After one cut, the clivia sent up 6 shoots in 10 days and grew so much it outgrew its pot

Huahua had a clivia at home that hadn't grown in a year or two, and after summer its leaves were covered in damage. Recently Mom made a tough decision and "beheaded" it, and unexpectedly, a month or so later, five or six little heads sprouted!

Clivia "Beheading" Diary

1. Clivia is too fussy. It grows slowly, and after summer the leaves are too ugly to look at. Since trimmed leaves look bad anyway, you might as well just behead it!

2. Get out the sharpest big kitchen knife in the house and roast the blade with a lighter. Quick, ruthless, precise, cut the clivia flat in one go. Don't forget to sprinkle some carbendazim on the cut to prevent infection!

3. After cutting, you feel light as a feather. Two or three days later (without watering), check on it and the condition looks decent. The cut is a bit dry, which means it has healed. Feel the potting soil, and if it's already dry, water it a little.

4. After 1 week, you can feel a bit of change at the base. Little shoots have already poked out, and counting them there are 5. So exciting! At this point, absolutely do not put it in the sun. Mist the surrounding air every day to keep it humid.

5. At 10 days, the little shoots turning green means they have stabilised, so they need a bit of sunlight. Therefore, from 9 to 10 in the morning, give them a little sun.

6. At half a month, the little shoots have already opened up and look very dense. At this point, still water less, keep humidity high, and give appropriate sun.

7. The little shoots grow aggressively and fully open up at 20 days. The ones at the very top with plenty of sun are bigger, while the ones shaded below are smaller, so you need to frequently rotate the position so they all get light.

8. At 1 month they are glossy and smooth. During this time, I added nutrient solution once, and they actually grew this fast. I have to say, this beheading was really worth it: one plant became 6, and the original pot is no longer enough to hold them all!

How to care for a clivia cluster

1. Change the pot in time and provide full light

Although clivia fears sunburn, it still needs to be placed somewhere with slightly better light to grow glossy green leaves. A clivia cluster has many leaves that easily shade each other, so rotate the pot more so every leaf can photosynthesise evenly.

2. Division

If too many shoots sprout after beheading and you're worried you can't care for them well, you can also cut off the small plantlets, insert them in sandy soil to re-root and plant them, so one pot can become many pots. But it is best to wait until the temperature is around 23°C to do this.

3. "Bathe" often and keep it hygienic

Because there are many leaves, dust and standing water easily collect in the gaps, breeding bacteria and causing fungal disease. So when watering, be careful not to splash into the gaps, and wipe the leaf surfaces often to keep them clean and hygienic.

4. Beer fertiliser is also a nutrient solution

Everyone probably knows that clivia loves to "drink" beer. Besides the nutrient solution we buy, you can also dilute beer with water (1:10) to wipe the leaves, or pour it into the pot. Not only can it make clivia leaves a deeper green, it can also force flowering.

4. If it won't bloom, shut it in a dark room

A large temperature difference between day and night makes clivia more likely to bloom. We can simulate the temperature difference: first put it somewhere with good light for about 3 days, then shut it in a rather dark corner for 3 days, and repeat several times, and it will be "tricked" into blooming.

Clivia clusters are actually this easy to handle

Fellow plant lovers with clivia at home

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Absolutely useful!

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