Better Late

Ten seasons ago, when Emaryllis did the first Box Kit feature on this site, it was done with a sense of whimsy combined with a “Consumer Reports” mentality. It led to both amazement (some of the performances were great) and scorn (the number of mislabels was astounding).  ‘Minerva’ was there for it all, showing up twice as substitutes for ‘Vera’ and for ‘Piquant’. While many contenders to her throne are gathering popularity, a few others have all but vanished from the scene (I’m thinking of ‘Gilmar’ and ‘Mambo’) as ‘Minerva’ soldiers on as a true classic. Reliable performance from relatively small bulbs, excellent storage tolerance, and bold and festive flowers has made her a tough act to follow.

So it was back to my local grocer for a go at a simple, inexpensive box kit, this time looking for ‘Minerva’ specifically-just to see if it was really her in the box, or one of many similar bicolors. The date, December 18, 2018 and the price, a mere $5.00, marked down from a label price of $7.99 which is already quite the bargain.

Simple in design, these glossy boxes are hard to miss when stacked up in the floral section of a grocery store. The question is, are they really such a great gift for the holidays? Only one way to find out.

Once home, the kit is put in the basement to stay reasonably cool as possible Emaryllis is busy with all manner of holiday activities both at home, and at work. It wouldn’t be until December 29, after the rush of Christmas festivities had died down that this kit was opened for planting. This would be a realistic scenario had it been purchased to give as a gift, so no comments on E’s laziness, it was all by design 😉

Pretty decent growing instructions are provided, but it is the bulb origin that seems particulary noteworthy. “Grown in Peru” clearly shows that market pressure is driving more growing of these bulbs beyond Brazil, South Africa, Israel, and the Netherlands. Incidentally, you can see a larger version of the photo, and the fine print by clicking on it to open it in its own window. You’re welcome 😉

The top opened reveals a cardboard spacer designed to keep the bulb from rattling around in all of that empty space. The hole might be there to allow any sprouting to be directed upward, towards the light from the two handle/vent holes in the top of the box. The bulb is so small, that this doesn’t really work out here, and as you will see, the bulb is not sprouting out prematurely anyways, a pleasant surprise.

The kit is pretty bare bones, with no more than the basics needed to bloom a hybrid hippeastrum. A coconut coir disc that needs to be hydrated in warm water, a pot and a bulb, that’s it. The pot is thin, but with excellent drainange holes. It measures 5.5″/14cm diameter and is made in the USA. The coir, as usual, comes from Sri Lanka. The modern amaryllis box kit is most definitely a product of a global marketplace! Ahh, and last but not least, the bulb itself. Besides being produced with cheaper land and labor, the benefits of growing in the Southern Hemisphere for Northern Hemisphere winter holidays are simple. Growing the bulbs under field conditions in a subtropical climate allows harvesting in ‘opposite seasons,’ so that harvest more closely coincides with spring, the natural bloom season for these. No need for an early start in a heated greenhouse, or early harvest to rush them through a 10 week cooling period to program them for holiday blooming. The only real downside is that these bulbs are sometimes too anxious and must be held back as they may be ready to bloom in our fall (their spring). “Christmas blooming” amaryllis guarantees are found in catalogs for bulbs from South Africa and nowadays, South America. In this case our bulb is nice and solid, it has many fleshy roots; they have been trimmed which is fine, smaller roots will branch off of those if all goes well.

The bulb is potted in the expaned coir, but with some irritation on our part. The coir disc provided in this case is not really enough, and the bulb must be planted far down in the pot, and the media will only come about halfway up the bulb. The disc should have been about ⅓ larger in volume. Had the bulb been larger, it would have taken up some of that space. This is a “pure” test of the kit itself (unlike the cultivar check of ‘Jewel’ earlier this season) so it will just have to do. Only two pale leaves are extending slightly at this point, a real surprise in light of some kits using Brazilian bulbs bought over the past several years that presented scapes sprouted out and sometimes broken in the box. Now the waiting begins.

One month, two months…finally! March 3, 2019 and we finally have lift-off. Oh, but what a great showing! A lofty first scape bears 5 large, well formed flowers whose only drawback is that they come close to toppling the lightweight container and media. Frequent turning of the pot to keep the scape straight is essential for balance. The foliage and a second developing scape make for quite a nice presentation. That cheap plastic pot is outclassed by the bulb in a big way here.

I often sleeve a pot like this into a heavier cachepot to prevent tipping. In this case it actually remained balanced enough on its own, a minor miracle. Next up,  just two weeks later…

The finale, a second scape of four flowers in late March shows just what ‘Minerva’ can do, and why she is still being produced more than fifty years after introduction.

Emaryllis is left with our original question; what if this had been given as a gift or party favor? I can easily imagine the lucky recipient calling or emailing the gift-giver with glowing reports of the amazing beauty that this bulb had provided. In this way, the living gift has created a compelling reason for people to stay in touch for months after the gift was given. Do not underestimate the beauty and value of these box kits when they are good, especially if ‘Minerva’ is waiting inside!