Quite extraordinary , never seen this being done before. This method fulfills two of the clivias requirements namely shady conditions and not too much water (especially in winter). I should imagine that one would need to feed these clivias very regularly as I would think their roots are not true epiphytes and therefore not adapted to collecting nutrients from the air. They appear very happy though. Maybe I should try an experiment like this as I have a lot of clivias.

Hi Yao and all,

This Clivia is growing in a garden in Pretoria, RSA.
The pictures were posted by it's owners on the Clivia list in July, together with this note (as a follow-up to a 'pot bound' discussion) which I copy here with their permission:

..."We suggest that it does not matter whether a Clivia's roots are straight or tangled.

This view is based on observation of all four species growing epiphytically or lithophytically in habitat, and more specifically on 'our epiphyte' which has neither soil nor pot, but has given us up to three umbels at a time.
It will be familiar to many participants, but, to briefly recap, we placed a miniata with a large ball of roots on a piece of wood some nine years ago and it has been hanging in there in our garden ever since. The photos show it in its normal position and the ball of roots.

Does it matter how the roots are arranged provided that the plant has the essentials of:
1. Anchorage
2. Nutrients (epiphyte gets the normal dust and dead leaves from the trees, as well as an occasional root drench of foliar fertilizer (macro, minor & trace elements))
3. Drainage for gas exchange and to ensure that water (epiphyte gets watered every week or two if it has not rained) can be absorbed by the root velamen with any
surplus draining away?"

If anyone would like to contact the owners directly, send me an e-mail.

Maddy
in South Africa

I had my clivia in the same pot for years. It was really pot bound and I ended up breaking the pot this week to get it out. To my surprise, it had NO SOIL left. It was a mass of roots. No wonder I only had one bloom stalk this spring. So I potted in a bit larger pot, leaving the roots intact with new potting soil around them. Its still healthy but I was wondering if it really was epiphyte, or not, so I'm glad this conversation got started (albeit 16+ years ago)