Edible Mushroom Disease Prevention and Control Methods and Clivia Cultivation and Propagation Techniques

Clivia Cultivation: Growing and Propagation Techniques How to grow Clivia? How to carry out cultivation management? How to propagate? Clivia is a common type of flower we grow; its growing environment is on the cool and moist side, and it fears cold in winter and direct blazing sun in summer. Key points for year-round Clivia care: in spring avoid wind; in summer avoid sun exposure; in autumn avoid rain and water spraying; in winter avoid low temperatures and dryness. Clivia is suitable for growing indoors, mainly determined by its internal structure and physiological functions. Clivia is an evergreen perennial herbaceous plant with very strong shade tolerance, thick large leaves, and dark green color. The leaf mesophyll contains a large amount of chlorophyll, and can absorb carbon dioxide and water in sunlight, synthesizing organic matter for its own growth and development needs, while releasing oxygen. In addition, on Clivia's broad, thick leaves grow many stomata and fine hairs, which can secrete a large amount of mucus; during gas exchange, it can absorb a large amount of indoor dust, dirt and harmful gases, making indoor air clean, so Clivia is also hailed by people as an "absorption machine" and "dust collector," the guardian deity of human health. So how can this health guardian grow healthily in your home too? Home care of Clivia should mainly start from temperature and humidity, soil, water, light, nutrition and other aspects. The specific cultivation is as follows: Clivia likes a cool and moist environment. In summer it fears scorching sun exposure, and in winter it fears cold. When the temperature is 15-25°C, it is the suitable period for its growth; below 10°C, it grows slowly; below 5°C it enters a dormant state; below 0°C the leaves are frostbitten, and in severe cases it may even freeze to death. Clivia also fears blazing sun and high temperatures; when the temperature is above 30°C, the leaves become withered, yellow and scorched, and in severe cases the whole plant dries up and dies. Clivia likes to grow in loose, well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Prepare potting soil. Clivia has fleshy roots and requires loose, fertile, well-drained soil; it grows best in slightly acidic soil (pH 6.2-6.7). You can mix decomposed chicken manure and pond mud at 4:6, or best use pine needles, decomposed organic fertilizer, and river sand mixed at a ratio of 5:3:2. Because Clivia originated in the mountain forests of South Africa, where the natural environment is like spring all year round, the various organs of the Clivia plant have already adapted to this neither-cold-nor-hot natural environment. Therefore, in daily care, the temperature should be controlled between 15-25 degrees. When the temperature drops below 10 degrees, Clivia's growth and development slow down, and when it drops below 0 degrees, it will freeze to death. Similarly, when the temperature reaches or exceeds 30 degrees, it will also seriously affect Clivia's normal growth and development. Water is an important component of the Clivia plant. According to measurements, the Clivia plant contains 60%-80% water; especially its fleshy roots have a powerful water-storage function and strong resistance to drought. Clivia likes neutral water; clean, pollution-free tap water, well water, river water and so on can all be used for watering, but because fresh tap water and well water have a water temperature lower than the soil temperature and contain some impurities, they should be left to stand for 1-2 days before use. As for watering, there are quite a few finer points here as well. For Clivia seedlings, the best method is to use a spray bottle to spray-water. Point the nozzle upward and spray onto the leaves; the advantage of doing this is that besides achieving the purpose of watering the flowers, it can also wash off dust, and at the same time leave mist droplets on the leaf surface, ensuring a certain humidity on the leaf surface; in sunlight the water evaporates and can lower the leaf surface temperature, preventing sunscald. However, for Clivia that is blooming, you cannot use spray watering, to prevent water from entering the leaf sheaths and causing heart rot; for Clivia in the flowering period you can only pour water into the pot. Then when should you water, and how much water is appropriate? This mainly depends on the ambient temperature where the Clivia is. The overall watering principle is "wet then dry, do not water when not dry, water thoroughly when completely dry." Watering thoroughly means making all of Clivia's root system be at the same humidity. Judging whether the water has been watered thoroughly cannot be decided only by whether water flows out from the bottom of the pot. Because sometimes after the potting soil dries it hardens and shrinks into a ball; after watering, the water quickly flows from the pot wall to the pot bottom and runs out from the bottom hole. But