Clivia

Amaryllis family. Homeland - South Africa. Clivia will bloom from year to year if it is properly watered and not left in a warm room for the winter

Types of clivia

• Clivia orange or Clivia cinnabar Clivia miniata is a herbaceous perennial plant. It has no stem - the leaves are collected in a basal rosette. Leaves are belt-shaped, dark green up to 60 cm long. It throws out an inflorescence of 10-12 flowers at the end of a tall peduncle in early spring. There are forms with orange, red, yellow and cream colors. Berry fruit.
• Clivia caulescens is a herbaceous perennial plant, quite rare in indoor floriculture. The leaf vagina - the overgrown base of the leaf, forms an open tube around the axial part of the shoot and protects the axillary kidneys. Due to the leaves sitting tightly to each other, the "stem" of the clivia stretches quite high (up to a meter long). Leaves are belt-shaped, dark green up to 100 cm. Flowers drooping, from 15 to 20 on a long peduncle. Sometimes there are several peduncles, and in greenhouses, with perfect care, up to 50 flowers can form on some peduncles. The petals are fused, salmon-colored, turning into green at the end. In nature it blooms in spring and summer, and in indoor conditions - at any time of the year. According to the requirements for care, it almost does not differ from cinnabar clivia.

Clivia care

Clivia is a wonderful plant for the house, if you are not hot in winter or have a cool room, an insulated balcony, an even better winter garden. Clivia does not like to be disturbed - touched once again and moved from place to place. In the room she needs space - some specimens in adulthood form a rosette with a diameter of about 1 m. Clivia is a very long-lived plant, under the right growing conditions it will live with you for up to 40 years. Old plants growing in large tubs are not replanted, but only fertilized and replaced by the top layer of the earth. The best specimens of clivia from old plants form up to 40-50 peduncles.

Temperature

Clivia prefers moderate temperatures, for trouble-free growth it needs 20-25 ° C, in heat above 28 ° C it sharply inhibits growth, leaves can dry. For full growth and flowering of clivia, daily temperature fluctuations are required, it is desirable that the difference between daytime and nighttime is 7-10 ° C. In winter, from October to February, with a natural decrease in clivia illumination, it is necessary to provide a dry and cool rest period at a temperature not higher than 15 ° C, but not lower than 10 ° C.

Lighting

Clivia is photophilous, but it is contraindicated in the spring and summer scorching sun. Ideally, in spring and summer, an eastern or northwestern windowsill will suit her, and in winter - a southern or western window, where it is much lighter. At the same time, in central Russia, shading on the southern solar windows from September to the end of January is not necessary - the daylight hours are short, the sun is not aggressive. From the end of January, sometimes sunny days are set later and the clivia must be shaded from 11 to 15 hours. In summer, on hot days, shading takes up to 16-17 hours.

Watering

Clivia is not a small plant, with a large leaf mass and powerful roots, the pot is always cramped - this means that watering should be plentiful, not superficial, with good wetting of the soil. You must decide whether it is more convenient for you to water with immersion or from above, the main thing is that the root neck does not get wet. In cool weather, watering is reduced, the soil should not remain damp for a long time (more than 3 days). From autumn until the peduncle reaches a height of 10-15 cm, watering is moderate and careful - the earth should dry out well. In winter, when kept in the cold (10-12 ° C), instead of a watering can use a sprayer, which will provide the necessary moisture to the ground, and moisten the leaves, but water drops should not flow down the leaves, to the base of the outlet - this threatens the formation of necrotic spots and rot. If in winter in a room from 15 and above, then you have to water clivia more often, but remembering that this plant does not tolerate waterlogging and stagnation of water in the pot.

Fertilizing

During the period of active growth, every week clivia needs to be fed with special fertilizer for flowering indoor plants. Do not try to make fertilizers from mineral garden fertilizers, use ready-made complex fertilizers of famous brands: Fertica, Merry Flower Girl, Agricola, Pocon, Bona Forte, etc. Clivia does not like fertilizers in the form of tablets and sticks, choose the liquid form of fertilizers, the dose when applied weekly is half that recommended: more often and little by little preferable.

Air humidity

In general, clivia is tolerant of dry air, and 40-45% is enough for it. But from time to time, the leaves are sprayed and periodically wiped with a sponge to remove dust. Do not use leaf polish.

Flight connections

Clivia are transplanted after flowering, small bushes annually. In the future, the roots will "say" about the need for transplantation when they start to get out of the pot. How to transplant: when you get the clivia out of the pot, part of the ground will fall off on its own - we don't need it. Unearthing, slowing down the roots is unacceptable - everything that has not crumbled itself needs to be preserved. Place in a slightly larger pot and add fresh earth. The difference between the pots is about 1-2 cm in diameter. By the way, clay pots are more suitable for cloves - they are heavier and more stable.

The soil should be porous, well permeable to air and moisture.

• Soil for large old specimens of clivia: 2 part of turf, 1 part of sheet, 1 part of humus, 2 part of small pebbles (3-5 mm).
• Soil for young clivia (after purchase): 1 part of chopped pine bark, 1 part of universal soil (Terra Vita living earth), 1 part of small pebbles.

The difference in the composition of the substrate is explained by the fact that large, old specimens (and cloves are long-lived) need more nutritious and dense soil, because they need to be transplanted not every year, but after 2-3 years. Although the top layer of soil can be replaced with fresh soil annually, removing impoverished saline land. In addition, the roots of large clivia in light soil do not hold the weight of a powerful plant, and it can tip over, fall out of the pot, from its own gravity, or during rearrangement.

Reproduction

Clivia is propagated by division during transplantation or by seeds. You can separate daughter sockets that have already formed at least 4 leaves. Plant in small pots, first protect from the sun and water moderately.

To get seeds from clivia, you need artificial cross-pollination during flowering (use a brush). Berries ripen slowly - for several months, gradually acquiring a color from green to orange, then red. When the berry feels soft, seeds can be harvested. On average, 9-10 months pass until the fruit ripens. Seeds are not stored, quickly losing germination. Therefore, immediately after collection, they are sown in plates filled with a mixture of universal peat soil (in equal parts). Germination at 22-24 ° C. Seedlings appear after 1.5-2 months, but clivia will bloom during seed reproduction only after 3-5 years.

After the seedlings have leaflets, they are planted in separate pots. For the first two years, young plants are not satisfied with the dormant period, but are regularly fed.

In the fall of the third year, grown and strengthened plants arrange a dormant period for 2 months. During rest, plants practically do not water, and contain at a temperature of about 10 ° C. Already this year, some plants can bloom, although usually flowering occurs in 4 years.