Caring for amaryllis at home – what to do after flowering and when to put it away for rest

Amaryllis is a gorgeous plant whose vivid flowers enliven any house. It’s crucial to give your amaryllis the proper care it requires to flourish after the blooms have faded. It can be ensured that it will bloom beautifully again the following season by knowing how to handle it during this period.

Your amaryllis will go into a resting phase after flowering. The plant needs to recover its strength during this critical period. Knowing what actions to take can have a significant impact on its general health and potential blooms.

We’ll walk you through all the necessary steps to take after your amaryllis has finished flowering in this guide. We’ll talk about when to store the plant so that its blooms are ready to dazzle you once more and how to get the plant ready for its rest period.

Amaryllis: care at home

Many people would like to have an exceptionally lovely amaryllis, but maintaining one can be challenging. If someone would like to grow flowers at home, they should learn about the requirements the flower has and try their best to replicate them.

Lighting

Where there is abundant light, amaryllis grows during its active phase. This doesn’t have to be a window; the flower looks wonderful on a special stand, table, or cabinet that receives plenty of diffused light.

The pot is removed and placed in a cool, dark place during the dormant season, which runs roughly from July to October. The best place is a cellar.

Watering

The soil is slightly wet during the growing season and flowering. One irrigation is done every three to five days. It gradually decreases in frequency after the petals fall. If the flower stalk is less than 10 cm tall, and the bulbs are dormant, do not water them.

Watering young, recently planted plants should be done moderately. The amount of water increases when the leaves start to grow and flowers start to form.

It’s interesting to note that amaryllis is a native of South Africa’s deserts, where it "hibernates" during dry spells.

Humidity

Too much moisture poses a risk to the flower. There is a risk of the bulb rotting. It is not done to spray with a sprayer. The air humidity limit that can be tolerated is 80%. The likelihood of stagonosporosis spreading rises with a higher indicator.

Temperature

A minimum temperature of 23°C is required in the summer and between 4°C and 7°C in the winter. The column should read 10 degrees during dormancy.

Soil

Good drainage is essential, as is a loose, fertile mixture. The soil can be ready by you.

Combine one part perlite or coarse sand with two parts regular garden soil and humus. Acidic soil is preferred by amaryllis. The mixture’s ideal reaction is between 5.5 and 6.5.

Fertilizer

For bulbous plants, liquid complex compositions are utilized as fertilizer. Use them as directed by the manufacturer, but no more than once every month. Before using, read the composition. Overdosing on nitrogen is dangerous because it will prevent the amaryllis from producing flowers because all of its energy will be directed toward growth.

Every ten days, you can give the plant mullein that has been diluted 1:10 with water. During the time of active growth and flowering, fertilizers are applied.

Overnutrientation can lead to bulb rotting, so solution preparation and dosage calculations need to be done carefully.

Pest control

Aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and strawberry (cyclamen) mites can all harm amaryllis plants. The gardener needs to identify the issue early on and take swift action to fix it.

Red spider mites are tiny and occasionally invisible to the naked eye. However, occasionally, tiny, moving dots can be seen. Furthermore, a pale, powdery layer on the reverse side of the leaf signifies the presence of pests.

The areas where the mite "ate" the plant are indicated by the light lines that then emerge. Use alcohol or a soap solution for control. After soaking a cotton swab in it, the flower is cleaned. Insecticides are used in more advanced cases.

It can be difficult to identify strawberry mite. Only indirect indicators, such as the deformation of the afflicted plant organs, the curling of young leaves, the development of long hairs on old plates, or the appearance of dark spots, can be used to diagnose the disease.

Treatment methods include the use of actophyte, phytoverm, and acarin in accordance with instructions. The plant’s afflicted organs are removed.

This is intriguing: hippeastrum and amaryllis are comparable. The first one is shaped like a pear, so you can tell them apart by their bulb shapes. Though Amarillis blooms more frequently than Hippeastrum, it too produces small flowers.

Aphids in colonies start biting immediately. Furthermore, a viscous liquid is apparent. The leaves start to twist when there is a serious infection. When the disease is first developing, mechanical insect removal and organ trimming are sufficient.

A laundry soap solution (20 g of grated bar per 1 liter of water) can be used to treat the leaves. Certain insecticides work well, such as Fitoverm, Aktara, Iskra, and Karate.

Scale insects resemble rounded patches of yellowish brown color. After then, the impacted leaves drop off. Complete mechanical cleaning is part of the treatment. You can give the plant a thorough water rinse to get rid of the pest and dense formations. Next, give the flower a soapy solution.

Mealybug is readily apparent on the plant’s surface. It has a size of up to 3-5 mm and resembles larvae. It reminds me a lot of lumps of cotton wool. A solution of soap or alcohol is used to wipe the plant. In the shower, rinse. Use a spray bottle to apply a medicinal calendula infusion. The procedures are carried out repeatedly, spaced 5-8 days apart.

