Clivia: home care, features of cultivation and reproduction, as well as information on how to get her to give buds and what to do after flowering

Clivia is a representative of a small genus of evergreen herbaceous perennial crops from the Amaryllis family. In the wild, it grows on the west coast of South Africa. In the family there are only three species among them and a room. The tropical flower Kaffir lily has long taken root on the windowsills, and is loved by flower growers. A relative of hippeastrum, does not have a bulb and does not need a dormant period. The herbaceous plant does not require special care; it blooms in winter.

Is it difficult to care for a beautiful girl with bell-shaped flowers framed by lush dark green leaves?

Description and features of Kaffir lily

Clivia or Kaffir lily is a roomless, stemless evergreen plant. She has dark green elastic xiphoid leaves. Their length is 40-75 cm, and their width is 5.5-8 cm.

She forms a false stem. It is formed by basal leaves, tightly covering each other and forming a rosette. The peduncle has a ribbed edge. An adult plant has several. Its height is 20-40 cm.

An umbrella-shaped inflorescence is formed on the peduncle, consisting of twelve to thirty flowers similar to bells. Their diameter is 15-20 cm. They bloom gradually. Flowering time - 3 weeks. In the end, a fruit will form - a berry.

Features

Clivia has a short, juicy rhizome, and the roots are thick and fleshy.
The use of all parts of the plant for pharmacological purposes, but subject to certain rules.The leaves and roots contain licorin. Therefore, they are toxic. When a person is poisoned, salivation increases, vomiting opens and paralysis occurs. When transplanting, observe safety precautions.
The rest period is the primary condition that flower growers must observe when growing house clivia.
If the conditions are comfortable, the flower will bloom twice a year.
If the plant blooms, you can not rearrange the pot on another windowsill or rotate it.
You can not transplant blooming clivia, and if you do this, then only if the roots come out of the drainage holes.

How to care?

Many gardeners are interested in how to care for this plant. Clivia is easier to care for than exotic orchids. The main thing is to choose the right window sill, where to put the pot and water on time.

Temperature, lighting, humidity

A plant grows better if the air temperature in the room is moderate. As soon as it fades, stop feeding and clean the pot in a place where it will be cooler - + 15 ° C.

Clivia does not tolerate direct sunlight. The pot is placed on a window facing east or west, but with mandatory shading from the rays of the sun. You can take it outside - to the garden, but subject to the above conditions. Humidity is maintained by spraying from a spray bottle or wiping the leaves.

Growing a house

How to grow such beauty? The place of growing the flower does not change during flowering. Otherwise, he will be "sick". To avoid stress, choose a place for the pot with special care. Do not transplant clivia often.
Before transplantation, they carefully consider whether it is needed? Any transplant is an operation that seriously injures her.

Usually transplanted when the former cylindrical pot is already cramped. Sometimes gardeners plant it in large dishes to avoid an early transplant. This decision is partly correct, but do not wait for the first flowers in the near future.

Having bought clivia in a flower shop, it is advisable to transplant it as soon as possible. When planting, do not deeply root the roots into the ground. All leaves should be above ground. The plant will grow rapidly in a loose and light soil mixture formed from garden soil, sand and peat in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.

Not all gardeners have the ability to independently form a soil mixture. In this case, buy a ready slightly acidic earthen mixture. The main components in it are peat, bark, perlite, vermiculite, charcoal.

Clivia is propagated by dividing the bush or seeds after flowering. The bush is divided when she is already 4-5 years old. She has already formed daughter processes with 4-5 leaves on the branches. Separate them carefully from the uterine, and then plant each of them in a separate pot.

A transplanted plant needs more careful care. It is watered infrequently and mildly, so that the roots do not begin to rot. Seed propagation is a more time-consuming process. Seeds are collected from an adult plant, which can be depleted and wither. Seedlings are difficult to rehabilitate.

How to make bloom?

Not all clivia blooms. Sometimes the ovary does not appear due to improper irrigation, non-observance of the temperature of the content, non-organization of dormancy after flowering and lighting requirements. Often it does not bloom, as it was incorrectly transplanted or it was not created after this difficult procedure of all the requirements. As soon as they find the cause and organize the right care, it will bloom.

