Specialty Gardening: Clivia - Do I fertilize now?, 1 by DaleTheGardener

DaleTheGardener wrote:
CJ, I wouldn't keep your clivia too dry at any time of year. I think that any plant that dries out to the point of wilting is going to be stressed. I don't know of any plant that benefits from stress. Some plants tolerate stress better than others (like cactus), but, that doesn't mean they benefit.

I always try and think through what conditions the plant has in a natural setting. A plant that is in the ground has a large root system to hold water to use during dry times. Your plant has a small root system, it is in a very dry environment (houses have very dry air in winter). I think it will always need extra water. During it's 'dormant' period it will use less water, but, it still needs some. I would guess you could cut back on watering.

I agree with the flowerfarm on not using fertilizer in winter, but, I would feed the plant more often than once a month during the growing season. I use the weekly weakly method on my potted plants. I always thought is was strange that people would only feed once a month. Plants are alive and all forms of life 'eat' lightly and frequently.

Clivia is widely grown in CA and it rains there in the winter only. The SF area has some of the largest and showiest clumps of clivia I have ever seen in the US. In that climate clivia can bloom twice a year, heavy bloom in spring and then a few more in the fall on well grown clumps. I worked at a small college south of SF and there was a clump of plants that was very old, over 50 years and 10' across, they hardly ever bloomed. Started fertilizing and watering through the summer. That next spring the clump had a hundred flowers, the sisters said they had never seen it bloom so well.

This is a photo I found online.