Hippeastrum impertinence

Hippeastrum striatum, doing something stupid

Hippeastrum striatum is my Christmas bloomer, putting on quite a show from mid-December through late January. After that, it's supposed to rest, although it's an evergreen. So I'd been watering it sparingly in anticipation of a possible modest re-bloom in July or August.

Instead I got...this. I went into Roy's office to give its green occupants a little drink and was immediately struck by a flash of orange at soil level, where no orange should be. Plus, it's a mere three and a half months since it last bloomed. So what's going on? It could be a disease, it could be a pest that made its life miserable, or it could just be One Of Those Things.

Whatever. I cut off the anthers, put them in a centrifuge tube, and popped it in the freezer. Just in case Mandonii gets a hankering to bloom... I don't have the Really Good Desiccant, but a frost-free freezer is a bit of a desiccant itself, isn't it? The centrifuge tube (open) is in a container full of silica gel. I will close up the tube in a couple of days and hope for the best.