Do I need to water a clivia while it is blooming?
When a clivia is blooming, its water requirements are as follows: with lots of water the flowering period is short, with too little water the flower scape gets pinched; take the middle path, neither too much nor too little - keep it moist but not waterlogged, and slightly on the dry side is best.
The clivia's flowering period falls around New Year's Day to the Spring Festival, mainly in spring and summer. It can bloom year-round, sometimes in winter, and blooming in June to July in summer is not surprising either. The length of the flowering period depends on the temperature of the care environment: higher temperatures shorten the flowering period, and slightly lower temperatures lengthen it. A single flower can last about half a month, and the complete flowering period is 45-50 days.
To extend the flowering period, after it blooms place it indoors at 15°C away from strong light to prolong the flowering period. Specifically, start lowering the temperature once the bud color turns orange-red, keeping it at 10-15°C during the day and 5-10°C at night. Stop fertilizing as soon as the buds show color, keep the air circulating and give indirect light, reducing light to just 2 hours a day. This can extend the flowering period by 10-20 days. When watering during bloom, do not pour water on the flowers to avoid the edges of the flowers rotting.
If you do not want to keep seeds after blooming, there is no need to pollinate; cut off the spent flowers together with the flower stalk to save nutrients. Because blooming consumes too many nutrients and weakens the plant, and the potting soil's fertility is completely exhausted! You can combine this with repotting to remove old roots and encourage new root growth. After repotting, place it in a cool, shaded spot for care.
The general rule for watering clivia is that the soil just needs to stay moist. It must not dry out completely, nor be too wet. The fleshy roots have water-storing ability and are therefore fairly drought-tolerant, but drought tolerance does not mean it can be severely deprived of water.
Watering depends on how well the growing medium drains and retains water. In general, do this: in spring, once every other day; in summer, when temperature and water transpiration are fast, water the ground around the pot as well. On sunny days, water twice a day, in the morning and in the evening; in autumn, once every other day; in winter, once every 10 days. But every home's temperature and ventilation environment and the growing medium's water retention differ, so everything should be based on your own clivia's growing medium and its dryness and moisture level. Do not rigidly copy other people's methods; their flowers have nothing to do with you, they are only a reference for you.