Clivia Summer Care and Leaf Spot Disease Prevention and Control Methods
Summer is a test for many flowers and plants, and quite a few flower enthusiasts have asked how to care for clivia in summer. I have grown clivia for many years, and ever since I started living in an apartment, I have always grown clivia on the balcony. To solve the problem of getting balcony clivia safely through summer, I tried many approaches: hanging shade netting, putting up bamboo blinds, misting, installing an air conditioner, and so on.
Installing an air conditioner in particular had an obvious cooling effect on the balcony, but there were pros and cons. In fact, the cons outweighed the pros, so I later removed the air conditioner, shade netting, bamboo blinds, misting equipment and so on, and adopted my current approach: keep ventilation, allow plenty of light, water frequently, and do not fertilize.
Specifically: 1. Open the windows on both sides of the balcony to maintain natural ventilation; if there is no natural ventilation, forced ventilation can also be used. 2. After removing shade items such as bamboo blinds, hang only white gauze curtains and let in as much light as possible (as long as the light does not scorch the flowers). 3. Water frequently to maintain the moisture of the potting soil, and never let it dry out completely before watering. 4. Do not fertilize during the high temperatures of summer. After many years of practice, the result is no root rot, no leggy growth, no soft rot, and a good growth state.
If you have any other good methods, please post them too, so we can learn from each other, make up for each other's shortcomings, and improve together.
1. One of the basic practices for getting balcony clivia safely through summer: "keep ventilation"
After I published my post on "basic practices for getting balcony clivia safely through summer," some clivia growers sent me messages asking for a detailed explanation. To answer them, I will explain in four points. Today I will first talk about "keep ventilation": after summer begins, the weather gradually gets hotter. Whether it is a greenhouse or a home balcony, anyone growing clivia must open the windows for ventilation. This is common knowledge in clivia growing and also one of the important means of dissipating heat and cooling down. Especially on balconies (the focus of this article is balconies; greenhouse ventilation is a separate matter), the area is small and both heating and cooling happen quickly. If the windows are not opened promptly for ventilation, the high temperatures of summer will make it like a steamer and cause enormous harm to clivia. The occurrence of clivia root rot, yellow leaves, crown rot, leaf spot and other diseases is mostly related to poor ventilation.
Therefore, it is essential to strengthen the awareness of ventilation when growing clivia in summer. The specific method is to open the windows on both sides of the balcony. How wide is suitable? Use it flexibly according to the family's geographical location and the strength of ventilation, with the degree that allows natural ventilation as the standard. If the balcony is connected to a neighbor's and natural ventilation is impossible, then consider strengthening ventilation (such as installing an exhaust fan). Therefore, ensuring ventilation during summer heat is one of the important means of growing clivia well.
2. The second basic practice for getting balcony clivia safely through summer: "plenty of light"
All things grow by the sun, and clivia is even more so. Clivia does not like particularly strong light, especially in summer, but it also cannot be without light. Clivia needs good light conditions all year round to grow normally. In summer, for fear of strong light scorching the flowers and also to lower the temperature (hanging shade netting can lower the temperature by 3 to 5 degrees), the issue of shading (also called shading or shade netting) is raised. Some people understand shading as clivia being afraid of sun exposure, so they put clivia far away from sunlight or even under a table or under a bed, thinking this is shading. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. As far as greenhouses are concerned, because the light comes from above, it needs to be blocked, and in North China a 50 percent shade net is enough.
That is to say, greenhouse clivia can still receive about 50 percent light in summer; balconies are different (not including terraces). In summer, because the light angle changes, only a small amount of light can enter the south side of the balcony, and clivia placed on the balcony, except those near the glass, simply cannot receive light in other places. The little bit of light that comes in can be blocked with a white gauze curtain so that it will not scorch the leaves.
Therefore, balcony clivia does not need shading in summer; the light is already insufficient. If you are willing to experiment, you will find that clivia near the glass receiving light grows better, is more upright, and is more brightly colored than clivia that cannot get light; clivia that gets no light has dull leaf color and may even develop diseases. (I will not say much about the reasoning or so-called benefits of giving clivia plenty of light; please think it through and practice it yourselves.) Because balcony clivia are at different distances from the glass, the light points they receive also differ, so regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, you must frequently change their positions. Especially in summer, change positions even more frequently so that more clivia can receive as much light as possible (as long as the light does not scorch the flowers). By the way, my "plenty of light" practice (requirement) in this "basic practices for getting balcony clivia safely through summer" is conditional, that is, do not forget "keep ventilation"!
