June 28, 2009

Sorry for the lack of updates here. Fat Man grew to be about 3 feet tall. I cut him down and I’m ’sleeping’ him in a dark place for a couple of months to encourage another bloom.

Mackenzie out very well, however Masatake didn’t. I overwatered. He had considerable bulb rot. I starved him of water for 2 weeks, took the bulb out of the pot, cut off the rot, and replanted him. He’s slowly growing sprouts. Awesome. I thought he was a goner for sure.

So, don’t expect too many updates here regarding the plants. I will post some updates when I see new flower pods coming, but that shouldn’t be for a few weeks at least.

Thanks for checking this out. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from this project.

May 17, 2009

Fat Man is about to bloom. I can’t believe how fast this thing has been growing. In a week or so it’s grown 20cm, easily.

So now it’s time to take it out of the sun and give it lots of water to support those big blooms that are coming. I peeked inside the flower pod and it appears the flowers will be pink.

I plan on taking 2 pictures a day, and making a time-lapse video of the flowers blooming. Should be interesting.

May 14, 2009

There has been a lot of growth over the past week. As you can see, Fat Man has grown to be about 40cm tall. Masatake is a bit slower, but now that its flower head is out of the base of the plant, I have a feeling that it will begin to grow very rapidly. I donated Mackenzie to my school, so the kindergarten kids can watch it grow, but it has mysteriously disappeared. Hmmmmmm…

I figure it’s a matter of a week or so before Fat Man will start to bloom. I can’t wait.

May 6, 2009

So it’s been almost a month now, and the plants are starting to grow significantly. I guess they have good roots. Note that I only watered them once, on the day I planted them. I gave them a bit of water this morning, but the soil is still somewhat moist.

I expect them to continue to grow taller and fuller. The others are growing their leaves up pretty quickly now. I will try to find some good fertilizer once I get paid. I’ve been rotating them daily to ensure they grow straight up, instead of leaning towards the sun.

All 3 are getting a moderate amount of sunlight in my window, which faces west. Since they face west, they get most of their sun in the afternoon.

I expect substantial growth over the next couple weeks, with flowering in about 4 weeks. I’ll keep this page updated.

April 29, 2009

Masatake

Fat Man

Mackenzie

These are my plants so far. Notice little growth up top. This is a good thing, because they need to establish good roots. The soil is still moist from the first watering, so I’m not going to give them any more until it’s pretty dry. I’m also researching fertilizers, but money is a bit tight right now, so that will have to wait until next pay.

I put the seashells I collected from the beach in Fukuoka, Japan into the pots. I think it looks nice.

Anyway, it’s good that they’re not growing vertically. That means they’re growing roots. I gave them all a squeeze today to ensure that they’re not rotting, and they’re all firm.

So that explains the lack of updates. Keep your eyes glued here during the next few weeks for some updates.

April 20 2009

I potted the other 2 bulbs yesterday afternoon. The 3 of them are sitting in my window now. I hope they’re establishing good roots.

Buying everything separately really makes sense, as opposed to buying a bulb already in a pot of peat moss. This way I could choose the best soil for my plants.

Anyway, it’s not likely that anything will be happening in the next few weeks with these. I’ll post here as things change.

April 18, 2009

I’ve always loved growing plants, and when I saw a 3-foot-fall amaryllis at my gym, I knew I had to have one at my place.

So I set out to find some amaryllis bulbs. I went everywhere. Flower markets, shopping centers, all over Seoul pretty much. I found some near my school. Go figure.

Anyway, last night I soaked the biggest bulb in warm water for about an hour:

I watered it thoroughly after placing an old ripped towel at the bottom to ensure that not too much water escapes, and that the soil won’t leak out. This bulb is bigger than my fist, so I am pretty confident that I’ll get some nice big blooms in a few weeks. For now, it’s sitting in my window, getting sun and warmth. Hopefully this will promote healthy root growth.

Stay tuned to this page for updates on my amaryllis adventure. I’m off to the mountains to think of a name for my new friend.