Amaryllis does not bloom | This is how you help your knight star

• Amaryllis does not bloom
  • lack of light
  • Missing rest period
  • nutrient deficiency
• Stimulate flowering
• summer blooms

The African knight star is a popular ornamental plant, which is often kept in many different shades due to the large flowers. It is immediately noticeable when the plant is blooming and the calyxes with a diameter of up to eight centimeters extend into the air. Due to numerous causes, your Amaryllis may not flower, which is a sad sight.

Your Amaryllis does not bloom and therefore does not accompany you over the cold winter time with its beautiful flowers ">

Amaryllis does not bloom

Recognize and treat 3 causes

An amaryllis does not bloom when there are errors in care that significantly affect the vitality of the plant. Thus even the smallest deviations of the desired location can lead to the fact that the plant is no longer well and the formation of the flower is completely absent. Before taking any action to make the plant bloom again next winter, you should know the three typical causes .

The amaryllis will not flower if the causes have not been treated otherwise it will be stressed or weakened throughout the year. Such a condition has a negative effect on the knight star . Below you will find detailed care instructions, which must be observed in order to be able to inspect the beautiful flowers again.

Tip: Be sure not to confuse Amaryllis with the genus Hippeastrum, because this is widely known as the Knight of the Delight. The plants are very similar, as they belong to the same subfamily, the Amaryllidoideaen within the family Amaryllis (Amaryllidaceae).

lack of light

The amaryllis does not bloom. This circumstance is often associated with a lack of light. In the homeland of the Amaryllis, the South African Cape region, the greenhouse is literally bathed in sunlight, which is often difficult to implement in Germany or Central Europe. Even in winter, the plant needs enough light to stay vital and flower in a relaxed way. Therefore, please pay attention to the following characteristics in order to be able to donate enough light to the knight star.

• bright
• sunny
• no direct sun over noon
• four hours of sun are the minimum
• South orientation recommended
• indoors, choose south windows
• avoid permanent shadows

Gladly, the plant is placed near a house wall or behind a windowpane. If you can not allow four hours of sunlight over the winter, you should definitely use suitable plant lamps. Without them, the Amaryllidaceae atrophies and can only recover with difficulty, since the actual flowering time is over the winter. About the rest period, the light requirement is much lower.

Missing rest period

To bloom, the Amaryllis needs a rest period after the summer. In these weeks, the plant prepares for the flowering and at the same time recovers from the exertions of the summer, in which the plant produces a lot of green material. They can help the Amaryllis with the rest period, since it can not maintain a natural rhythm by itself compared to the original circulation area.

Proceed as follows:

• Rest period lasts twelve weeks
• starts at the end of Augus
• from the end of August no longer fertilize and water
• Cut off the leaves as soon as they are absorbed by the plant itself
• transport in dark and cool location

For example, storage rooms, basements, dark garage corners and more are suitable locations for these twelve weeks. Since the plant at this time in itself exists only as an onion, no light is necessary. Too much light could even confuse the plant. At the beginning of November, the Amaryllis must be accustomed to their winter quarters.

To do this, first turn the onion into fresh substrate, as this will help you to get rid of it quickly. The bucket is then placed in a new location with sufficient sun and a temperature of 18 ° C to a maximum of 22 ° C. Now start carefully with watering and carefully increase the water additions over the next few weeks.

nutrient deficiency

Amaryllis are hungry plants and without the appropriate nutrient additions the plant suffers from a deficiency that quickly manifests itself in a lack of flowering. Since the African flower forms such large flowers, it depends on a sufficient nutrient addition. First of all, the time of fertilization must be right, because many people are wrong.

The following applies:

• fertilize from mid-April to the end of August
• do not fertilize from September to March (rest period and flowering period)

If you were to fertilize the plant during the flowering period, only the green parts of the plant, but not the flowers would grow. That in turn can lead to weakening. If you do not want to use special Amaryllis fertilizers, you can use the following alternatives.

• nettle liquid manure
• Wurmtee
• Water of compost
• Comfrey manure

Tip: If you are repackaging the knight stars every November, fertilization is kept within limits. Best use classic potting soil in high quality, because this can supply the ornamental plant until next autumn with sufficient nutrients.

Stimulate flowering

If any of the above causes are not the reason for the bloom to fail, your specimen may be a flowering amaryllis. Not every onion likes to drive eagerly and so it can happen that these just do not have enough energy or incentive to bloom . If this is the case, there are several steps that make the plant bloom and are easy to implement.

1. Remove the withered flowers of the Knight Stars between mid-February and March. These rob the plant a lot of energy, which will make them lazy for the next season. Maybe last winter you forgot to remove the flowers, which in the long run leads to a weak flower formation, which shows up especially in old age. The leaves, on the other hand, are not removed as they provide nutrients to the amaryllis.

2. The leaves are removed as long as they retract by themselves and get shorter and shorter. These can then easily be cut off and disposed of without the plant losing its vitality.

3. Then look for a new location that is in partial shade and likes to be outdoors. A place with fresh air and a light shade is ideal for the plant to focus on the formation of new flowers.

4. Finally, increase the fertilizer additions. They should give the plant liquid fertilizer every two weeks from mid-May to the end of July, adapted to the needs of the plant. The liquid fertilizer is not added directly to the substrate, but together with the irrigation water.

These steps will allow you to flower your Amaryllis for the next season. However, do not apply these steps until you have corrected possible care mistakes, otherwise they will not work and the plant may even be stressed by the measures . For this reason, always first eliminate possible problems and then stimulate the flowering.

Tip: Because of the high toxicity of the Ritterstern, be careful when performing care procedures. All plant parts are poisonous and can not only cause discomfort such as sweating or vomiting, but even lead to death if large parts of the onion are consumed.

summer blooms

Knights stars are known to train a second flower end of May to end of June, as soon as the care is right and necessary measures are taken to their incentive . Since she is not native to Central Europe, she can be "tricked" to enjoy it a second time a year.

For this you need to implement the following points:

1. Immediately remove all blooms that have withered during flowering. Do not hesitate, because the sooner you take this step, the more power the plant has left. This must happen even faster than with the above suggestion, so you can look forward to a summer bloom at the end.

2. The stems are only completely removed as soon as they are significantly yellowed. But you have to make sure that you do not damage the leaves so that the plant can still soak up enough sun to continue to drive off and keep the metabolism going.

3. After the Eisheiligen in the middle of May, the Ritterstern is planted outdoors. But the plant is not taken from the pot, but buried together with this in the bed. The location for the Amaryllis should be sunny and the pot has drainage holes to prevent moisture from accumulating in the substrate.

In itself, the plant could simply be planted without bucket, but attack like pests on the onion. Never plant the plant in a place exposed to the direct sun at noon.

4. Alternatively, you can put the amaryllis in a sunny spot in the garden, only need to water them much more often and then slowly get used to the sun intensity in the outdoor area. Pour as usual and make sure that the floor never gets too wet. Therefore, this must also be protected from heavy rainfall and the location must have no tendency to puddling.

5. Fertilize in the usual way at the rate of 14 days.

If all these measures have been taken, you can in most cases enjoy a summer bloom of the Ritterstern. But do not be sad if none is formed, because not every specimen has enough power for it, even if the care is right.