Looking after Amaryllis papilio

Can take 6 weeks,or up to 4 months to flower! Should bloom first season.Soak bottom of bulb in warm water to spread roots out.Top 1/3rd of bulb above soil.Any good compost will do.Water well then leave till growing or soil bone dry. Will rot if watered too much. Assume you are growing indoors,they wont survive frost outdoors.

I was given a bulb about 17 years ago, as a Christmas present. After all these years it has multiplied to about 6 huge bulbs in a pot which flower in the summer and produce up 12 stalks of superb blooms. I will try to include a photo on this site if I can find it !! Best of luck ,they are worth it but do take the advice of darryluk.

If you go to my pictures, I have managed to show my Amaryllis.

Thanks both, for the advice and also for Wyeboy's photos. I do hope that mine lives that long to look like that beauty!

OK, it's planted as recommended. When it has finished doing whatever it wants to, in several months' time, do I dry it out and repot? Or leave it and nurture it?

Bulbs can be left in original container for 2, 3 or more years before any need to repot.When flowers start to 'go off' move into light shade,water and fertilse to get the leaves growing strong.

Thanks so much for your help. It has a small tip showing already, so I'm waiting to see if it's a flower spike or just a leaf!

Hi Spritzhenry,
I have bought one myself too!
Mine came out very soon and the oldest spike (it has two) is flowering now. I know papilio bulbs sometimes come with a "disclaimer" that explains that they could take longer to bloom than other Amaryllis bulbs. Maybe it has to do with the size of the bulb? Just keep it warm and water from time to time as Darryluk advises. They definitely don't like cold and certainly no frost. In the summer i allways put them outside in their container, watching carefully that it doesn't soak in water when it is rainy (it rains A LOT in The Netherlands LOL) I don't change the container too often either. They really like to be pot-bound. If they have too much space, the bulb will rather produce a lot of roots, and will not flower as often.
I wish you a lot of fun with it.
Enjoy!
Lourdes.

It's very strange, my first one has not yet flowered. I bought another one by mistake this year and planted it anyway - that one did produce a flower (see photo below).

Thanks for the response!