Clivia

[Renate Brinkers]

Hans,
I think it is worth a try!

[Hans J]

Here new flowers - thats my biggest Clivia miniata ( bought before some years on a charity event )

Clivia miniata 'Big'

[Alessandro.marinello]

Clivia nobilis now in flower

[Paul T]

Alessandro,

Is that the true nobilis, or the x cyrtanthiflora?  I don't know how to tell the difference any more, except that I thought that nobilis was distinctly red and green, rather than all red like yours (we here in Australia have had  x cyrtanthiflora masquerading as nobilis for years, which is why I ask).  If you grew it from seed how long did it take to flowering.  Apparently nobilis itself is just so slow growing compared to the others.  I think I have heard 10 years or more to flowering.

Please don't take this post as me saying your plant is incorrectly labelled, as I have no idea how to tell from pics myself.  I'm just wanting to learn what the identifying factors are to tell whether you've got the species or the cross?  Whatever yours is, it is a lovely flower!!    Thanks for posting.

[Alessandro.marinello]

Hi Paul
this is C. nobilis, I have taken the slid year to it from the United Kingdom, I possess also two C. x cyrtanthiflora, naturally Australian

[Paul T]

Thanks Alessandro.  Have to flowered both?  What do you see as the differences?  I have the x cyrtanthiflora (which I realise can be very variable), and have grown nobilis from seed, but it grows at such a slow rate that it is going to be MANY years before it ever gets anywhere, if it survives that long.  For me the seedling sort of gets to a few leaves and just sits there like that for ever, never getting any bigger.  I haven't noticed it recently so I am thinking I may have no lost the last seedling too by the look of it.  Must go and check to be sure.  Too many darn pots at my place to keep track of everything. 

[Heinie]

I read this complete topic again due to my primary interest in Clivia of which I have a few thousand growing in the garden as well as my three shade-houses. I see some lovely flowers here. I would like to make a comment on a few posts in the beginning of the topic regarding watering. Clivias are hard to kill by under watering them but are killed easily by over watering. My Clivias are watered every 2 to 3 weeks and we experience temperatures of up to 42C in the shade-house during summer, December and January, when the plants in pots are watered every 2 weeks in the shade-houses. The growing medium is a very loose medium consisting of 70% of 12mm composted pine bark and 30% compost.

There is no need for additional water during flowering to get the flower scape to grow high between the leaves. The actual problem for short scapes is a deficiency in potassium in the plant. I feed my flowering plants with additional potassium from six months prior to the flowering season and two months after flower for seed growth and nutrition. I recommend that you rather use a fertilizer with a high potassium count for your Clivias. One fertilizer that comes to mind is Phostrogen 14-10-27 as advised to Hans for bulbs a while ago. It is made in the UK. I use it for all my bulbous plants.

I hope that you find this long note of interest and assistance for the Clivias with flowers low down between the leaves. I experienced the same problems a number of years ago when I started my high potassium feeding program with huge success. Here is a photo of one of my good Vico yellow crosses and note the high flower growth.





This Nobilis flower head with 52 flowers is at least 220mm above the leaves.

[Maggi Young]

Superb flowers, Heinie, and excellent advice.... which I will heed and put into action!

[Carlo]

Thanks Heinie. I've only got about 40 clivias here, but have experienced the short inflorescence problem. Your advice is most appreciated...

[Alessandro.marinello]

Heinie
I see that your plants are felt to house

[Alessandro.marinello]

Paul
this is Clivia x cyrtanthiflora

[Heinie]

Alessandro,
Yes, some of the nice flowers find their way to the home environment for a lovely show. There are currently 8 Interspecifics in flower on the back veranda.

[Alessandro.marinello]

Heinie
as I envy to you, here servants also a little makeshift

[Ragged Robin]

Heinie, Your photos of your Clivia are quite wonderful and they look magnificently helathy (due to you great advice, no doubt), I have a Clivia given to me almost 20 years ago and produces masses of flower each year following a watering technique like yours and putting it outside in summer in light spot - though not direct sun, which can burn the leaves, then in the cool low light for the winter inside - a French woman I met who had fantastic plants once told me she put them in the cellar for a rest period in the dark before flowering, do you agree? You obviously have the magical touch 

[Renate Brinkers]

Paul,
this are two pictures of nobilis leaf tips, typical nobilis leaf tips. The leafes are usual much harder and rough, if you close your eyes and touch the leafes you will feel the difference between nobilis and cyrtanthiflora. I also have a cyrtanthiflora which shows some signs of nobilis but not at all leafs and the leafes are more rough than miniata but not as rough as nobilis. All other cyrtanthiflora´s I have show smoth leafes. Also cyrtanthiflora have more dark green, shining leafes, nobilis leafes are not shining.
nobilis indeed take up to ten years to reach flowering size, cyrtanthiflora as I know are flowering earlier.
And: nobilis grows slowly, very, very slowly.
Another difference is that cyrtanthiflora often flowers two times a year, flowers in winter are often pale. For example I have two different ones which flowers light pink in winter and strongly orange in summer.
Maybe this helps a bit.