Long-liver clivia – care

Clivia is an old favorite of flower growers, which, with normal care, will bloom beautifully from year to year. This is a very unpretentious flowering plant for windows located to the east and west.

Clivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com liz west
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Description of clivia

Clivia blooms every year if watered properly and not left in a warm room over the winter. She needs a lot of space, and in winter it is necessary to provide a dormant period in a cool room with very limited watering. Clivia does not like to be disturbed – they touch her once more and rearrange her from place to place. Clivia is a very long-lived plant; under appropriate conditions, it can live up to 40 years. Old plants growing in tubs are not transplanted, but only fertilized with fertilizers. The best specimens from old plants form up to 40-50 peduncles.

The leaves of the plant, the decorativeness of which can decorate your interior even without flowering, are collected in a root socket and are arranged in a kind of fan. Bright, cheerful orange clivia inflorescences, shaded by shiny dark green foliage, are extraordinarily beautiful. Clivia bloom during the winter. Currently, various varieties of clivia have been bred: from light ocher to dark red color of flowers with a whole range of warm orange and yellow tones.

Clevia (Clivia) Is a genus of perennial evergreen herbaceous plants of the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). Botanist John Lindley named the family in honor of the Duchess of Northumberland Charlotte Clive, the governess of the future Queen of Great Britain Victoria. Rod Clivia (Clivia) includes approximately five plant species of the amaryllis family.

Clivias are evergreen perennial herbaceous plants, stemless, multi-flowered. Vaginal leaves, tightly covering each other, forming a false stem, linear or xiphoid. Under the ground, clivia develops a rhizome, to which the thickened bases of the leaves and the leaves themselves are attached. Clivia is, as it were, in the middle between bulbous and rhizome plants. The flowers are bell-shaped, red or orange, collected in an umbrella.

One of the most common – Clivia cinnabar (Clivia miniata – lat. miniatus – painted with cinnabar, covered with red paint from armor. minium – cinnabar or red lead). In the greenhouse and indoor culture, it is used as a floral and deciduous ornamental pot plant. The homeland of the plant is South Africa.

In the literature, it is found under Russian names: orange clivia (dull red, red lead, red lead), or kaffir (Cape).

CleviaClivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

Features of growing clivia at home

Temperature: Moderate. In winter, a dormant period at a temperature not higher than +15 ยฐ C.

Lighting: Bright place shaded from direct sunlight in summer. Clivia feels good in the summer outdoors in a shaded place.

Watering the clivia: Fairly plentiful from spring to autumn. Moderate and careful from late autumn until the peduncle reaches a height of 10-15 cm. In winter, instead of a watering can, you can use a spray that will provide the necessary moisture to the ground and moisten the leaves, but only if the clivia is kept in a cool room. If the room is about 20 ยฐ C, then water more.

Fertilizer for clivia: During the period of active growth, every two weeks they are fed with a special fertilizer for flowering indoor plants.

Air humidity: From time to time, the leaves are wiped with a sponge, periodically sprayed.

Clivia transplant: Soil – 2 parts sod, 1 part leaf, 1 part humus, 1 part peat land and 1 part sand. As needed after flowering, only when the roots begin to emerge from the pot.

Reproduction of clivia: By division when replanting or by seeds. Seeds are harvested 2-3 months after flowering and sown fresh in the ground. Seedlings appear in a month, but clivia will bloom with seed propagation only after 4-5 years.

CleviaClivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

Cleavage care

For clivia, bright diffused light is suitable; the plant is shaded from the direct sun. Suitable for placement by the windows of western and eastern exposure. At windows with a southern exposure, the plant should be shaded from direct sunlight. In the north window, when there is a lack of light, clivia grows more slowly and may not bloom. The plant can spend summer outdoors in partial shade.

The optimum temperature for clivia in the spring-summer period is in the region of +20 .. +25 ยฐ C, from October the temperature is reduced to +12 .. +14 ยฐ C, when the plant begins to release a peduncle, the temperature is raised to +18 .. +20 ยฐ C. Clivia can tolerate high temperatures during the dormant period, but this does not very well affect the well-being of the plant and its subsequent flowering.

