This is a very large Double Dragon bulb that's been stuck with the flower no more than 1" tall. It took it almost 2 months to get this height, and I don't think it's come out any more in the last 2 weeks. The bulb is firm, no soft spots at all, it was replanted probably end of November in fresh soil, no bugs, no disease that's visible.

I was ready to give it up as dead, but the leaves are now starting to come up the last few days, so apparently it's not dead.

Any idea what happened to the flower spike though or if I did something wrong? Or any way to encourage it to still grow? I've never seen this happen before. It was outdoors in afternoon sun last season from the end of May through October, just like my other Amaryllis, and the leaves were always very healthy looking, no problems with insects at all.

looks OK for me, just came out from dormancy, just need some water, time and a lot of sun light.

I'll keep it going and see what happens, it's in a south window. So it gets as much sun as winter allows. But once a flower spike starts to come up, it usually keeps growing taller. The flower spike first appeared almost 2 months ago though. I've never seen one just stop at this stage without continuing to get taller every week.

Can you give it some bottom heat? Some times I will set it up on my furnace which gives its some heat.

The window ledge it sits on is right above a heat vent. But I'll try putting it right next to the vent for awhile and see if that helps push it along.

As far as i know light is more important that heat, specially amount of light in a day, you might need to give it artificial light as well.

That interrupted growth is one of those oddities of amaryllis. I had a new Premiere bulb this season that did the same thing. It poked up an inch and stopped for 4 months. Once the scape decided to wake up, it shot up quickly, and bloomed. The bulb is now putting up leaves, so I planted it outside. Occasionally, the scape will poke up and wither for an unknown reason, but your's is plump and green so I think its OK. I would give your bulb a little more time. When the danger of frost is over, set it outside and treat it like your other bulbs. If it does the same thing next spring, I wouldn't keep it., since the whole point of these bulbs is to get flowers.

I'll stick with the usual care then and put it outside when it's warm enough here and let it summer outdoors again. And yes, the bud is still green and healthy looking, it's not withered at all. Hopefully at some point it'll decide to continue to flower, I'll just give it more time as long as it continues to be green and healthy.

Not sure if this is the problem or not, but sometimes if you have a couple of warmer weeks during dormancy, that can cause this. Do you remember any warmer weeks?

The Chicago area has had really odd weather since fall. We went from nice end of summer right into the polar vortex in November, we pretty much skipped fall. So yes, it got very much warmer after the polar vortex hit, so the basement temps where they were kept would have felt that drastic temperature change.

That might be the answer.

crawgarden said:Can you give it some bottom heat?

I also give bottom heat with 'slow' starters. I keep them in as much sun on a windowsill as possible in the daytime, then move them over a floor heat vent (on a tray) for the evening and early morning heater-run times until the sun rises again when I move them back to my south-facing window sill.

I also sometimes put the slower plants in the south facing windowsill, then place an old white plastic lawn sign or white cardboard on the inward side (pinning the pots between the window pane and the cardboard) to reflect the light and warmth that streams in back towards the pots. They often really respond to this.

My wife said it doesn't look beautiful...

Interesting idea, using white cardboard to reflect light and warmth.

kenisaac said:I also sometimes put the slower plants in the south facing windowsill, then place an old white plastic lawn sign or white cardboard on the inward side (pinning the pots between the window pane and the cardboard) to reflect the light and warmth that streams in back towards the pots. They often really respond to this.

My wife said it doesn't look beautiful...

i'm in luck that I do not have this kind of probably, overheat is my problem in summer