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Amaryllis Care After Blooming
Once your amaryllis has finished blossoming, you may want to change your care strategy for it. Your amaryllis can rebloom for many years if you take good care of it during the crucial post-bloom period. Amaryllis care after blooming includes continuing to give it plenty of water, sun, and fertilizer for a few months, then allowing it to rest in a near dormant state for at least 2 months.
What do you do with amaryllis bulbs after they bloom? And how do you get them to bloom again? Here are the steps:
Amaryllis Care Immediately After Blooming
Once the flowers wither, remove them. You can leave the remaining flower stem until it turns brown, then cut it back to about an inch high. Use either a sharp knife, pruners, or scissors. Don’t cut the leaves, since they will create food so the amaryllis can bloom again in the future!
Keep the plant in a sunny location, watering only when the top two inches of soil feel dry. Fertilize the amaryllis with a diluted fertilizer every two to four weeks.
Fertilizing is key, since your amaryllis is unlikely to bloom without the added nutrients. You can follow the rest of these steps without using fertilizer, but only green leaves will grow back during its next cycle.
The dates listed in the following sections are based on if you want to have your amaryllis rebloom around Christmas, but you can adjust as you like if you want it to bloom during a different time.
Summer Care
Amaryllis can’t be transplanted directly into the ground anywhere in the northeast, since they’re only cold hardy in zones 8-11. However, if you’d like to leave them outside for the summer, you can start hardening them off for an hour or two each day once nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees.
Once they’re out full time, either leave the pot in a safe location or place it, pot and all, in a hole in the ground. Make sure the pot has drainage holes, so the bulb doesn’t rot. Wherever it lives, it will need extra water and around 6 hours of sun a day, preferably in dappled light.
Of course, you can just leave it inside in the same sunny location where it lived all winter! In this case, nothing will need to change.
If it’s outdoors, bring the amaryllis back inside well before the first threat of frost – usually early or mid-September.
Dormancy Period
By late September, it will be time for the amaryllis to rest. Place it in a dark area with temperatures consistently in the 50s. Stop watering the plant completely, and cut off the leaves as they brown. Leave it alone for at least 8 weeks.
If you don’t have a particular bloom schedule in mind, you can follow the plant’s lead. As long as it stays green, you can continue to leave it in the sunshine, fertilize, and water it without an issue. Once the leaves naturally turn brown, you’ll know it’s time to let your amaryllis rest for a little while. At that point, stop watering and place it in a dark area.
How to Get Amaryllis to Bloom Again
Once your amaryllis has been dormant for at least 8 weeks (but preferably more), you can bring it back out. Water the bulb thoroughly and place it in a warm, sunny location. Resume a regular watering schedule once the first leaves sprout. Don’t overwater until leaves appear, or you risk rotting the bulb.
Enjoy Caring for Your Amaryllis!
By following these steps, you should be able to enjoy your amaryllis for years to come.
Want to extend the life of geraniums too? Find out how to overwinter them.
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