How to Grow Clivia? A Detailed Guide to Breeding Techniques for Variegated Clivia
From the appearance of variegated clivia to the present day, appreciation standards have undergone great changes. At first, any variegated clivia with yellow stripes or white stripes would suffice; later, the appreciation standards for green clivia were gradually incorporated, such as length-to-width ratio, roundness, brightness, bounce, delicate leaf texture, good head shape, good plant shape, yuanbao base, good stiffness, and so on, all of which have now been fully adopted. Generally speaking, variegated clivia is required not only to have the colored stripes of a variegated clivia, but also to meet the appreciation standards of green clivia. The specific requirements are as follows:
Even distribution of colored stripes: white and green alternating, with a certain proportion.
Good contrast of colored stripes: green and white clearly distinct, brilliantly lustrous, exquisitely translucent, with a sense of depth, transparency and freshness.
Good stability of colored stripes: for striped clivia, the more evenly the colored stripes are distributed on each leaf, and the more similar each leaf is to the others, the better.
The colors of variegated clivia roughly fall into five types: bordered stripes, mandarin duck stripes, colored stripes and golden silk stripes, with strains such as Chinese orchid variegated clivia, Japanese variegated clivia, horizontal-leaf variegated clivia and sparrow clivia variegated clivia. When breeding, one must consider the color requirements and the characteristics of the variety, and carefully select the parents. Some of the predecessors' breeding experience is summarized below.
Selection of Parents
From the appearance of variegated clivia in the 1980s to the present, the hybrid seedling emergence rate has been 15%-20%; only by selecting plants with fairly evenly distributed colored stripes as the female parent can the emergence rate possibly reach 70%. Therefore, when selecting parents, one should comprehensively consider the traits of the male and female parents, achieve trait complementarity, and only then is it possible to obtain excellent seedlings.
Selection of the Female Parent
According to the predecessors' experience, when selecting the female parent, first choose a silk-stripe clivia whose silk stripes are very transparent, with the front and back silk stripes able to show through, and which also requires even distribution of colored stripes and high color purity; the greater the contrast between porcelain white and dark green, the better. Next, consider other traits, such as leaf length, width, length-to-width ratio, leaf veins, head shape, base shape, brightness, thickness, stiffness and so on. Under the condition of ensuring the seedling emergence rate of the offspring and a relatively high proportion of variegated clivia among the offspring, the more other aspects conform to the standards of clivia, the better.
Selection of the Male Parent
When selecting the male parent, first choose a relatively transparent silk-stripe clivia. Next, consider compensating for, improving and enhancing the female parent's traits in view of their defects. In production practice, one will find that some male parents are of very good quality, but when pollinated onto different female parent plants, the offspring obtained differ. Therefore, the selection of excellent male parents requires long-term practice, record-keeping, observation and summarization before it can be determined.
Hybridization Techniques
Clivia does not set seed when self-pollinated and requires artificial pollination. After selecting good male and female parents, only by carrying out correct pollination operation techniques can a large number of fruits be obtained.
Do the preparatory work before pollination
Before pollination, prepare the necessary pollination tools: toothpicks, brushes, glass dishes, tweezers, labels, pencils or ballpoint pens, etc. When many flowers are blooming, prepare more pollination tools; be sure to use one set of pollination tools for one male parent. Determine the optimal pollination time
When the perianth of the female parent's florets has split open for 2-3 d, the stigma of the pistil begins to secrete mucus, and the pistil is mature; this is the optimal pollination period. The optimal pollination time of the day is 9:00-10:00 in the morning or 13:00-14:00 in the afternoon.
Collect pollen in time
When the stamens of the male parent emerge from the perianth, the anthers split open, and the pollen begins to shed, remove the stamens of the male parent with tweezers, flick the yellow pollen into a glass dish, cover the lid and set aside for use. Pollen collection must not be too late; if too late, the pollen is easily lost.
Pollination operation
When the female parent's florets are about to unfold their petals or are at the large bud stage, manually unfold the floret petals, remove the stamens that have not yet shed pollen one by one with tweezers, and then observe carefully. After 2-3 d, the stigma begins to secrete mucus, indicating that the pistil is mature and pollination can be carried out. When pollinating, use a brush, toothpick or other tool to pick up pollen grains and gently flick them onto the stigma of the female parent's pistil, until the pollen grains adhere to the stigma. A direct pollination method can also be used. The method is: remove with tweezers the stamens that can shed pollen, and directly gently rub the male parent's anther on the stigma until the stigma has yellow pollen grains adhering to it, and the pollination operation is finished. To ensure good pollination, pollination can be carried out once more the next morning or in the afternoon. Note that the same male parent's pollen must be used for both pollinations. One set of pollination tools should pollinate only one male parent's pollen; if it is truly necessary, the previous male parent's pollen grains must be completely killed before reuse. When pollinating, do not wait until all the florets have opened; pollinate the florets blooming at different times in batches and in a timely manner to ensure successful pollination. The pollinated florets should have a tag hung on them, marked with the pollination time, number of times, the name of the male parent and the operator.
After pollination is completed, observe carefully and promptly remove the clivia florets; do not wait for them to fall off naturally, so as to avoid consuming nutrients. Generally, after the pollination operation is completed, the ovary begins to swell noticeably, indicating that pollination has succeeded.
After the fruit has set firmly, if the soil was not changed the previous year, change the soil in time; after changing the soil, immediately pour in 800-fold carbendazim solution to prevent root rot, and supply water in time to prevent fruit drop. Then move on to the normal female parent management stage.
Seed collection
In winter, after about 8 months of growth and development, some of the clivia fruits begin to show color, indicating that the fruits are mature, and seeds should be collected in time. When collecting seeds, cut off the entire flower scape at the middle-lower part with a knife, and hang it in a cool, ventilated place. After 10-15 d of after-ripening, peel the seeds out of the fruits, wash them clean with water, dry them, and store them or sow them immediately. While peeling the seeds, carry out grain selection, discarding poorly developed, seed-hole-less and excessively small seeds.
After the seeds are harvested, make simple records. Such as number, harvest date, seed name, names of male and female parents, flower color, plant shape and adaptability, etc. Mark them with labels and place them in bags, as the basis for the next step of seed treatment, storage, exchange and sowing and seedling raising. Then store the seeds in a low-temperature, dry, sealed environment to maintain the seeds' germinating capacity and wait for sowing.