Watering mode. Clivia is watered sparingly from spring to autumn (the permissible water temperature is 40 degrees to stimulate the growth of the peduncle). If watering is plentiful, the peduncle, unlike the leaves, will stop growing. In addition, the roots rot due to excess moisture. To avoid such problems, when transplanting, be sure to make holes in the pot and lay a drainage layer. So the water will be removed from the pan. In the winter months, watering with standing water at room temperature should not be frequent.
Temperature. Clivia will not bloom if the grower does not organize her rest in the winter months. She is cleaned in a room where the air temperature does not rise above + 7-12 degrees. Feeding is not needed, and cramped conditions are useless.
The plant is transplanted as soon as it fades. Do not transplant it every year, but only as necessary (the roots do not fit in the pot and crawl out through the drainage holes).
Lighting. Non-appearance of colors is often caused by non-compliance with the main content requirements. The grower puts the pot on the windowsill, which "bathes" in direct sunlight. Because of this, clivia is sick and her leaves are burned.

What to do after?

As soon as the flowering period has ended and clivia has blossomed, many wonder: what should be done with the flower stalk? After it dries, it needs to be cut. It is cut close to the base with a sharp knife, blade or manicure scissors.

Flower propagation

Clivia is rarely propagated - once every three to four years, when the roots no longer fit in the pot. An adult plant is propagated by lateral shoots, seeds are waiting for the young.

From seed

If the grower decided to get seeds from clivia growing on the windowsill, he should resort to artificial pollination. It’s easier to buy seeds at the store. How to grow a beauty out of them that will bloom in the 5-6th year?

After purchase, the seeds are soaked in water. They are left in it for exactly 24 hours so that they swell.
After a day, they are sown in a special soil mixture formed either from peat and perlite, or from turf and peat.
The optimal depth of penetration is 1 cm, the distance between the seeds is 2 cm.
After they remove the container with the plant in a mini-greenhouse or under a glass, where the temperature will be + 20-25 degrees. The frequency of ventilation is once a day, and the frequency of watering is as the soil dries.
After a month and a half, sprouts will appear that are transplanted into personal pots with the appearance of the first leaf. At the same time, the composition of the soil should already be different: clay, humus, deciduous soil.

Important: Do not be surprised at the slow growth of seedlings. It does not mean that the grower has done something wrong.

Propagation by side shoots

More often flower growers wait for the growth of clivia to propagate it by transshipment. It is simpler and more understandable, but they are used only when it has faded.

Selection of good kids with 4 or more leaves.
Move to a new pot with a diameter of 7 cm of the lateral processes without damage to the roots.
The pot is placed in a bright and warm place.
A transplanted plant is not cared for in a special way. Care is exactly the same as for an adult plant with the only difference: more heat, less moisture.

The first ovary appears 3-4 years after the procedure.

More nuances about the methods of propagation of clivia at home can be found here.

Transfer

Clivia is one of those indoor plants that does not like transplanting. There is simply a great risk that she will not tolerate it and develop rotting of the roots. Therefore, a transshipment method is used when the plant, together with the roots and the earthen lump, is placed in a larger pot.

The frequency of transshipment of young clivia is annually, and that of adults is once every 2 years. The substrate, or rather its upper part, is updated annually.

Learn more about plant transplantation in a separate material.

Disease

What diseases do novice growers most often buy clivia face?

Yellowing leaves

Sometimes flower growers notice yellow leaves in clivia. If there are not many, there is no cause for concern. Another thing is if the foliage turned yellow on most of it. In this case, the main thing is not to lose time and try to figure out the reasons.

Yellow leaves are a sign of poor or heavy watering. In the first case, they begin to water it more often, and in the second, the roots are checked for decay. To do this, take it out of the pot. If they find rot, cut it off, and the places where it was disinfected. After this, it is transplanted into another substrate.

In rare cases, the leaves turn yellow due to a change in environmental conditions and lack of nutrition.

White spots on the leaves

They are clear evidence of clivia getting a sunburn. Urgently clean the pot in another place or shade it on the old one.

Lack of ovary

It does not appear due to high air temperature, lack of sunlight or due to the lack of a full rest period.

Brown tips

The reason is waterlogging of the earth. It is important to revise the irrigation scheme, to make it less plentiful and frequent.

Learn more about the diseases and pests of clivia, including problems associated with the lack of flowering, and methods of treating the plant, in a separate article.

Poison and beneficial properties

All households should be aware that clivia has poisonous leaves. Therefore, after wiping them with a sponge, they wash their hands thoroughly, otherwise there is a high risk of toxic substances entering the digestive tract, which will be manifested by vomiting and diarrhea. It is advisable not to buy a plant if there are pets in the house.

Despite the fact that clivia is poisonous, it is also useful. Since it has a high content of clivatin and licorin, it is able to stabilize the circulatory system. She also purifies the air in homes.

Conclusion

It’s not so difficult to care for clivia. Care comes down to following simple rules. It is more difficult to transplant it correctly or propagate by seeds.