The most dangerous are thrips. These are tiny, visually noticeable, two-winged, light-colored insects. The pest causes discolored stripes and dark dots scattered across the surface of the plant organs, which are excrement.

To combat it, a soap solution is utilized. Following treatment, the plant is temporarily covered in polyethylene. Mineral oils or leaf polishing solutions work well sometimes. Use these products very carefully.

Pruning

The plant is bulbous, so you don’t have to pull out the withering leaves as it goes into dormancy. They supply the root system with nutrients.

If an insect causes damage, pruning might be required. In this instance, a sharp knife or pair of scissors is used to carefully trim the leaves off at the base.

Dormant period

When to cut down amaryllis is a topic on which many gardeners disagree. Some people think that since almost all bulbous plants accumulate nutrients in the cold, it is best to do this in the winter. Some contend that the amaryllis’s dormant season extends from late May or early June to September or October.

It is not entirely accurate to compare this flower with plants found in our latitudes. Amaryllis originated in the region of South Africa. In dry spells, it went into "hibernation" to avoid dying in the intense heat. However, a lot of hybrids have been developed recently that might need this in colder climates.

Learn to spot the warning signs of fatigue so that you can prevent costly errors. Plant leaves eventually turn yellow and are discarded. In the event that no illness symptoms are present, Amarillis enters a state of "hibernation." It must be removed to a cool, dry place.

The curse of the young leaves is proof that this place is different from the others.

Advice: If there isn’t a cellar, the lightbulb can be wrapped in a napkin and kept in the refrigerator. Examine it once every fourteen days.

After blooming, amaryllis should have its spent blooms clipped off while the leaves remain intact to allow the bulb to store energy. Continue feeding and watering the plant for a few weeks until the leaves turn yellow on their own. After the leaves have returned, stop watering, take the bulb out of the pot, and store it for two to three months in a cool, dry location. You can replant and start watering again to promote new growth and flowering after this period of rest.

How to propagate Amarillis

Processes or seeds are used to breed Amarillis. The latter are shaped like an arrow of flowers. But you have to "assist" the plant in order to get them. The pestle is opened two to three days after flowering. A brush is required for the pollination process. A stigm receives perga from a stamen. The process should then be repeated multiple times.

If all goes according to plan, a fruit will develop and ripen in eight to ten weeks. Once it splits, the seeds can be removed. When the petals fall, they are gathered. Freshly harvested seed provides nearly all of the inputs. New seeds are plump to the touch, while older ones are flatter. The bulb’s embryo eventually dies inside of them.

The seeds can be kept in a paper envelope. A grain that is one to three years old has a very slim chance of germinating.

In sandy-leaf soil, seeds are sown. Young shoots emerge after roughly twenty-five days. The leaves are planted in tiny containers once they are 10 cm long. When amaryllis is grown from a seed, its dormant season does not begin until the first year.

Additionally effective is reproduction, shoots. The onion husk’s outer layer has odd "pockets," or sinuses, that are visible. Two to four "children" are formed in them annually.

When transplanting plants, these daughter bulbs are kept apart. In equal parts, combine the following ingredients to create a nutrient mixture:

• leaf soil;
• humus;
• clay-turf soil;
• sand.

Two thirds of the "children" are submerged in the earth. The daughter bulbs will grow to be ½ the size of the mother bulbs in just a single year.

Seed propagation involves a little more work. Make a sand-leaf mixture for them. As soon as they are ripe, sow. Young leaves appear in about 25 days. The plants are divided into individual tiny pots once the plates are 10 cm long.

Transplantation

The dormant phase is when transplantation is performed. Every one to two years, the substrate or container needs to be entirely replaced. Every five to six years, large bulbs from older plants whose growth has slowed down are transplanted.

Make sure the pot is not too big. The ideal distance between the bulb and the container wall is 3 cm, and it feels fantastic in small spaces.

Stage	What to do
After flowering	Cut the flower stalks and keep watering the leaves. This helps the bulb store energy for the next blooming season.
Before rest	Reduce watering and stop fertilizing. As the leaves turn yellow and die off, cut them back and prepare the plant for dormancy.
Rest period	Place the bulb in a cool, dark place for about 8-10 weeks without watering. This allows the plant to recharge.
After rest	Replant the bulb in fresh soil, start watering gradually, and move it to a bright spot to encourage new growth.

It’s crucial to provide the amaryllis with additional care after it has finished blooming in order to aid in its recovery. Remove the flower stalk but don’t discard the leaves since they will still nourish the bulb.

During this period, give the plant regular watering and feeding; however, when the leaves begin to turn yellow, the plant is ready for a break. After cutting back on watering until it stops entirely, store the amaryllis for eight to ten weeks in a cool, dark location.

You can replant the bulb and resume watering it after the resting period. Your amaryllis will produce lovely blooms year after year if you give it the right care.

Video on the topic

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