the central part of the potting soil has not been touched by even a little water. If you stop watering at this time, it will cause Clivia leaves to wilt, and when it is shooting the flower stalk, it can cause "stalk clamping." Here is a simple and effective watering method for you: immerse the whole flower pot in a basin or bucket full of water, soak for half a minute, then take it out. However, the disadvantage of doing this is that nutrients in the soil are relatively easy to lose, so if you want Clivia to have deep roots and large leaves, you also need to pay attention to replenishing nutrients for it in time. The nutrient elements Clivia needs mainly come from organic fertilizers, such as soybean cake, peanut oil cake, animal offal and so on. Under normal circumstances, applying them once each in spring and autumn within a year is enough. In spring, apply once after flowering, around late April to early May; in autumn, after the fruit is harvested, apply once more around mid-September to late October. Clivia is a moisture-loving plant and has relatively high requirements for the humidity of its growing environment. Its most suitable humidity range is 70%-80%. Clivia grown in such an environment has tender green leaves, clear leaf veins, and short, wide, neat leaves, with high ornamental value. But limited by the conditions of a home environment, ordinary households generally find it very hard to reach this standard. This is also the main reason why many people cannot grow Clivia well. Clivia is a day-neutral plant and does not have strict light requirements; as long as the temperature is suitable, it can bloom normally whether the light duration is a bit longer or shorter, and short-day conditions in winter and spring are more conducive to flowering. Good light is an important condition for ensuring Clivia's large flowers and vivid colors. But it still likes relatively weak light, and especially dislikes strong light. Clivia's leaves are phototropic; if it is placed in one spot indoors for a long time, the leaves will certainly turn toward the direction of the sun, and as far as its plant shape is concerned, it will be very difficult to achieve the ornamental effect of a single line when viewed from the side and like an open fan when viewed head-on. Clivia must be placed in a north-south direction; if not in a north-south direction, the leaves will grow crooked. So what should you do if the leaves grow crooked? You can pull the two leaves even and clip them together; you can use a playing card to surround them so as not to damage the leaves, and normally in 15—20 days the leaves will be corrected. Clivia's thick fleshy roots, while storing enough water, also place higher demands on the soil it relies on for survival. Only nutrient soil with good air permeability, loose texture, and rich humus content is suitable for the growth of Clivia's fleshy roots. Rot-resistant tree leaves or pine needles must be fermented before use; they absolutely cannot be used unfermented, because if not fermented they easily burn and rot the roots. Clivia must have its soil changed once a year. The time and frequency of repotting and soil changing for Clivia depend on the size of the seedling and the season. Mature Clivia like these need a soil change once a year. The best time to change the soil is spring and autumn, because at this time Clivia grows vigorously and changing the soil will not affect the plant's growth. Take the Clivia out of the pot, cut off rotten roots and old roots with no absorption capacity, and remove the spent soil. Cover the drainage holes of the flower pot with broken pot pieces, fill in 2-5 cm of nutrient soil inward, grab a handful of soil to fill the inside of the roots solidly, then place the plant in the pot, and fill the pot with nutrient soil; when it is half the height of the pot, gently press down along the pot edge with your hand, so that the roots all stand in the pot and are not easily bent. The key point of changing soil is to pack the root area solidly with soil. Otherwise, if there is no soil at the roots, water and nutrients cannot reach the roots, easily causing root rot and "stalk clamping." After changing the nutrient soil, just water thoroughly. Actually, in the end, the care knowledge for Clivia is far more than this, and many care points still depend on Clivia growers to explore and accumulate through practice. But you do not need to worry, because many Clivia enthusiasts also know that growing Clivia well is quite difficult, but killing it is also not easy; although this is a joke, it also shows from another aspect that Clivia is not so delicate. As long as you are usually more hands-on and more attentive, you will certainly be able to grow Clivia with luxuriant branches and leaves and bright flowers and red fruit, and life will naturally gain a bit more beauty and pleasure. Propagation and cultivation (1) Propagation: mainly using the division method and the sowing method. How does Clivia carry out sexual reproduction? Clivia usually uses