Water plants, wait a day or two, then apply the spray in the morning. Bowen recommends the weaker solution for drought-stressed plants. To be safe, test-treat a few leaves before spraying the entire plant. Avoid spraying delicate plants such as African violets and ferns. Toss strained solids into the compost.
Amaryllis bulbs are among the easiest to force into winter blooms.
The large, lilylike flowers are available in red, pink, salmon, white, yellow and bicolors. The blooms may be single or double, and there are miniature amaryllis, too. It is traditional to coax, or force, large Dutch hybrid amaryllis into bloom for the holidays. Simply plant a bulb in a pot, and in six to eight weeks you'll have blooms. Those potted this weekend would bloom just after the New Year's.