How to grow Hippeastrum at home

Hippeastrum is an bulb plant from the Amaryllidaceae family, known for its beautiful, huge flowers that appear in the winter. In our climate, hippeastrum can grow in apartments in a pot. You will find out how to grow hippeastrum so that it blooms as long as possible, and when to plant hippeastrum bulbs so that they bloom just before Christmas.

Hippeastrum bulbs are very large, depending on the age of the plants, they can reach a diameter of 5 to 12 cm. Onions grow from 2 to 7 green leaves and a stiff, straight and hollow stem up to 60 cm in inflorescence. At its top, the wart produces 2 to 4 very large, funnel-shaped, wide-open flowers, which can reach 10 to 25 cm in diameter. Each hippeastrum flower have 6 fleshy petals with curled stamens growing from its center.

Hippeastrum – varieties

Currently, in pot cultivation, there are mainly hybrid varieties of hybrid hippeastrum with flower colors from white, through orange, pink to red. There are also varieties with multi-colored flowers, for example with white petals and red at the edge, or with striped petals.

There are so many varieties of hippeastrum that it is impossible to list them all. I will present 10 interesting varieties that show how varied the appearance of the flowers can be.

‘Apple Blossom‘ – a variety of white flowers with pink petal tips

‘Bestseller‘ – a dark cherry flowering variety, characterized by a short flower stalk

‘Dancing Queen‘ – one of the most beautiful varieties of Dancing Queen with flowers in red and white stripes

‘Exotic Star‘ – a variety of dungeons creating striped green-white-red flowers with green throats, they look very exotic,

‘Nymph‘ – an unusual variety with very large flowers resembling a peony flower, the flowers are white with pink stripes,

‘Orange Sovereign‘ – a variety with orange-red flowers,

‘Picotee‘ – creates very elegant flowers, each flower petal is white, surrounded by a red outline,

‘Red Lion‘ – an intensely red flowering variety, thanks to this color it is perfect for Christmas decorations,

‘Star Of Holland‘ – creates scarlet flowers with a white throat,

‘White Dazzler‘ – a variety with pure white flowers.

Hippeastrum and amaryllis – differences

It is worth noting here that the Hippeastrum is often confused with another species – amaryllis (Amaryllis belladonna), and even in stores it is usually sold as amaryllis. Meanwhile, it is quite difficult to find onions of real amaryllis.

Therefore, when buying onions under the name of amaryllis, let’s also check the given Latin name. Usually it will say Hippeastrum, which means you are buying the bulbs of the curvature, not the real amaryllis.

How to distinguish hippeastrum from amaryllis? The most visible differences are the number of flowers, of which amaryllis can have much more (hippeastrum has up to 4, and amaryllis up to 12), and the structure of the stem (hippeastrum is hollow, and full of amaryllis).

Plants bloom at other times of the year as well – Hippeastrum usually bloom in winter or early spring, and amaryllis bloom in late summer. Hippeastrum, not amaryllis, will therefore be a great winter decoration of your apartment.

When to plant hippeastrum bulbs?

To answer this frequently asked question, you need to know that hippeastrum blooms 4-6 weeks after planting an onion. Therefore, plant the bulbs in the ground about 4 weeks before the planned flowering date.

The entire period when to plant the bulbs covers the fall and winter months from October to January.

However, it is best to plant hippeastrum bulbs in December or January, when the day is already getting longer. Then you can count on more abundant flowering than in the case of bulbs planted in October-November.

On the other hand, most people plant their bulbs in November in order to get a flowering plant for Christmas.

Hippeastrum how to grow ?

You can buy Hippeastrum as an onion or as an already blooming specimen. When buying onions, make sure that they do not have any visible damage or stains. If you are already buying a growing plant, it is good to choose one which flower buds have not yet opened. Then the plant will start flowering only at our home and you will enjoy its flowers for longer period.

You should plant Hippeastrum bulbs in pots filled with permeable and fertile soil (most often these ordinary potting soil can meet this requirement). I must have good drainage layer at the bottom (drainage can utilize pebbles or clay).

Put it into the ground to such a depth that 1/3 to half of the onion protrudes above the soil surface and place it in a bright place (the more light, the more beautiful the inflorescences) at normal room temperature.

In home cultivation of hippeastrum, window sills are perfect, even those above radiators. Dry air is not a threat to the plant, but it needs a lot of heat. The temperature of the compact plant should be between 18 and 25 ° C.

A few days after planting the onion, a flower shoot will appear, and after about a month the plant will bloom. Start watering the hippeastrum when a flower shoot begins to grow. Water it so that the soil is constantly slightly moist. When flower buds appear, increase the frequency of watering and start fertilizing. Use one of the available multi-component liquid fertilizers for flowering plants.

Water the Hippeastrum from the bottom only, by pouring the water on the stand under the pot, because watering the onion from the top causes it to rot.

During the growth of the flower shoot, it is worth turning the hippeastrum pot every few days so that the shoot grows straight up and does not bend towards the sun.

The flowering of the moth takes several weeks. When the flower petals dry, they can be cut off, but the entire flower stem should remain. Water the plant all the time and feed it with fertilizer until summer (during this period the bulb grows in size). When the leaves of the hippeastrum start to turn yellow, stop watering and fertilizing. Let the green parts dry and then let the plant became dormant.

When the green parts are dry, the pot should go to a cool and dark place. During this period, do not water or fertilize at all. You can also dig out the onion and store it in dry peat. The storage temperature of the onions should not fall below 10 ° C.

Hippeastrum – reproduction

The hippeastrum rest period should last from 2 to 3 months. Put the pot with the plant back in the apartment in December or January, starting the whole cycle anew. The plant can also be propagated at this point, as the older bulbs can produce from 1 to 2 side bulbs.

Separate the daughter onions from the mother onions and plant them in separate pots. Before planting, you should treat them with a fungicide. They will not bloom sooner than after 2 years. Until then, care for them in the same way as the onions of a flowering plant, so that they undergo a period of growth and rest.

Theoretically, hippeastrum can also be propagated from seeds, but in home cultivation, seeds do not always set. It is even better because tying seeds weakens the onion, and you should care about a healthy and strong onion.

Hippeastrum how to grow for Christmas

Flowering knuckles are often sold in the run-up to Christmas, which is slightly earlier than the natural flowering period of these plants. You can also get a flowering plant in December. For this purpose, in October, the stored onions are put into perforated plastic bags and then in the refrigerator. Cooling at 3 to 7 ° C should take 3 to 4 weeks.

Every few days take out the onions for a few minutes to ventilate them (this prevents them from molding). After cooling, plant the hippeastrum bulbs in pots and place them in a warm and bright place. Then proceed as in the normal cultivation mode.

If you decide to induce early flowering, so that the flowers can be admired before Christmas, however, you must take into account that during this period the day is the shortest of the year and flower shoots may stretch out a little while looking for light. If the flower stem is too slack, it should be tied to a stick.