Clivias anyone?

I bought these Clivia seeds from China, sown on the 31st of December 06 I had a few germinate within 5 days.

They are from a long leaf variegated Monk, I received 16 seeds and all germinated in less than 2 weeks.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has grown Clivias from seed, and how long they took to flower.

This pic was taken on 12th Jan, when they had all made the first stages of roots which usually come from the sides and go down into the compost, a few have roots underneath which can't be seen.

This I took today, 7 days on. They have quickly made a fat, furry root and the beginnings of leaves.

Some of them grew so quickly they pushed themselves up, so I buried the roots leaving just the original neck where the leaves are coming from.

The plants will live on the seeds for a while until the food resources are exhausted, then they usually wither and the plant has a sufficient root system to carry on.

Wallaby,

The best luck I ever had growing clivia from seed was in San Francisco, they love cool growing conditions, 10-15C at night and 20-25C during the day. They like bright filtered light, probably 30-40% shade when it is cool, more when it is over 25C. I used to go thru the park and pick the seed when it was ripe. They grew to blooming size in 3 years. Yours should do very well since you live in a cool climate (most of the year).

I have tried them from seed here in FL too. They grow much more slowly in hot climates and the seed gets attacked by diseases. I tried about 50 seeds last summer and ended up with 10 plants. Very disappointing. They are not troubled once they get up to a good size. The plants that I have here have flowers, but fewer in an umbel than the west coast ones I grew. The one exception is the yellow flowered type, it does very well here, equal to the west coast plants.

In SF they bloom twice a year, spring and fall, if well care for. I worked, very briefly, for the College of Norte Dame in Belmont and they had a clump that was 5 feet across, it rarely bloomed. I took it upon myself to fertilize and water the clump. In the fall it had about a 100 flowers, the sisters were very impressed.

Ohhhhhhh! Thank you! I need to fertilize and water the two little babies that were given to me more often. They are well, but not growing as fast as I thought they should! They have been growing under lights, and I hope to harden them off so that they can go outside this spring.

The climate here inside should be perfect for them then Dale, now find room for all those plants! I might grow them until I see which ones I want and sell or trade the rest. The seed is from a well variegated plant, but the Chinese consider if hte leaves don't stand up it is slightly inferior. They are 500mm long leaves!

Might the plant at the college have been C caulescens? I bought one seed from chilterns for over £2, it wasn't a good one!

http://www.cliviasociety.org/clivia_caulescens.php

I did get 2 sees of C nobilis, they are both growing, the second to germinate is slow to make leaves but looks good.

I also got 2 seeds from the same Chinese seller of a 'poorly' variegated Monk, with 450mm long leaves and 125mm wide. The amazing thing about it was it had 52 flowers on one stem, larger seeds too, both germinated and are robust. The stem was 60mm in diameter. I want to try cross breeding the two.

The one at the back was last to germinate, but grew so quickly the root and leaves appeared overnight so to speak,

Wallaby,

That clump at the college was a Belgian type, based on the flower and leaves. In GG Park they had two types, the hybrid and the older, closer to the species type. The broader leaved hybrid didn't bloom or set seed as well as the thinner leaved selected species type. I liked the thin leaved type because it was taller and the leaves more numerous.

If you are growing them on in the greenhouse I would suggest 'rose pots'. They are narrow & deep enough to have space for a larger root system and should give you a little more floor space. I have heard that they bloom sooner if kept root bound, but, I wonder if that is true for this plant. I would suspect that good care is a more important a factor.

Your pic came out small, but it looks like orange Clivia, plenty of them.

This is the variegated Monk plant the 16 seeds came from.

Not bad even if the leaves don't all stand up, they're doing OK!

This is the other one

That was a small version, the seed head pic should come out bigger!

These are from lilywangxuan, she sells on 2 sites on ebay but these were from the other one with gem stones. There is a web site as well where you can buy seeds, in small lots if paying by Paypal. There is a website here that gets their seed from there too, and she has contact with the famous breeders so it seems they share, she sells some of the other guys seeds on ebay.

Lily is the person I got most of my seed from also. I had no trouble getting them to sprout, the problem was rot. I will not expend anymore time on seed. I will just buy the plants and settle for the common orange.

Not so common, they put on a good show! At least you can grow them outside. Mine are in the propogator at the moment, now with both vents open but it's not steaming hot.

a photo

a Photo.

They want someone to help them with micropropogation, any takers?

http://users.iafrica.com/c/cl/clivia/Micro.htm

They are selling C. cyrtanthifolia hybrid seeds at $50 for 100, that's a good price if you want 100! Co-op anyone? Well, that was a 2001 pricelist! I love those.

well the pic sure looks familiar =)

Perhaps the request was from 2001 too, they may have got someone to do it for them.

It all seems a bit out of date, the son had taken over from the father and was developing greenhouses. I went to the home page and found the link where you go to sign up for a newsletter when they have seeds available, I must have done that getting on 2 years ago but never heard anything.

