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jean_popowitz

repotting clivia

Jean Popowitz
17 years ago

I had my clivia summering outdoors. While it was blooming I had it on the table so we could admire it. A horrible storm came up and blew it over. The pot is broken and I can see that it's rather root bound despite my repotting it just before the summer. Normally, I would not increase the pot size for at least a year but I'm questioning myself on that because: it's somewhat rootbound, there's a 2 y.o. pup, and I have to buy a new pot anyway. What do you suggest?

Also, could you give a quick winter care guide. Last winter I let it stay on the dryish side in indirect light until spring, when I fertilized once and then repotted & stuck it outside in filtered shade. It was growing like gangbusters and flowered again.

thanks!

Judy

Comments (7)

  • ARUM
    17 years ago

    Repot it in a pot a little larger thatn the last. Keep it on the cool side in the winter,not hardly any light,hardly any water. :)Arum

  • windeaux
    17 years ago

    Apparently, Clivia is a very forgiving plant because various of the posters here adhere to quite different cultural practices. During the 20+ yrs I've grown this houseplant, I've never followed Arum's 'hardly any light, hardly any water' regimen. Mine remain always in the same east-facing windows. I REDUCE water (& completely withhold fertilizer) during the dead of winter, but never allow the potting medium to approach total dryness.

    It's probable that outdoor winter conditions create a reduction in indoor temps near the windows of my heated home (in coastal NC), but I do nothing to guarantee that my Clivias experience a cooling-off period. Invariably, they bloom, & (in my opinion) they bloom spectacularly.

  • ARUM
    17 years ago

    Well Windeaux,I find that sometimes different things work for different folks. I'm never been one to only "go by the book".If what you do works, I say bully for you! :) arum

  • windeaux
    17 years ago

    Arum -- For folks who are inexperienced with Clivias, & who might want to acquire this delightful plant & grow it successfully indoors, perhaps it would be very helpful indeed if you describe precisely what you mean by 'hardly any light'.

  • ARUM
    17 years ago

    Well now, let me see... Guess it could mean, "not much light","just a little bit of light", "light on the light side" "keeping light on the down side","don't let much light peek through","in a room with just a tad of light",but the one I like best, is,"stick it in an almost dark corner",which is what I do. :)

  • birdsnblooms
    17 years ago

    I winter my Clivias by withholding fertilizer completely, and allowing soil to dry out. But I do prevent light.. clivias are in a back plant room, in SE windows. Buds form starting in late Feb to July.
    But we all have our own ways of growing plants, including sowing clivia seeds..I've heard so many different ways to do this..When I started my seeds in 82, I didn't first set in water like some ppl state, yet they germinated and the plant is still with me today. Then again, when I tried sowing seeds this yr nothing happened..so who's to say? Toni

  • ARUM
    17 years ago

    hopefulauthor, sounds like you are doing well with them. :)Well about this time of year,(here in MD), I stop fertilizing, withhold water, put them in my back room on a shelf, not in a window at all. The only light that gets into this room is if we come in and turn on the ceiling light,which we don't do much, because this is a spare room. After checking them from time to time, I may give them a little water, but not much. They start a flower shoot in the early spring, and I bring them out. I used to put them outside, but then I got all kinds of nasty bugs, and I didn't want to get a chance of getting scale,although I don't know if scale attack Clivia, and don't want to know! I think, if ones plant blooms, they are probably taking the correct steps in caring for them. :)

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