Cilivia

not sure the speling is right...I have a pot full.They bloomed for several years and the last 2 they haven't.I wonder if I should separate them...There is 4 large ones and several smaller ones in the same pot.....

I recently got a Clivia (a yellow one), but it's a new plant for me. Gitagal had an enormous rootbound one that she separated (last year I think)... maybe she'll pop in with some advice.

Do you have a photo? Do you think the plant might be too rootbound to bloom? I'm not sure if it would be better to split the clump or just give it a bigger pot and fresh potting mix...

I have one but I haven't had it very long either. I was under the impression that they liked being root bound. I agree Gita would be likely to know.

I think they do like being rootbound, but there may be limits (since it's stopped blooming)... I think I'm remembering that Gita's clump had actually split its pot when she decided to divide it... ?

Gita's had been crammed in the same pot for years as I recall. She'll probably give you a doctoral thesis on her experience when she sees you need advice ! She may have put her pictures in the Bringin-ins thread. They are here somewhere.

OK! OK!
Holly directed me to this Thread....

I appreciate all your comments--but i am still just a novice on this plant as well....
Background----
My friend, Helen, asked me in 2008 if i would like to have a Clivia. I had heard of this plant but had never seen one.
I said: "Sure!"....I was expecting a 6" pot or something on that order....and then she came--lugging this 40lb. plant in ONLY a 10" or 12" pot. HUGE!
She said it had been her mother's--and she had 2 of them. It was at least 30yrs. old and, as for the time she had owned it--it had never been fertilized and that she seldom watered it.
In the winter, she kept it in a sun room and totally ignored it.

When I received it--it was in full bloom and it's roots were all over the surface and looping up.

here is my gift.

Here's a look at how root bound it was--and didn't seem to mind one bit....This was in march of 2008.

I kept it in filtered light outside all Summer and watered it whenever i watered I watered other things....
Brought it in for the Winter ans kept it on a stool near my not-so-bright LR window--but as it was HUGE and I had read it needed a dormancy of sorts, I decided it would have to do.

Bluepoppy---
I tried getting more information on this plant from everywhere....but the best "tutorial" I had was going to PF and looking up Clivia, and then reading the large amount of comments by people from all over the world...many from S. America....
I would suggest you take a look at these comments....It will expand your understanding of this plant.

I just went to PF--and there are NO comments on any of them! Hmmmmmmmm?????
I KNOW I read about it somewhere! Was going to post a link for you....

OK! To continue....
The following Summer--I took it back outside and it only presented me with a few, puny blooms....
By end of Summer--i was sure I wanted to divide it....What did i have to loose?
Long story short---it took me over 1/2 hour to get it out of the pot....ended up beating the pot with my 4lb sledge--hard!
it was amazing that the pot never even cracked....
After a long while of this, the root ball finally loosened from the pot and i was able to pull it out.

It was SOOOO hopelessly entangled in it's roots, that after trying to unwind some of them, I gave up and got a strong kitchen knife and started "butchering" the root mass. No mercy!!!

After rinsing all the soil off with water--this is what I had to start with.

This is what I ended up with. 12 divisions to pot up.

As you can see--there are plenty of root left on all of these so i was confident they would all make it...

Here they are--all potted up.

Here is their Winter home----
I have since taken 2 of these outside--as one already finished blooming and the other one had blooms starting. The blooms come out from the very base from between the rosette of leaves....

Here is the one that was first to bloom. I was so tickled!

I plan to keep them all until next year. take as good care as I can and by next year they should be good-looking plants.
I plan to sell most of them, as these plants do not come cheap. Especially if they are in bloom.

Just FYI--bluepoppy--the yellows are more costly that the oranges....Which one do you have?

All I would tell you is that it likes being root bound. Don't mess with it! I hope you just let it be and enjoy it....
There is a lot of info out there--just look for it...Wish i could remember where i saw it......

Hope this was somewhat helpful. Gita

Thanks, Gita! That's such a pretty bloom on that division in the last photo.. you probably posted that on another thread, but I must have missed it... I'm tickled that some of those divisions have already bloomed for you!

Thanks Jill--

Yes, I did post it somewhere else, as this happened in March....

Just went out to take the following 2 pictures.
Here is another division that I have now had outside for over a week as it was showing a flower bud emerging.
BTW--Clivias can take pretty low temperatures--so I remember from wherever i was reading all these comments.....

Here is a closer up of from where the bloom-stalk-to-be emerges.
Interesting, no?

Just wondering---was there, maybe, an article written on Clivias? maybe that is where all the comments were??????
I know this will be driving me crazy--as i DO remember reading them all--and there were many, many!

Gita

There are a lot of comments on this PF entry page (it's not the entry for any specific cultivar but rather the page for Clivia miniata in general)

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2201/

Mine is the orange one and had remembered that I had read someplace not to take the pups off...So I hadn't but now it hasn't bloomed for the last 2 years and thought maybe I needed to separate. Why would it not be blooming? I haven't put it out in the summer...Maybe I need to do that?????

Read the comments on the PF page... there's some thought that it may need a cool period (but not freezing!) to bloom.

Thanks, Jill.....

I knew I wasn't imagining this!!!
I guess I just didn't check out all the varieties well enough.

Yes! Please read all this--it has wondeful, aggregate information.

Really checked mine over this morning and do see a little orange coming. Maybe I will get a flower afterall...ANd it will be cold this fall and winter if that is what it takes...Never did water and fertilize it much. So now I guess I need to add the cold........

I was told the best way to get the most blooms from a Christmas Cactus was to keep it out side until you get your first frost warning and then bring it inside. I wonder how that would work for a clivia. I think I might try that with mine. I also thought Cilvia bloom in the fall, do they bloom at other times, too?

Holly--

Clivias bloom in early Spring--like NOW! Did you see my photo of how the bloom emerges?

Also--please go to the link Jill found and read all the Comments on how to take care of the Clivias....

I brought ALL 12 of mine out today! Whatever happens---they will have to deal with it.....NOT gonna haul them back inside! They look really good! Several others are showing flower buds emerging.....GOOD!

I will take VERY, VERY good care of them this Summer (I hope!) and then sell them next Spring for, maybe, $25-$30 each. They should be much better after a year of being outside, etc....

Wish me luck! Gita

Holly--that Xmascactus thing crossed my mind too.

Good luck Gita!

I have alway had good blooms from my "Thanksgiving" Xmascactus. When I started summering it outside on the covered deck. When I took it back in just before a frost it was loaded with buds.
It died off last year, it was pretty old, I bought it some 25 years ago as a tiny plant at the grocery store. Oh well now I'm into Rex begonias.

Several more of my Clivias are forming bloom-buds......So neat--the emerge from the base of the cluster of leaves....
I guess no harm was really done in the dividing--or the poor light conditions of the 12 divisions in my basement....

They have all been outside now for a couple of weeks. I did seclude them several days ago under my patio table as the night temps. went down to below 40*....Yesterday--they all came out again!

Will take some more photos.....Gita