Q.questions about amaryllis double blossom peacock
My grandma got an amaryllis double blossom peacock for Christmas and was wanting to know a few things.
- Do you need to pollinate the flowers to get bulblets?
- How big does the bulblets need to be before it is taken off?
- How do you get more bulblets?
- Do the seeds of an amaryllis flower turn into a bulb once you plant it?
- Is there a certain time to cut off the stem and leaves?
- Will the bulblets separate from the mother bulb on their own after a while?
If your grandmother received the amaryllis for Christmas, it's unlikely that it's making bulblets yet. The large thing from which the leaves and flower are growing is called a bulb; after a bulb has been growing and flowering for awhile, it often produces a new plant, or bulblet, from the base of the mother bulb. These can definitely be set to growing exactly like the mother bulb.
Pollination is necessary only to produce seed, but these take 3 - 5 years to produce a flowering plant, which often has different characteristics than the mother plant.
After the flower has died, the flower stalk can be cut back to about 2" above the bulb, but the leaves should be left on, and as soon as danger of frost is passed, the plant should be gradually introduced to outdoors so that the leaves can use sunlight to manufacture food for the bulb, in preparation for the next year's flowering.
In the wild, of course, no one removes bulblets from the mother plant, so the size of the amaryllis clump gradually expands. But in cultivation we find that it works better to remove bulblets manually and replant them wherever we want them.
There are many articles available on growing amaryllis, especially if one is interested in pollination and starting seeds, but these articles should get you and your grandmother started: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/amaryllis-hippeastrum/amaryllis-bulbs-propagation.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/amaryllis-hippeastrum/amaryllis-bloom-again.htm