3. The third basic practice for getting balcony clivia safely through summer: "water frequently"
Water is the key to clivia's existence. Without water, clivia's life also stops. Water is a carrier; various nutrients in the soil can only be absorbed by the roots after dissolving in water, and under the action of water they are transported to the various organs of the clivia. Some people say that growing clivia is easy to understand but watering takes three years of skill, instantly elevating watering to an important agenda. What we want to discuss today is an important practice (means) for getting balcony clivia safely through summer: watering. In summer, temperatures are high and evaporation is fast, so clivia's water demand inevitably increases. Add to that "keep ventilation" and "plenty of light," and balcony clivia must be "watered frequently" to maintain moisture. Moreover, watering is also an effective means of cooling and increasing oxygen, so frequent watering is also a basic skill for getting balcony clivia safely through summer. Some people say that clivia should not be watered unless the soil is dry, and that it should be watered thoroughly only when completely dry. This saying is only half right: the part that clivia should be watered thoroughly (and also not watered until it leaks out) is right, but the other half about letting it dry completely is incorrect. Once clivia dries out completely, the fleshy roots are damaged, and after damage it is very difficult to recover. At the same time, after drying completely it is very difficult to water thoroughly; once it is watered thoroughly, it either grows leggy or develops root rot. Some clivia suffer as if in disaster once summer comes, with crown rot, root rot, soft rot, leaf spot and other diseases occurring one after another. This is not unrelated to the idea that "clivia is afraid of water but not of drought."
When we say water frequently, we mean maintaining the moisture of the potting soil uniformly from top to bottom; watering thoroughly is based on not watering until it leaks out, giving clivia a cooling rinse, lowering the temperature, and increasing oxygen. Therefore, the higher the temperature and the drier and hotter the weather, the more attention must be paid to "watering frequently" and watering thoroughly. The specific watering time, interval and amount need to be practiced, summarized and applied flexibly according to each person's actual situation.
4. The fourth basic practice for getting balcony clivia safely through summer: "do not fertilize"
Clivia is a flower that likes fertilizer and has strong water tolerance. It cannot do without nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Commonly used fertilizers include large and small hemp seeds, perilla seeds, sesame and other oil-bearing seeds, which are fried and used as base fertilizer. It can be applied 3 to 4 times a year, from the end of September to the beginning of April of the following year, and liquid fertilizer fermented for at least one year can also be applied in combination. However, balcony clivia cannot be fertilized in summer. This is a very important guarantee among the basic practices for getting balcony clivia safely through summer. Because summer temperatures are high, clivia root hairs exist for an extremely short time, and their ability to absorb fertilizer is greatly reduced; clivia is already in a semi-dormant state. If fertilized in summer, the fertilizer ferments in the pot and the pot temperature rises, so the root hairs exist for an even shorter time, and the ability to absorb water and fertilizer is further reduced or even stops, resulting in leggy growth, root rot, crown rot, and diseases such as high-temperature soft rot. Therefore, in order for balcony clivia to safely pass the summer, fertilization must be stopped. Of course, if you can ensure that your home temperature environment stays at 12 degrees at night and no more than 25 degrees at the daytime maximum, then it is possible to fertilize.
By the way, someone asked: why does your basic practice for getting balcony clivia safely through summer only discuss the four issues of keeping ventilation, plenty of light, frequent watering and no fertilization, but not temperature? In fact, these four issues of mine all revolve around temperature. If there were no premise of high summer temperatures on the balcony, then these four issues of mine would not exist.
Let me explain here: although a home balcony is small and both heats up and cools down quickly, it also has a very advantageous side, which is that it is connected to the living room and main hall. The living room and main hall are places suitable for family life and rest, and the indoor temperature suitable for family life and rest will inevitably be transmitted to the balcony. Therefore, the summer balcony temperature is only slightly higher than that of the living room and main hall. Add to that the four basic practices I mentioned earlier, and getting balcony clivia safely through summer can be guaranteed.