"sue and dave" wrote in message
...
Maddy,

While I've been a lady of leisure today, I've been thinking about your
non-blooming Clivia, and wondering if the venerable Grand Dame holds her
scapes too close to her vest.

well, I thought of that, but I have to tell you, their scapes aren't too
close. The scapes on the one I bought are far tighter and larger than my
own. I guess I need to granular food them too..............

I did miss a bloom season from my oldest Clivia a few years ago because
the
scapes didn't ever get enough length of stalk to rise above the neck of
the
plant. Remiss on my part in culture, so I thought, root bound is one
thing
but roots still need SOME medium!!

after that fiasco I did repot in a rather brutal matter.....

I didn't want A BIGGER POT, I just wanted some depth of potting mix under
the roots. So I knocked the monster (I count 8 necks now) out of her 18
qt "barrel" , used the biggest sharpest knife in the kitchen and sliced
about 3" off the bottom of the root ball. It was ALL ROOT, not a speck of
planting medium at all.

I will check on this, but mine haven't crammed the pot yet. I suspect there
is still plenty of soil for the rhizomes to nurture off of. Maybe not the
BEST soil but soil never the less. I will check it out tomorrow when I am
home. and will get back to you.

I replaced that volume with new potting mix in the bottom of the pot and
replanted so that I had the necks at the same level as before. She
quickly
threw up leaf growth and bloomed again 8 months later. I suspect I ought
to
investigate that rootball again ( Sooner than later!).

I think in my case that the plant (the older, larger one) hasn't filled the
pot up tight yet as I transplanted her from a tiny pot to a much larger one
when Mary Emma gave her to me years ago.


On another note, since daylight is extending noticably now and the sun is
really warming my south facing window sills, I dragged my dormant
Amaryllis
pots ( 4 of them), and my dormant Jacobean Lily ( 1 LARGE pot) out of
their
chilly dormancy prisons and watered them up for another chance.

One needs ALL available hopes in the depths of winter !

oooooo a Jacobean lily................I myself have BLOOD lilies that
haven't broken dormancy yet. I hope to see bloody tongues poking up thru the
soil soon...............................
I can actually say that I NEED winter more than anything. You might be
surprised when I say this but I need to time to appreciate the houseplants
that I have.............later friend. You've given me food for thought and
actions.
maddie
Sue
Western Maine