I've done some crosses, and i now have two pods growing of 'lemon lime' x 'benefica' and also two pods of 'lemon lime' x 'splash'.
I will use most of the splash seedlings to experiment with, and i will keep some benefica seedlings and also some splash seedlings to see them flowering.

Some of the benefica seedlings, about 20 alive


The lemon lime x splash seedlings are also doing well, i have about 30 of them left

That's really impressive!

they've been planted for three weeks now, and already showing growth

Snarfie, you're inspiring me to finally plant the seeds that I harvested from an amaryllis cross earlier this year. I can't wait to see updated pictures of your amaryllis growing! How long does it take, from seed to bloom, for amaryllis to produce flowers? Is it 2-3 years?

I found a good website for information about growing amaryllis from seed. Website of the Royal Horticultural Society/ Hippeastrum. The RHS advises to keep the young plants growing actively all winter in moderate warmth(21C or 70 degrees). You don't want to induce dormancy by dropping the temperature. You are not trying to get them to flower until the bulbs gain some size. It takes up to six years to get flowering bulbs from seeds and the offspring flower may differ from the parent flower, even if self pollinated. Propagation by offsets will produce flowers in 3-4 years and the offset flowers will be identical to the parent's flowers. Again, check out this website.

26 september


28 october

Photo's from today.

The long thing with just one root is an strange offset from hippeastrum cybister 'chico', it got detached from the main bulb when i was repotting it.


Hippeastrum red lion x self, about one and a half to two years old


Seedlings today. Left side is lemon lime x splash (8 doing great, 2 just surviving) right side is lemon lime x benefica (6 doing great, 2 just surviving)


Bonus pictures hippeastrum reticulatum hybrid

snarfie said:
Bonus pictures hippeastrum reticulatum hybrid

I love those leaves!!!

Update, they're growing well :)

Anyone made any other crosses lately? I just crossed Picotee x Naranja this last winter. Got about 80 seedlings which all seem to be doing fine - gave some of them to 2 friends of mine, but I still have a lot myself. This little bunch has grown much faster than I thought, so going to transplant them into individual little pots very soon.

Would be interested to know what other crosses have been made lately.

No one else is piping in so I guess I"ll just say that I haven't made any other crosses recently. I had two amaryllis bloom this summer, but not at the same time, they were a week off from each other, so no hybridizing.

I'll try to make some crosses again this holiday season if they have overlapping blooms, again. I did save some pollen from one of the amaryllis for the next time I get a bloom from one of them. I was hoping that my papilio would have successful seed pods last season, but something happened and its seeds sort of wilted away before the seeds fully matured. It might be because it was in a pot that was too small (I know amaryllis like small, but this was REALLY small and I don't think it was far enough in the dirt...not to mention it kept tipping over). I'll be trying again this season.

I did a bit of research on Papilio and found that it is common for them to start to set seeds and then abort. The thought is that it is problem with the genetics. Papilio will only cross with certain other amaryllis. And either you will get no seeds at all, or the seeds will start to develop but then fail. So perhaps you should use a different amaryllis to cross it with? Or did you actually pollinate it with itself? Also, I learned that when you do a cross with Papilio you will get the same results if you cross either way - does not matter which one is the pollen donor or the seed parent. Not sure if I believe that or not. I was thinking of trying a cross between Papilio and Rilona. Not sure if those 2 would be compatible or not. Also, I have heard that the pollen does not last very long if you store it. But then on the flip side, I heard it would store up to year in the fridge if kept very dry. I do wish I knew more.

@cwhitt - I'm not an expert with amaryllis, either. I do know that daylily pollen stores in the freezer for a year or more (proof is in the pudding, I used last years pollen to pollinate some this year and the pods took), so I froze the amaryllis pollen from last December and I'm hoping to try it this year. The information about papilio tending to abort pods is helpful. That's precisely what it did to me and it sounds like I need to figure out who has had luck with it. Most importantly, I need to know if it is triploid, tetraploid, etc...so that I can research possible other amaryllis to cross it with. I believe all of the others I have are the same ploidy as each other (not sure what type, though) and that they are all either offshoots or crosses of one another because they all came from the same, original pot several years ago.

I've forgotten a lot about amaryllis genetics since I was doing the research last year, but that's a project for the fall. Right now I'm just trying to get everything done for the summer/fall season that I need to get done.

@DogsNDaylilies -- I'm not sure, but I think Papilio is a diploid. Check out these 2 articles:

http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/...

http://www.bloggang.com/mainbl...

Yeah, right now I am just in the thinking stage - but this winter I will try to cross SOMETHING

That's good to hear! What are you thinking of crossing and/or what varieties do you have to work with? I haven't looked at your plant list yet...if they are all on there, you can just tell me to look at it.

I need to update my list.
Sweet Potato Pie shipping to me this fall
Cayenne
Ruby Gem
Marrakech
Rilona
Papilio
Minverva
Snowdrift - I think it is sterile
Nagano
Naranja
Lady Jane - umm, I think this one is sterile too
Picote
Gervase
Apple Blossom
Desire

I already crossed Picote x Naranja and have seedlings.
Not sure which of the above will cross with Papilio.

That's a nice list, cwhitt

I'm taking suggestions @DogsNDaylilies - anything on that list that you think might make a good cross?

I'm not an expert on amaryllis, so I'll have to refrain from making recommendations on amaryllis crosses. is probably make a recommendation of two with different ploidy or two that happen to be completely incompatible for reasons other than ploidy.

What crosses were you thinking you might want to do?