Growing from Seed

Growing Clivias from Seeds

The most cost-effective way of increasing your Clivia collection is to grow them from seed. The following steps will hopefully help you to make a success of this process. The seeds grow relatively easily, and novice growers often have great success, but by following the steps below, you can increase your chances of a high germination and growth rate. Good quality seeds can be bought from professional Clivia breeders, but if you have a few plants of your own (or have access to a few) you can harvest the ripe berries that remain after the flowers are finished, extract the seeds, and grow your own.

It is important to note that a plant will only flower after a few years when grown from seed (3-5 years later, sometimes longer). You need to be patient if you grow from seed, but the reward can be a unique and special bloom on a compact and well-shaped plant.

(The months shown below are approximate, and refer to the Southern Hemisphere)

Harvesting

June/July

Once the berries have softened and can be easily opened, remove the pulp of the fruit and the thin membrane that surrounds each seed to extract the seeds from the berry. The seeds should be washed in a sterile solution to get rid of any fungal spores..... tepid water with a little dish-washing liquid and a few drops of bleach will usually be good enough to accomplish this. Some people soak the seeds for a few hours in water (with a few drops of bleach - 5ml per 5 liters), others simply plant.

Planting/Germinating Seed

August/September/October

There are different opinions regarding when to plant seed. Some wait until the weather warms up while others want to plant as early as possible to get the seeds growing. The seeds need a temperature of about 20 - 25 degrees to germinate. You can use a heating mat specially designed to create this gentle heat from below, or find a warm spot in the house (not in direct sun). If you want to check the accuracy of your germination conditions, a soil thermometer can be used.

Use a loose, sterile medium to germinate the seeds. A mix of coco-peat and perlite is often recommended, but there are other growers who promote seedling mix, vermiculite or other substances. The important thing is for the mix to be loose enough for the roots to penetrate and sterile so that the seedlings don't succumb to mould. The container should be able to be sealed and be about 5-10 cm deep for the root to grow.

The seed should be pushed gently into the top of the mix so that half of it protrudes and half is buried. Each seed usually has a darker, circular marking on it.... this should face up, and a very tiny bump on the other side of the seed is where the root will emerge, and should face down. Don't be too concerned if you get it wrong; the seed will correct itself as it starts to grow. Spray gently with sterile water to settle the seed into the soil. Ensure that the label, indicating the parentage of the seed is close by. Put the lid onto the container, and leave undisturbed for around 2 -3 weeks. The seeds may germinate at different speeds.

The root emerges first, and after it grows to a few cm long, a small leaf should appear next to the seed, which is still feeding the growing plant. Many growers remove the seedling and plant it into it's own pot (or a "community" pot) at this stage; others leave the seedlings growing together in the container/tray until they are quite large (up to a year, or even more). The roots become more difficult to untangle as they grow and need to be handled gently as they are fragile

Pollinating Flowers

September/October/November

In order to obtain seeds from a crossing of two plants, pollination has to take place. Clivias that grow in the garden will often self pollinate, or be cross pollinated by insects or the wind. Breeders perform the process under controlled conditions in order to guarantee the parentage of a new plant.

Cross pollination and the subject of clivia genetics would require a book of its own. The following explanation simply outlines the very basic mechanism of the pollination process.

The flower on the plant contains male components (the stamen) from where ripened pollen can be collected. There are many stamens per flower, each of these looking like a stalk that emerges from the center of the open flower and ending in an anther. When the anther is ripe, it opens, releasing the pollen which is used to fertilize the flower. Pollen (the fine power-like dust) can be collected to pollinate the flower and/or refrigerated to be used on other flowers (from other clivia plants) if they open at a later time in the year.

There is one female part (pistil) of the flower which is a single stalk that ends with a stigma. When the stigma is receptive to the pollen, it splits open into three strands, and is slightly sticky (Click on the image to magnify - the male stamen is being brought close to the three-strand stigma). Gently brushing the pollen particles onto the sticky stigma pollinates the flower, and will result in seeds that are created from the combination of the genetics of the female (the stigma that you are using) and the male (the pollen that you are using). Self-pollination means that the female stigma and male pollen come from the same plant.

Many clivia breeders say that from their experience, more seeds are produced when cross-pollination takes place.

Unfortunately for beginners, the cross-pollination's of plants are more complex than what they seem. Many would expect a yellow flower crossed with another yellow flower to produce a new yellow-flowered plant, but this is not always the case.

Ripening Fruit/Berries

December-May/June

Flowers that have been properly pollinated will produce berries. Some sources state that the number of seeds to be found in the fruit will be between 1 and 6, but the truth is that there could be many more. It is not uncommon to find 15 - 20 seeds inside a well developed fruit.