Growing Clivia from seed is very straight-forward.
If you have fresh seeds in a pod, remove the fleshy seeds from the pod and then clean each seed to remove the thin membrane surrounding it.
Plant the seeds on the surface of a sterile potting mix. Place in bright indirect light or under fluorescent plant lights. Keep the medium moist, not soggy. The seed should germinate in a few weeks. Clivia seedlings grow slowly and continuously, so once the first leaf is well developed, start to feed with a weak solution of soluble fertilizer at intervals.
Keep the plant growing until there are at least 12 mature leaves (2 to 4 years), when you can try to induce flowering by storing the plant dry and cool for 8 to 12 weeks in autumn. Keep the plant in the same bright indirect light, and at this point natural light is better than artificial: you want to reduce the period of daylight while forcing induction of a flower stalk.
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James E. Shields, jim@shieldsgardens.com
Last revised: 15 March 2001.
© Copyright 2001 by James E. Shields. All rights reserved.