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| Amaryllis Bulb, Week 4 |
It’s week 4, and my amaryllis bulb continues to grow so slowly it’s almost imperceptible to the naked eye. I feel like I need one of those time-lapse cameras set up so I can actually see it’s progress.
Maybe I do have a time-lapse camera of sorts. Let’s look at it week by week and compare the photos.
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| Week 1: very pale and washed out looking. |
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| Week 2 |
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| Week 3 |
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| Week 4 (Today) |
Here’s what I notice:
- The foliage growth (the four central, pointy stalks) are continuing to grow very slowly. They are also darkening, with a pale pink-red flush to the central one. Maybe that’s the bud? I hope so!
- The side stalk now appears to be growing again. That was the one damaged when Whitey the cat decided to uproot my bulb.
- It’s growing very, very slowly, much more slowly than in years past. I am a bit concerned that the bulb is rotting in the coir-based potting soil that came with the kid. However, this year’s experiment is to grow the amaryllis bulb kit exactly as indicated on the box, to test it out. So I am sticking with the plan and will continue to tend to the kit as indicated.
I tried looking up “amaryllis bulb problems” and similar searches to see if anyone else has issues with slow-growing bulbs. The only thing I found that obliquely addressed my problem was a question about bulbs producing plenty of foliage but no flowers. Apparently there are some duds out there that never set blossoms. These are packaged anyway, as the grower has no way of knowing if the bulb has set a flower the prior year. So you can indeed purchase a kit that doesn’t produce a flower.
During my research, I found an excellent paper on growing amaryllis bulbs from the North Dakota cooperative extension office. You can download a copy of Growing the Delightful Amaryllis from their website.
Am I watering the bulb too much? Is it too cold in the plant room? Is the lower light affecting its growth? I’m not sure. It will be interesting to see what Week 5 holds for my plant.
