How to Grow and Care for Blood Lilies

With data, that’s how… and this information has all of the know-how you must start your plant parentage, from propagation to cultivation. 

Right here’s what we’ll be speaking about:

What Are Blood Lilies?

Previously labeled as Haemanthus multiflorus, Scadoxus multiflorus is a bulbous perennial from the Amaryllidaceae, or amaryllis, household which incorporates snowdrops, daffodils, and amaryllis flowers.

Hardy in USDA Zones 9 to 11, the blood lily traces its origins to tropical Africa, elements of South Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Despite the fact that it has “lily” within the title, S. multiflorus isn’t a true lily plant of the Lilium genus. 

Let’s begin with the bloom clusters: Crimson, spherical, and 4 to 6 inches in diameter, the flower heads are literally composed of many particular person blooms borne on one to 2 inches of succulent stem, every with six pinkish-red petals and 6 yellow-tipped pink stamens.

Blooming in summer season, these flowers persist for as much as two weeks. If pollinators do their factor, then orange to pink berries will comply with in fall.

The flowers and fruits don’t develop on precise stems, however slightly pseudostems consisting of overlapping leaf sheaths that connect with a rhizomatous bulb.

From every red-streaked bulb grows six to seven vibrant inexperienced, lance-shaped leaves, every 12 to fifteen inches lengthy.

As an entire, every plant grows one to 2 ft tall and 9 to 18 inches huge.

The bulbs include poisonous alkaloids, and shouldn’t be dealt with with out gloves or consumed. This “no consuming” rule goes in your pets and livestock, too!

There are three subspecies of S. multiflorus: multiflorus, katharinae, and longitubus.

The multiflorus subspecies is customary – therefore the redundant title – whereas the katharinae subspecies has barely bigger dimensions and flowers. The longitubus subspecies has barely elongated floral tubes, nevertheless it’s not generally seen in cultivation.

Cultivation and Historical past

The blood lily is greater than only a fairly face – it has many sensible functions.

Gambian farmers plant it as a good-luck juju for shielding their crops from thieves, Nigerian farmers mark the boundaries of their plots with it, and it’s used for poison fishing in each Guinea and Nigeria.

In lots of elements of Africa, S. multiflorus has a wide range of medicinal makes use of. The crushed bulb is used to deal with critical wounds and friction burns, whereas the dried bulb promotes lactation when rubbed on breast scarifications.

Blood lily ointment is used for ulcers, a decoction constructed from the crushed bulb is taken internally to deal with hookworm, and the sap treats earache when utilized instantly into the ear canal.

I’m actually not saying these things doesn’t work, however I am saying that you just in all probability shouldn’t strive any of it at residence, because the plant is technically poisonous to each people and animals.

Contemplate this a surgeon normal warning to proceed with warning… although I’m neither a surgeon nor a normal.

Blood Lily Propagation

To propagate blood lilies, you’ve 4 choices: you possibly can develop from seed, divide offsets, plant bulbs, or transplant a potted specimen.

From Seed

For seed sowing, you’ll want entry to a specimen that has yielded fruit. Alternatively, you possibly can snag some seeds from pals or a good vendor.

In case you go the DIY harvesting route, wait till the orange to pink berries both drop from the plant or are crinkled and ripe sufficient to fall on the slightest contact.

Whereas carrying gloves, take the berries, mash them up, and take away the seeds inside. Then, rinse the seeds in a strainer to take away all of the pulp.

Fill a seed tray with a 50:50 mixture of peat moss and perlite, and scatter the seeds on the floor of the rising media.

Gently press them into the media with out burying them, then moisten with a twig bottle. Be certain the tray is uncovered to vibrant, oblique mild.

Preserve the media moist because the seeds germinate. When new progress is noticed which may take just a few months, you possibly can transplant them out within the backyard or into particular person containers.

It could actually take as much as 5 years for a plant began from seed to bloom, so persistence is essential.

From Offsets

Blood lilies broaden naturally by producing offsets from the mom bulb. Eradicating and replanting these each three to 5 years each manages a specimen’s measurement and offers you with extra crops!

However first, it’s necessary to let your offsets develop for a rising season or two earlier than anticipating any flowers, since they in all probability received’t be massive and developed sufficient to flower their first yr.

In early spring, rigorously elevate your goal plant, take away soil from across the bulb, and take away the offsets from the central bulb, both through the use of a sterilized blade or your gloved fingers.

Return the mom bulb to its residence, then plant every offset into its personal container or patch of backyard soil. Plant every offset bulb in order that its “neck” is on the soil line, and water within the media round it.

Preserve them well-watered as they grow to be established which ought to take just a few weeks to a few months.

From Bulbs/Transplanting

Whether or not you buy new bulbs or are setting out ones you’ve lifted and saved over the winter months, planting bulbs is straightforward.