I have a yellow seedling that must be 4 years old now and no sign of flower. And two seedlings
(from my own seed) from an orange parent that aren't looking like they will bloom for a while either.
These guys definitely like to be root bound and I've found they like to be cold before they'll set their
flower. I found out the former when my first clivia went from a reliable bloomer to not blooming a
few years after I transplanted it into a generously sized pot. After it got a bit root bound again, it
started bloomed again. And my neighbor leaves hers out 'til quite late in fall so it gets the benefit
of the 40's temperatures and she gets wonderful bloom. I keep mine in the toasty warm house and
get a lot less showy display. I think I'll put it on the floor of my cool greenhouse this year to see if
that will help.

Tam

I sent Chyrthanthiflora an email last spring to order 100 seeds, they weren't ripe yet and they told me to contact them later. If I were in his business I would have taken the initative and contacted anyone who expressed interest.

Janet, I think that his request for a micro propogator means he is looking for a tissue culture person or firm. I think I will send him a email with info on the one I use.

DMJ, I use google image search and anything that is not copyrighted is useable. That is why I don't copyright my photos anymore. As long as I don't see my photos showing up on magazine covers or postcards I don't care who uses them.

Daylily-

It's surprising how some of these plants will tolerate cold, we sometimes forget they do get cold weather in their native habitats.

This is my first attempt at growing Clivias at all. It's strange to think a repot would stop it from flowering, often that is just what prompts a growth spurt and flowering. It seems a lot of bulbs like to be pot bound, I will keep that in mind Tammy!

As Dale noted, he has heard they flower better if kept root bound, but I might agree with the good care notes too. Strelitzia is supposed to be root bound to flower also, I want to know how that can be done and get good growth. I have a S reginae I grew from seed, the root grows thick and fleshy but not too much side growth so they need a really deep pot once they get bigger. I use deep plastic pots I get cheap from the supermarket which have been used for cut flowers. This winter I have left both S reginae and S nicolai in the greenhouse, unheated, and we have had some earlier frosts to -4C, they are untouched. If it had been a very cold winter I may have been worried, but they are supposed to be kept cool too I think to encourage flowering, hoping for flowers on S reginae soon.

I think when the Clivias are young I wouldn't risk it, as they get bigger I may risk some of the not-so-good ones, if there are any. I wonder if the variegated ones are less hardy than green. Last winter was very long and cold, I had a Billbergia nutans in the greenhouse and got a variegated one early in the year, potted it up and put it in the greenhouse and it didn't blink, in fact they seem to love the cool and moist air, both have grown vigorously and both flowered last summer. Tough plants!

Dale, just read your post, he is talking of tissue culture, it may be current, let us know what happens. Did you get the seeds from Cyrtanthiflora or are they not ready still? I think I would have made the effort too, but some of these growers can't do both grow and sell effectively.

Another little known fact about Clivia is their drought tolerance. If they are in dense shade, in the ground they can go for months without a drink. They have a fleshy root system for storage. They grew best in clay soil in CA. The coldest it ever got, when I lived in CA, was 28* and they were unharmed.

I sent an email to Chrythanthiflora, twice, and it came back as undeliverable. Since they haven't updated their webpages since 2002 I am not surprised. Too bad, I was hoping to spend some money with them someday.

Guess I will spend it on Coleus.

I'm growing Clivia for the first time too. I'm 'plant sitting' the mother plant for a lady I did garden work for over the summer because she spends most of the winter out of town. It had a nice, big pup that she gave me for my effort :) I've been keeping them on the dry side, and in a cool spot next to the sliding glass door where they get bright, filtered light. I'm not seeing much growth, but there has been no decline, so I guess they're ok. Would it be a good idea to start giving them some food now?

I think you would be better to wait until the plant is actively growing Neal. It probably needs time to re-establish it's roots, the Amaryllis family usually does.

How big is big, and what sort is it? Got a pic?

She got the plant originally from White Flower Farm, and I think this is probably the variety (she did say it is orange).
http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/26675-product.html

The pup is in a 6" pot, and fills it nicely. I just noticed it has started growing! They are both in a 2 tier plant stand, Mom on the top shelf, and baby has a new leaf touching the first tier now. It has been separated from the mother plant since September, and I've been careful to keep it on the dry side till new roots could establish. It is about 1/3 the size of the mature mother plant (that has bloomed a few times for its owner).

It looks a good upright leaved plant! Perhaps you will have flowers next year with any luck, I think I will be waiting quite a few years for flowers but I will have variegated leaves to watch.

All of mine are looking good still other than the smaller extra one, it had a small root which rotted off.

With that beautiful variegation, the blooms are just a bonus anyway :)

I grow clivia from seed. Here are two links that may help.
http://www.americancliviasociety.org/Article-1.html

http://www.shieldsgardens.com/info/StartCliviaSeeds.html

Love this plant .... but they are sooooo expensive! Sure wish the prices weren't so high. Shields prices were up to $1200 plus $30 shipping for the most expensive! Wow! Must be a SPECIAL plant!

