Amaryllis seeds

[Beverly Erlebacher]

In article <7bf25378.0105291223.3d4c38e3 at posting.google.com>,
java1996 <leger at sri.com> wrote:
>
>I am in need of some advice.  I pollinated one of my amaryllis plants
>and would like to plant the seeds. The pods burst open just a few days
>ago.  Should I wait until the seeds fall out or should I remove them
>from the pods?  The stalk is still green with no sign yet of drying
>out.

THe seeds are mature when they are black and dry.  You can probably 
remove them now - if the pod bursts open, the plant is ready to release
the seeds.  The stalk will gradually wither as the plant pulls nutrients
out of it for reuse.

One thing you will notice is that there are probably a lot of 'empty
seeds'.  Good seeds will be solid lumps in the center of the black
papery wing.  Empty seeds will have the wing and a thin or absent lump.
So don't worry if you have low germination.

One easy way to germinate them is to float them on water, then plant 
them as the white root emerges.  It takes 3-5 years for bloom.  I 
raised some once and to my serious disgust, the bulbs all got hollowed
out by daffodil borers just when they had nearly reached blooming size.
My daffodils are never troubled, as far as I know, probably because they
are planted deep.  But my poor amaryllis got cored right out when I
sank the pots in the garden for the summer. :-(

>What type of care will the mother plant need?  Should I expect a year
>without a bloom?

It doesn't seem to take that much out of them.  It will probably bloom
next year, as long as it gets lots of sun this summer.

Growing plants from your own crosses is lots of fun - you never know
what you might get.