In case you’re planting out in your panorama, be certain your supposed websites are in full solar or half shade and have fertile, well-draining soil, with a pH of 5.5 to six.5.

Potted bulbs ought to go in well-draining, but moisture-retaining medium – a good mixture of peat moss and perlite is ideal.

Guarantee your chosen container has drainage holes within the backside and is one or two inches bigger than the bulb. You don’t desire a container that’s too massive as the additional potting medium can retain an excessive amount of moisture and trigger rot.

In spring, when all danger of frost has handed, plant every bulb an inch deep, apex up and basal plate down, spacing them 9 to 18 inches aside.

Water within the soil across the bulbs, and preserve it evenly moist because the bulbs develop and develop foliage.

In case you’re transplanting a potted plant, dig a gap the identical measurement because the container the plant is at the moment rising in, gently take away it from the pot, and set it within the gap. Backfill with soil and water in effectively.

Simply be additional cautious whenever you deal with the basis techniques, as they don’t like being disturbed.

Methods to Develop Blood Lilies

Bought some blood lilies planted? Let’s speak about easy methods to preserve them wholesome and blissful.

Local weather and Publicity Wants

If you wish to depart your bulbs in-ground year-round, then you definately’ll must be in USDA Zones 9 to 11.

They can be grown in cooler climates, however they’ll must be positioned in containers that may be introduced indoors earlier than temperatures dip under 45°F. Any colder, and the foliage will flip brown and begin to die again.

Select a location in full solar to partial shade. The perfect spot would have full solar within the morning adopted by some shade within the afternoon.

Vivid, oblique mild is finest for crops which are grown indoors.

Soil Wants

The perfect soil for blood lilies is organically-rich, fertile, and well-draining, with a pH of 5.5 to six.5.

In case your backyard has notably sandy soil, amend with compost or well-rotted manure to enhance water retention. Clay soils can profit from the addition of pea gravel in addition to compost to enhance drainage and add natural matter.

In spring, high costume with compost or well-rotted manure and thoroughly dig it into the soil round your blood lilies so as to add natural matter and vitamins.

Water and Fertilizer Wants

For optimum progress, keep even moisture all through the rising season. To do that, water every time the floor of the soil dries out.

Cease any supplemental irrigation when the foliage dies again in fall.

Pruning and Upkeep

Blood lily blooms final for as much as two weeks, so in the event you’re on the lookout for lower flowers, that’s your window.

Make sure to lower the flower stem diagonally so it could nonetheless take up water whereas touching the underside of the vase.

In case you don’t wish to accumulate the seeds seeds, lower the flower stems right down to the bottom when the blooms have pale.

When the leaves die, be happy to chop these to the bottom as effectively to tidy up the backyard. Take away any diseased or broken plant tissue you occur to note.

In Zone 9, in-ground bulbs profit from a layer of mulch to assist them survive the winter chilly.

In cooler climates, the bulbs will must be lifted and saved in the event you don’t wish to plant new ones subsequent spring.

When the foliage dies again in fall, elevate the bulbs someday earlier than the primary frost, as soon as temperatures begin to repeatedly keep under 45°F.

Reduce the shoot and root tissue from the bulbs, and lay them out on newspaper for one to 2 weeks in a brightly lit indoor house to allow them to dry.

After they’re dry, put the bulbs in paper baggage or in a cardboard field with air flow holes, pack them with peat moss, and retailer them in a darkish, dry place saved at 50 to 60°F till spring.

However you’re not out of the woods but. To maintain your blood lilies solely freed from well being points, you’ll want to arrange for these potential issues.

Slugs and Snails

Whether or not they’re shell-less slugs or shell-wearing snails, these mollusks are actual slimy, and actual annoying. 

With their uniquely-textured tongues, they eat leaf tissue such as you or I file down our nails, which leaves uneven, but clean feeding holes in foliage. Because of this, photosynthesis is hindered and the plant’s well being is harmed.

Because of this, the basis system and the bulb can flip necrotic and die, which hinders water and nutrient uptake for the remainder of the plant, inflicting the foliage to show brown and die again.

To stop bulb rot in blood lilies, it’s important to plant in well-draining soil and to keep away from overwatering throughout the rising season. It’s additionally necessary to cease watering throughout dormancy.

In case you’re rising your blood lily in a container, be certain it has enough drainage holes.

And if bulb rot takes maintain, you possibly can strive digging up the plant and transferring it to a extra appropriate location or potting it up in well-draining potting combine. But when it doesn’t recuperate, you’ll must pitch the rotted bulb.

Greatest Makes use of for Blood Lilies

A vibrant pink ball of blooms can play many roles in a backyard, it’s fairly sufficient to be the star of the present, whereas it could additionally assist different specimens as an accent planting.

Put it in a container, and the blood lily is gorgeous on a patio or as an indoor houseplant. And don’t overlook its energy as a lower flower!