The plant needs watering with soft, settled water. Between watering, it is better to let the earth dry slightly. Do not allow water to remain in the pan. During dormancy, the plant is not watered or watered only if the plant begins to shed its leaves. When the buds are tied on the peduncle, the clivia is watered more abundantly, and only with warm water.

Air humidity does not play a significant role for clivia. In summer, from time to time, clivia leaves should be wiped with a damp sponge or cloth and sprayed.

Clivia responds positively to fertilization. From the first year of culture, starting from the first pick, every year from spring to August, liquid organic and complete mineral fertilizer (2 g per 1 l of water) is applied, every 2 weeks, alternately.

Cleviaะšะปะธะฒะธั. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Dallas Krentzel

How to achieve regular flowering of clivia?

To achieve regular flowering, it is necessary to provide the clivia with a dormant period. For young plants, it should last two months from October to November. The larger the plant, the longer the rest. Since September, watering is completely stopped. However, be careful not to let the plants start shedding their leaves. Then the clivia should be slightly watered.

With the appearance of a flower arrow, the clivia is transferred to a warm place, watering is increased and fertilized. But at the same time, one must remember that the clivia can be transferred to heat and watered abundantly only when the arrow grows to 10-15 cm.

Clivia cannot stand anxiety: do not move the pot during the budding or flowering period. After any movement, the pot with the plant must be placed in the previous direction of growth, this can prevent the leaves from falling off. During the growing season, the plant can form 5-10 new leaves.

Clivia blooms most often in February. Under normal conditions, the flowering period of an individual specimen can stretch up to 3-4 weeks, since the flowers in the inflorescence bloom gradually. One peduncle can have up to 30 flowers. If you apply artificial pollination, you can get large fruits with seeds: first green, and then, after almost a year, orange-red. They also decorate the plant. However, fruiting greatly depletes the clivia and, without the need to preserve the fruits on the plant, it is impractical to cut off the ovaries. But if you still want to collect the seeds, then the fruits should ripen and become soft.

Clivia transplant

If space permits, a very large specimen can be grown. To do this, you simply do not need to divide the plant, remove the offspring, and then it will develop into a huge bundle of foliage.

Clivia requiring a transplantClivia requiring a transplant. Maja dumat
Clivia transplants with a clod of earthClivia transplants with a clod of earth. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat
During transplantation, you can divide the plant.During transplantation, you can divide the plant. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

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Transplant clivia is carried out as rarely as possible: do not transplant the plant until the roots begin to crawl out of the pot. Usually, adult plants are reloaded after flowering once every 2-3 years, young plants – annually. Clivia roots do not tolerate transplanting well. They are juicy, fleshy, and serve as a reservoir of water and nutrients. Broken roots can easily rot, especially if over-watered – when replanting, treat damaged roots with crushed coal or ash. In those years when clivias are not transplanted, at the end of winter, the top layer of soil (about 5 cm) in the pot must be carefully removed, replacing it with fresh earthen mixture.

Clivia pots are taken small so that the plants can barely fit, then they bloom more abundantly and longer. Clivia requires a loose, slightly acidic (pH about 6) soil from sod soil (2 parts), humus (1 part) and peat (1 part). Clivias are also good for any other loose, slightly acidic soil mixture. It is useful to add a little superphosphate or other slow-acting phosphorus fertilizers to the mixture (at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 3 liters of the mixture). Provide good drainage at the bottom of the pot. Clivia is an excellent hydroponic crop.

Reproduction of clivia

Clivias are propagated by seeds and vegetatively.

Seed propagation of clivia

The period from pollination of flowers to ripening of clivia fruits lasts 9-10 months; each fruit contains many seeds. Seeds are sown shortly after ripening (usually November-April). The composition of the earthen mixture is as follows: turf – 1 hour, peat – 0,5 hour, sand – 1 hour. In the sowing container, clivia seeds are laid out at a distance of 2 ร— 2 cm. Seedlings appear in 4-6 weeks; after the formation of the first leaf, the plants are planted in 7 cm pots. For 5-6 months, plants form 4-5 leaves.

Clivia SeedsSeeds of Clivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat
Clivia seeds soaked for germinationClivia seeds soaked for germination. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat
Sprouted Clivia SeedsGerminated Seeds of Clivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

In the second year, young plants are transferred into 9-10 cm pots, in the third – in 12-13 cm pots. Recommended substrate: turf – 2 tsp, humus, peat and sand – 1 tsp each.

