By Barbarak
North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
3rd year of no Nerine flowers. I have put a recent purchase in the ground and know they will take a year to settle but I have a few in a large pot in full sun that yet again have burst into leaf only for the third year running. I also have some amaryrillis belladonna which are supposed to flower this time of year but after being leafless for the summer are sprouting leaves again from the main bulbs and also I presume offshoots. These had become shaded by maturing flowers so I will need to move them but when please. thanks
- 5 Oct, 2017
Answers
Thanks bamboo.
I used a 50-50 of multipurpose and JI No 2 in the pot and placed the 4 in the garden at the front of the border west facing that gets sun all day . no south facing wall with soil beside it but the pot is in a south facing position. The bulbs do sit proud of the compost. I'll give them another year then its the compost heap. Our base is clay soil but was topped up with nice free draining topsoil. It dries out quite well and crumbly to a depth of 4inches. I'll move the Amaryllis next spring . Would they be better in a container where I can move them around with the sun? and should I just lift the whole bulb with it offshoots and disturb the roots as little as possible?
6 Oct, 2017
Re the Amaryllis, I'd just move it all as it is in spring.
Re the Nerines, when you say 'the 4', do you mean you put 4 bulbs in a large container? They like to be crowded, so its possible the container was too large - better would have been a pot only just big enough to accommodate 4 bulbs, preferably a deep but narrow pot. John Innes No. 2 is also a bit rich, but that won't matter now, the feed will all have gone out of it anyway, and it is at least free draining. They should not be fed on a regular basis, too much fertilizer encourages leaf growth.
6 Oct, 2017
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What potting soil have you used for the Nerines and do you feed them at all? Are they planted with their necks above the soil? If the Amaryllis are in the ground, is your soil, light, sandy and free draining? The best time to move the Amaryllis is spring - you are more likely to get flowers in a warm, full sun spot in free draining soil - if there's a wall behind them, all the better - the reflected heat will help with flowering too.
If its any help, I've had Nerines on my balcony for years, they flower every year - I finally had to split them up this spring because the pot split; they'd been in the same deep but fairly narrow plastic pot for at least ten years. I've rarely fed them either, maybe a couple of doses of Miracle Gro general purpose when watering during summer when the leaves are present if they're lucky. After splitting, I didn't expect flowers this year, but the two clumps in pots out there have produced a single flower each - the 6 bulbs I transferred to someone's garden are all showing buds, so looks like they're doing well. Really, I neglect them, but they seem to thrive on it; they're all in full sun, facing south though.
5 Oct, 2017