Amaryllis - Reminder

[Ann B.]

Just a reminder!

Don't forget to hand pollinate your Amaryllis blooms. You will be surprised at how many seeds you get in one Amaryllis seed pod.

Enjoy!

[rickie]

hi, I just joined this forum, and find it very imformative. I feel really stupid for asking this question, but what do you mean by hand pollinating your blooms, my mother has several beautiful amaryllis, and I would like to get some from her. Thanks for listening, Rickie

[Ann B.]

Rickie,

When the flower of the Amaryllis opens, you will notice more than one white stem in the center of the flower with a yellow powdery subtance on the tip. The yellow substance is the pollen.

Then you should see one white one that is different from the others. That is the stigma.

Remove one of the stems with the yellow powdery substance by pinching it off toward the base of it. Then place the yellow substance on the white one. The white one should be sticky and the yellow powdered substance (pollen) will adhere to the tip end of the white one. The more pollen that adheres, the more seed that the amaryllis will produce. Each little pollen will fertilize an egg in the ovary of the Amaryllis (there are many), and if everything goes right will produce a seed.

If you need more help, do a search on the forum for Flower Anatomy and choose the Reproductive topic. There are pictures and the flower anatomy of a passion flower, and that should help.

One note that I should make is that the double flowered amaryllis may have the pollen on the side of one of the inner petals. I know that sounds confusing, but I will have to take some pictures to help me explain. It is just something that I have noticed, and wanted to mention it. The anatomy of different flowers will be somewhat different.

Good Luck and let us know if you still have questions.

[rickie]

thank you so much for your quick response. It was very helpful.