I let my Amaryllis set seed and I have about 10 pods. I want to grow a few from seed. My question is come fall when it's too cold to keep the seedlings outside, when I bring in do I store the tiny bulbs in the basement out of soil like the mature Amaryllis, then replant in spring?

Keith, good luck with growing them from seed. Takes patience and time, 3-5 years to get blooming . It is my understanding that you don't want to force dormancy on the young seedlings and immature bulbs, since you want the leaves to keep photosynthesizing and putting mass on the bulbs as rapidly as possible. Treat the little bulbs as houseplants in the winter. In the northern hemisphere, you are forcing dormancy in the mature bulbs in order to trick them into blooming close to Xmas instead of late spring which would be the expected time. Perhaps someone who has successfully done this can comment on winter handling of the seedings and immature bulbs since I have no personal experience. about this topic.

Barbara is right. Bring them inside before cold weather and treat them as house plants. Growing through the winter is easy. Give half-strength fertilizer in the spring, and regular water with a well draining mix (like a cactus mix) and as much sunlight or artificial light as you can give.



I seed them thick in a pot or flat-these are probably three years old. It's easy to care for them, and they don't take much room.
If you let them dry that first year, they will go dormant, but they are pretty tiny and you lose the time they could be growing. They also don't have much energy stored, so you risk losing them.

kenisaac said: Barbara is right. Bring them inside before cold weather and treat them as house plants. Growing through the winter is easy. Give half-strength fertilizer in the spring, and regular water with a well draining mix (like a cactus mix) and as much sunlight or artificial light as you can give.



I seed them thick in a pot or flat-these are probably three years old. It's easy to care for them, and they don't take much room.
If you let them dry that first year, they will go dormant, but they are pretty tiny and you lose the time they could be growing. They also don't have much energy stored, so you risk losing them.

Thanks! I have my new seedlings outside right now. Maybe 4 inches tall and stopped growing in height but very green and I think are getting a second set of leaves.

That is great to hear that your seedlings are doing so well

Mother and baby plant

Baby plant is now indoors!

Nice job Keith!

Looking great, @keithp2012

That first year indoors, don't even attempt to encourage dormancy for your yearlings, keep them growing if you can with lots of light! If seedlings do begin to go dormant, I let them, but I don't encourage it by cold weather, lack of water and darkness.

Just watch the water and fertilizer while indoors, so they don't stay soggy and over-fertilized, as their growth slows.

Ken

Mine is growing great indoors, no dormancy this year. Thanks for the tips