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Clivia Root Loss

Clivia plants sometimes loose all their roots, usually in response to stress such asa being shipped halfway around thwe world. They can also loose roots from too much watere, too heavy a potting mix, to9 little air reaching the roots.

Whatever the cause, root loss is a serious problem with Clivia. It seems to especially hit variegated plants. In my experience, clivias of the 'Light of Buddha' strain are the most prone to root loss. The condition almost never corrects itself without the grower's intervention. Left alone, these rootless plants seem inevitably to die.

The method that seems to yield the best results in getting rootless clivia plants to regrow new roots appears to be simply putting the rootless plant into a glass of water.

If there is rotted or dying tissue around the base of the plant, this should be removed. You can treat the base with a fungicide or a little rooting hormone, before putting it into water. The critical point is the water. Change it regularly, so that it never becomes cloudy. Remove any dying tissue from the base, but be very careful not to damage any new root buds that form.

This is a method I did not know about until recently. I have lost far too many imported clivia plants to root loss in the past. It you are forced to rescue a rootless clivia plant, please let us know how you did it, at: <jim@shieldsgardens.com>

Jim Shields

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Last revised: 8 February 2004