My amaryllis have now stopped flowering. I waited for the stalks to yellow and wither and then cut them off. The leaves on mine are now about 3' tall and show no signs of dying down. How long are you supposed to wait to cut off the leaves and store them for the winter? Any tips on how to best store them? FYI, I'm in Canada. Thanks.

I do not know where you live, but after flowering mine usually keep their leaves for about 8 months. I keep them outside, except for the winter months. When autumn arrives, I usually stop or slow down the watering. As the weather cools, the leaves will start to wither. I leave the leaves on until they are dead and then cut them off - the bulb will re-absorb nutrients from the leaves as the leaves die. Then I bring them indoors before we get the first hard frost and store them in the basement or the fridge.

Mine were grown inside and flowered over Christmas. I'm new to growing amaryllis. Thank you both for the information. marric

with Christie, but I'd keep them in the basement rather than the fridge... they are tropical, so they could be damaged by fridge temps, and if you have any fruit in the fridge (source of ethylene gas), I believe that can harm them the same as with other bulbs.

Mine flower indoors too - I take them to work to show off. When Spring arrives, I put them outside. If you do that, they like bright light, but not really blazing hot sun. I either water with water that has half strength fertilizer, or put a granular bulb fertilizer on them.

You've gotten good advice from our forum members. The foliage on spring bulbs, such as daffodils or tulips, dies back fairly quickly after they bloom. Amaryllis continue to put out new leaves throughout the summer. Your goal is to keep the foliage healthy and happy until fall. The foliage can get quite leggy and may not be particularly attractive, so the pots can go in a out of the way place, as long as you don't neglect them.

The leaves enable the plant to restore its bulb. Maximum direct sunlight for about 8 months is best. Keep the soil well hydrated and fertilize it monthly at half strength.

The key to dormancy is allowing the soil to dry out completely so that all of the leaves yellow and die. Keep it in a very dry, cool location and out-of-sight so you don't have to look at it! No need to refrigerate it.

After a minimum of 8 weeks of dormancy, give the soil a thorough soaking just one time. That will be sufficient to trigger new flower and leaf growth.

You can also just keep your amaryllis in leaf year round. As far as I know, the only reason for a dormant period is if you want to be able to "time" the bloom -- for example, by waking the bulb up 6-8 weeks before the holidays.

I leave in a county that even in winter temperature rarely goes below 50 F, therefore my bulbs have a leaves all year. I do not know if it is a good for them or not, but at least it is blooming every winter, and 5 year bulb is already almost 4 inches in diameter.

Since they are tropical, I suspect that is the way they normally grow. Nice to live where you can grow them without doing the indoor/outdoor dance every year!

Welcome to NGA!