pot if you don’t have a garden bed to plant the bulb in. But if you can remove the bulb from the pot (and plant at the same level it was in the pot) in fertile garden soil in full sun, your bulb will produce more leaves during the summer and have better blooms the following winter.

Whether you leave the bulb in the pot or plant in the ground, remember to fertilize a couple of times during the summer months.

Before the last frost, bring in and put in a cool place, do not water, and leave dormant for a month or so. If the bulb was in the pot during the summer, you can leave in the pot. If it was planted in the garden, you can store it in a box in a cool place and repot when you want it to grow.

Bring back to the light, trim off all dead leaves, repot if necessary, and water.  If you had lots of green leaves during the summer and fertilized it some, it should bloom for you again.