Plants grow slowly – in the second year they form 3-4 pairs of leaves and then give 2 pairs of new ones. In the third year, starting in September, the clivias are kept dry (dormant period) for about 2 months. After such care, about 30% of clivia seedlings bloom: non-flowering plants continue to be kept in the same conditions as in the previous year, providing a dormant period from September, lasting 2 months. In the fourth year of culture in winter, the plants are kept at a temperature of 10-12 ยฐ C until the top of the peduncle appears. From this time, they begin to abundant watering, spraying the plants, the temperature is raised to 18-20 ยฐ C.

Vegetative propagation of clivia

In indoor conditions, it is better to propagate clivia by offspring, which are separated from adult plants during transplantation. It must be remembered that clivia has very fragile roots, therefore, during planting and transplanting, they cannot be damaged, they easily rot. The offspring must have at least 4 leaves. They are separated after flowering and planted for rooting in 7-cm pots, in the sand, at a temperature of 16-18 ยฐ C. Watering should be moderate, as young plants can easily rot from excess moisture.

Clivia's offspring in different stagesClivia’s offspring in various stages. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

Rooted clivia offspring are transplanted into a mixture of leaf, greenhouse, sod land (1: 1: 1).

Precautions: Clivia leaves are poisonous, can cause vomiting, diarrhea, collapse.

Types of clivia

Clivia cinnabar (Clivia miniata). Synonym: Vallot cinnabar (Conquer the miniature Lindl). It dwells in shady places, from the coast, ascending into the mountains to an altitude of 600-800 m above sea level, in Natal (South Africa). Plants up to 50 cm tall. Leaves are xiphoid, widened at the base, tapering at the apex, 45-60 cm long and 3,5-6 cm wide. Peduncle 40-50 cm tall, with 10-20 flowers. The flowers are large, on pedicels 2,5-3 cm long, scarlet or red lead, funnel-shaped, with a yellow throat; petals 4-5 cm long. It blooms in February and May, less often at other times of the year.

There are a number of varieties of cinnabar clivia that differ in flower color, leaf size and plant height.

Clivia Garden (Clivia gardenii). Grows in shady places in the foothills of the Transvaal, Natal (South Africa). Plants up to 50 cm tall. Leaves are xiphoid, 2,5-4 cm wide, tapering at the apex. Peduncle up to 45 cm tall, bears 10-16 flowers. The flowers are narrow, irregularly bell-shaped; petals obverse-lanceolate, 3-3,2 cm long. Blooms in winter.

Clivia the lovely (Clivia nobilis). The native land of the species is the Cape Province (South Africa). Plants are 30 cm tall and taller. Leaves are xiphoid, tapering at the apex, 4-6 cm wide, with sharp edges. Peduncle 30-50 cm tall, with 40-60 flowers; pedicels up to 3 cm long. The perianth is curved; flowers are funnel-shaped, pale red; petals with a green pointed tip, about 2 cm long.

CleviaClivia. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Maja Dumat

Diseases and pests of clivia

Shchitovka – the most common pests of clivia are brown plaques on the surface of leaves and stems, sucking out cell sap. The leaves lose color, dry out and fall off.

Control measures… For mechanical cleaning of pests, the leaves are wiped with a soapy sponge. Then the plant should be sprayed with 0,15% actellic solution (1-2 ml per liter of water).

Mealybugs: Leaves, shoots, if any, flowers are affected. The leaves bend, dry and fall off, the plant dies.

Control measures… Wipe the plant with a soapy sponge and wash under a warm shower. In case of very severe damage, the plant can be sprayed with 0,15% actellic solution (1-2 ml per liter of water).

Due to waterlogging of plants, brown leaf tips and even decay of the base of the stems and roots.

Due to low temperature or lack of moisture during the growth period peduncle can be short.

Plants can get sunburn from direct sunlight, which causes white spots on the leaves.

Lack of peduncle shoots and faded leaves plants may indicate insufficient feeding.

If the rest period is too short, the temperature in the room is too high, or the light level on the plant is too low flowers may not appear.

Looking forward to your advice and comments on growing clivia!

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Anna Evans

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