Clivia Summer Care Guide: Easy Tips to Get Through Summer

Clivia Growing Habits

Growing Habits

To grow flowers well, you must first understand their origins and preferences; only by catering to their likes can you grow them well!

Clivia is native to the subtropical regions of southern Africa. It prefers a semi-shady, humid, cool and ventilated environment, and dislikes strong light and waterlogging.

The most suitable growing temperature for Clivia is 18°C~28°C. When the temperature exceeds 30°C, it enters a semi-dormant state. It is a typical greenhouse flower and is suitable for growing indoors.

Soil for Clivia in Summer

Whether Clivia gets through summer well depends on how well its foundation was built in spring, and the first thing is soil.

1. Soil Mixing

Clivia prefers fertile, loose, weakly acidic humus soil with good air permeability and drainage. You can mix leaf mold, pine needles, river sand and base fertilizer in a 6:2:1:1 ratio.

2. Loosening the Soil in Summer

When the potting soil becomes compacted in summer, you can insert a small bamboo strip or small iron shovel diagonally against the inner wall of the pot, not too deep. Hold the bamboo strip steady with one hand, and turn the flower pot with the other hand; after one turn, the surface soil will be loosened.

Light for Clivia in Summer

When the summer temperature is too high, Clivia enters a semi-dormant state. At this time, you must do a good job of preventing heatstroke and cooling it down.

1. Avoid Direct Strong Light

Clivia is a day-neutral plant that likes weak light and dislikes strong light. Direct strong light easily causes sunscald, and the flowering period is also shorter.

2. It Must Not Be Kept Without Light

In summer, Clivia is best placed in a semi-shady, semi-sunny, ventilated spot where it can receive scattered light in the morning and evening. If the light is too weak, flowering is affected and the flower color is paler.

Watering Clivia in Summer

1. Watering Principles

Clivia's well-developed fleshy roots can store a certain amount of water. It is drought-tolerant, likes moisture and dislikes waterlogging. Therefore, summer watering should follow the principle of not watering until dry, and watering thoroughly when you do water, keeping the potting soil moist but not wet.

2. Watering Frequency

In high-temperature summer weather, you can water once every morning. The specifics should depend on how dry or wet the potting soil is and the weather conditions in your region.

3. Cooling Measures

To lower the temperature, in summer you can spray water and mist around the plant's surrounding air and the ground more often, but try not to spray water into the center of the leaves to prevent rot in the core.

Fertilizing Clivia in Summer

1. Not Complete Dormancy

If Clivia is kept indoors in a cool, ventilated place, it will not go completely dormant in summer. At this time, fertilization should be reduced. Generally, apply a thin soybean cake liquid fertilizer once every 15~20 days. Before fertilizing, the potting soil should be dry to facilitate absorption.

2. Dormancy

In the hot, rainy summer weather of the south, Clivia easily enters a dormant state. At this time, fertilization should be stopped to avoid root rot.

Pest and Disease Control for Clivia in Summer

1. Common Diseases

In summer, Clivia is prone to soft rot. Pale yellow water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, and then the lesions expand, the leaves turn brown and soft, and bacterial fluid flows out from the wounds.

Control measures: Once disease is found, immediately separate the diseased plant and remove the rotten parts; if the damage is severe, cut everything away, then soak the plant in a 5% potassium permanganate solution for 1 hour. After disinfecting and drying, apply plant ash to the wounds.

2. Common Pests

In a hot, high-temperature environment with poor ventilation, Clivia is easily infested by scale insects.

If the infestation is not serious, mix alcohol with water at a 1:2 ratio, then dip a cotton swab in it and repeatedly wipe the infested areas;

If the pest infestation is serious, you can spray the infested areas with Guoguang Jie Bizhi diluted 1000~1500 times to kill them.

What Should You Do If Clivia Grows Crooked?

Some flower growers ask: at home, the Clivia leaves are crooked, grow very scattered, and are asymmetrical on both sides. What should be done?

Solutions

1. Clip Correction

First place a layer of soft paper at the clamp point of the crooked leaves, then use a small clothespin from home to align the crooked leaves with the leaves in the normal direction and clip them together. After a period of time, they will be corrected!

2. Cardboard Correction

Cut slits in lightweight cardboard, then directly slip the leaves into the cardboard. This method is simple and rough, and is more suitable for robust adult Clivia plants.