only two propagation methods: one is sexual reproduction, namely the sowing propagation method; the other is the division propagation method in asexual reproduction. Large-flowered Clivia is relatively commonly propagated by sowing. The advantage of the propagation method is that it can propagate in large quantities to meet the needs of many flower growers. But with sowing propagation, artificial pollination must first be carried out; it is best to pollinate between different plants, because cross-pollination between different plants has a high seed-setting rate; a robust plant after cross-propagation can generally set ten seeds; self-pollination on the same plant can only set a few seeds. The pollination method is: when the perianth has split for 2-3 days, the flower bud is mature, and the stigma has mucus secretion, that is the pollination timing. When pollinating, use a new writing brush to dip the pollen from the stamens and gently shake it onto the pistil's stigma. In order to increase the seed-setting rate, you can pollinate once each between 9-10 am and 2-3 pm. The seeds only mature after about 8-9 months. When the fruit skin gradually changes from green to black-purple, you can cut off the fruit cluster, and after 10-20 days peel out the seeds. Before sowing, put the seeds in warm water at 30-35°C and soak for 20-30 minutes, then take them out and air-dry for 1-2 hours (at this time, if you can soak them in 10% sodium phosphate solution for 20-30 minutes, take them out, wash them, and then soak them in clean water for 10-15 hours, that would be even better), and then they can be sown into the culture soil. Place the sowing flower pot in an environment at room temperature 20-25°C, keep the humidity at about 90%, and in about 1-2 weeks the radicle will sprout. For sowing propagation, one more thing that must be done well is to first prepare the culture soil. There are many materials that can be used to make culture soil, but a relatively easy one to obtain is to use loose soil taken from the surface layer of woodland with sufficient humus, mixed with 1/3 clean fine sandy soil. Clivia likes slightly acidic soil, and a pH value of 6-6.5 is suitable. The time requirement for propagating Clivia by sowing is not strict; it can be sown in spring, autumn and winter, but temperature is an important condition. It is best to sow under a temperature condition of 20-25°C, which can meet the temperature requirements for germinating the embryo. How does Clivia carry out asexual reproduction? Asexual reproduction of flowers includes cuttings, division, layering, grafting and other methods, but the asexual reproduction of Clivia generally only uses the division method, and the weeping Clivia (Clivia nobilis) uses this method even more commonly. To propagate by division, first do several preparations: 1. For home potted plants, prepare flower pots; it is best if the flower pots are clay pots, and do not buy porcelain or ceramic ones just for the sake of a beautiful pot surface, because they have poor air permeability and are not conducive to the plant's development and growth. 2. Prepare the medium soil, and it is best to disinfect it. If using humus soil mixed with fine sand, the humus soil should be sprayed and disinfected with a 1000-2000 times aqueous solution of potassium permanganate; the fine river sand should also be scalded and disinfected with boiling water, to avoid the seedlings being infected by pathogens and rotting. 3. Prepare a small amount of charcoal powder to smear on the wound to absorb moisture and prevent rot. 4. Sharpen the cutting knife, and finally quickly dry-grind it on a whetstone (without adding water) for several dozen strokes, so that the blade becomes very hot, in order to kill pathogens. When dividing, first take the mother Clivia plant out of the pot, remove the old soil, and find the axillary buds that can be divided. If the offset grows on the outer edge of the mother plant and the plant body is relatively small, you can hold the bulb part with one hand and pinch the base of the offset with the other hand, give it a tear and twist, and the offset can be broken off from the mother body; if the offset is thick and strong and not easy to break off, you should use the prepared sharp knife to cut it off. Never force it off, so as not to damage the young plant. After the offset is cut off, immediately smear the wound with dry charcoal powder, to absorb the flowing liquid and prevent rot. Next, plant the offset in a pot. When planting, the planting depth should be to the extent of burying the base pseudobulb of the offset; the part near the seedling should be made slightly higher, and cover with sterilized sandy soil. After planting, immediately water thoroughly once, and when the wound has healed after 2 weeks, add another layer of culture soil. Generally it must go through 1-2 months to grow new roots, and 1-2 years to bloom. Clivia propagated by division has relatively stable heredity and can maintain the various characteristics of the original species.