Amaryllis forcing

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. It seemed like all the food stores where I shop had waxed amaryllis bulbs for sale over Christmas holidays. They’ve been dipped in wax and don’t need any water at all, they just sit on the table or some such places and send up a flower stalk. Apparently, this forcing technique sets the bulb back significantly and they aren’t likely to rebloom even if you carefully peel the wax off and try to baby them. However, forced amaryllis, like we used to do, when you plant several amaryllis a pot with a soilless mix and get them to bloom over the holidays, do well if you follow directions and you’ll get a bulb you can plant outside once all danger of frost is over. The amaryllidaceae family is huge and the rain lilies I’ve been talking about are in that family, along with about a zillion other bulbs.