They are Beautiful .... just out of my $ range! I wouldn't even want to spend $30 on one, plus shipping and have it not survive, I would feel so bad!

Siggy, I tried to read the first link on methods, it got so fiddly I gave up! Mine so far seem to like my simple methods, they said to soak them for a couple of days, sterilise etc., I think soaking is asking for trouble. If the seeds are fresh, and you should get them fresh if you want good results, they germinate easily just sat on top of a good compost mix in a propogator. What types do you grow, have you got any pics?

plantlady, I dropped into my local garden centre today, I was just in time to have a quick look before they closed. As I went to the car there was only one other person placing some things in the boot. She had a nice sized Clivia, dark green healthy upright leaves and a head of large trumpet flowers with about 8 flowers on it. They were bigger than the usual ones and more trumpet shaped, with a yellowish throat, and a reddish orange colour. I had to comment, told her I hadn't seen them, she said it was the only one! I really wanted to ask what she paid for it, but didn't. I don't think it would have been more than £12, they get some good priced items from Holland but this one looked worth a lot to me. It was almost as if to tantalise me!

Wallaby, Living where you do you don't have the fungal problems that we do in the southern U.S. So you really don't need to bother with that step. I know one guy (who lives in England) who has almost 100% germination rate by soaking his seeds. He also removes the outer skin of the micropore.

I see Sheilds hasn't updated parts of his site since 2004. Must be very busy or ??.

We have a local supplier for the generic clivia at $17 for a one gallon, near blooming size, they typical deep orange variety. He gets them from India, in bulk, pots them up, keeps them for 4 months and then sells them. I bought 20 last spring and they had only grown roots about 6". I was buying a pot of soil with a plant that was no bigger than what he had recieved. I have asked them to just sell me the bare root plants when they come in, but, they said no. Foolish, because I would pay the same price and they would save labor and growing space. I could get my plants in the ground 4 months sooner also. I find a lot of people in this industry who are locked into a mode, unable to break out and make changes.

Dale, I am jealous. I wish I lived where I could plant my clivia outside. If you have a photo of them please post it. I’d love to see it.

Siggy, thanks for that info. After wallaby and I have compared our seed starting methods I was starting to think I was the 'Typhoid Mary' of fungal plague, LOL. For seed success with most things (indoors) I have to sterilize as though I am preparing for surgery.

I find it strange that people should remove the outer skin of a Clivia seed, as they are so soft anyway, and all seeds have a spot where the roots emerge however hard the seed is. Surely removing the outer skin will leave the seed open to infection, it's nature's protector. The seed also acts as a food source until the roots establish themselves so I question it even more, if the seed rots away early then the plant surely doesn't have as good a chance to establish.

I have had to bury the roots of mine as they push themselves out of the compost, a couple have pushed up again with the force of growing the fat roots. I try not to bury the seed at all and leave the original connecting stem to the seed unburied as if it that gets too wet and rots the seed is of no use to feed the plant.

I had a tug at most of them and they feel firm now, one seed is looking a little watery and the root is not progressing, but it is trying to make leaves. I would expect some not to be as robust and expect to lose an occasional one, but variegated Clivias are supposed to be more tricky anyway so I think they are doing well so far. The leaves are starting to look like 'leaves'!

Neal, I feel for you, if I had to go to too much bother I think I would just give up, but I don't know that I would because I don't like anything to beat me either!

I get very determined and go into battle mode. "Victory over fungi!!" is my battle cry.

I can picture you now Neal, dragon kimono and all!

How ever did you know? LOL

The "spot where the roots emerge” is called the micropore. Clivia seeds are not hard, but they do have a tough leathery outer covering. When people remove the outer layer they do so only around the micropore. This greatly speeds up germination and increases the success rate. In nature very few Clivia seeds succeed. Some Clivia seed can be quite expensive. So anything to help the success is worth it.
Yes Clivia push out of their growing medium and often need to be pushed back in. Again in nature Clivia don't grow in regular soil. Their natural habitat is leaf litter. I've seen pictures of them in the wild, growing on top of rotting logs. Where I live if I were to grow them in soil they would rot. Their roots are
roots are somewhat like orchids.

Thanks siggy for the explanation of micropore, I did wonder, I suppose I could have googled but it's good for someone to explain. Yes some seeds are very expensive, I was keeping a watch on some on ebay and they can fly.

I read somewhere only recently that the yellow flowered Clivias won't give good yellow flowers, but I don't remember where I read it. Possibly on one of the Clivia sites. Do you know much about that? I see the yellow seeds go for a lot of money and am wondering if they are wasting their money.

I think I have read that Clivias grow under trees in leaf litter, my mix is probably up to 2/3 leaf compost so they must like it, but the gritty soil and wood ash amongst it compacts a little. I guess the roots are semi-epiphytic.

Do you have many Clivias yourself? The cyrtanthifolias I am quite fond of but seeds of those can bring a lot of money.

Do you mean yellow flowered forms don't reliable set seed that will flower yellow?

That's what I mean Neal, I read it somewhere and I feel sure it said they would be orange. Now someone prove me wrong!