When Does Clivia Bloom? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Blooming Period
Clivia is also known as sword-leaf bush lily, large-leaf bush lily, and so on. It is a perennial herbaceous ornamental flower of the genus Clivia in the Amaryllidaceae family, native to southern South Africa. Its plant form is dignified and graceful, its leaves are verdant and upright, its flowers are large and brightly colored, and its fruit is bright red. Leaves, flowers, and fruit are all beautiful, earning it the reputation of flowers to view for one season, fruit to view for three seasons, and leaves to view in all four seasons. Its ornamental value is extremely high. Let us take a look below at when Clivia blooms!
When does Clivia bloom?
Clivia's blooming period is from February to April. After it blooms, the blooming period can be extended by appropriately lowering the temperature, improving ventilation, and reducing light. Clivia has a long growth cycle. Generally, it must be cultivated for four to five years and grow to 20 to 25 leaves before it can bloom. Well-cultivated plants can also send up a scape and bloom in two to three years, and some even send up a scape and bloom in less than two years. At the same time, most Clivia plants can only send up one scape and bloom once a year, though some, due to good cultivation methods, will send up two or three scapes in a year. However, some Clivia plants have been grown for six or seven years without sending up a scape or blooming, and some bloom once and then never bloom again.
Why does Clivia fail to bloom?
1. Improper nutrition: After Clivia enters the reproductive stage, part of its nutrients must be supplied to the reproductive organs for flower bud differentiation. At this time, if too much nitrogen fertilizer is used and phosphorus fertilizer is lacking, the plant will grow excessively, preventing normal flower bud differentiation and thereby affecting normal blooming.
2. Water imbalance: Clivia's life activities require water, and nutrients in the soil can only be absorbed by root hairs after being dissolved in water. Therefore, watering must be reasonable so that the plant's vegetative growth is good and, after entering the reproductive growth stage, normal flower bud differentiation and timely blooming can occur.
3. Improper light: Clivia is a day-neutral flower. Under long-day conditions, it can only grow and cannot carry out flower bud differentiation, so it is slow to bloom. To make Clivia bloom, it must be moved in the evening to a room where the lights are not turned on. Once the flower scape has emerged, this no longer matters.
4. Improper temperature: Clivia stops growing when the temperature is below 10°C or above 30°C. If the room temperature is too high or too low, it will cause poor plant growth, which in turn affects bud formation and blooming. Therefore, the room temperature for cultivating Clivia should preferably be 11 to 17°C.
What should be done if Clivia's scape is trapped?
1. Adjust the temperature: The suitable growth temperature for Clivia is 15 to 25°C. Below 15°C, growth becomes poor. In particular, if the temperature does not reach above 15°C before the scape emerges, the flower scape will have difficulty emerging. Therefore, the temperature should be adjusted in time to help the flower scape emerge.
2. Adjust the temperature difference: Clivia's growth habit favors a large day-night temperature difference. If the temperature difference is small, the scape will have difficulty emerging. After flower bud differentiation and before scape emergence, the temperature should be controlled at around 10°C, making scape emergence easier; otherwise, the scape will become trapped.
3. Reasonable fertilization: After Clivia has been grown for 3 years, the number of fertilizer applications must be increased once autumn arrives. It is best to apply liquid fertilizer with a relatively high phosphorus content, and alternating applications of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are preferable. When necessary, a 0.2% monopotassium phosphate foliar fertilizer can be added to promote flower bud formation and earlier blooming.
4. Timely watering: If water is lacking when Clivia's scape emerges, the growth of the flower scape will also be hindered, causing the scape to become trapped. Therefore, when the scape is emerging, the amount of watering should be increased to keep the potting soil moist; otherwise, the bulb and leaves will suffer from lack of water, hindering the plant's physiological activities and causing the scape to become trapped and affecting blooming.
5. Cut open the scape sheath: When Clivia shifts into reproductive growth, pay frequent attention to changes in the bulb. If the scape becomes trapped due to excessive pressure from the bulb, a sharp knife can be used to cut open the leaf sheath holding the scape by 1.5 cm, reducing the pressure of the leaf sheath base on the scape and encouraging the scape to emerge.