Question
Hi Ms Melissa,

  Have you grown Clivias? I'm thinking of growing it at home as it is rather shade-tolerant and has nice foliage. However, I read that Clivias need chill conditions to produce blooms and my country does not experience any four seasons, so what's the care required for it?


Regards
Alfredo

Answer
Dear Alfredo, sorry this answer is so late in coming, but I have done a lot of thinking in figuring out how to grow the clivia and was there a way for you to approximate the chill hours. This may be more than you want to do, but I did have an idea.  Now you are located just north of the equator and the clivia is native to Southern Africa, about 20-30 degrees south of you.  They prefer night temperatures of 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the time so you will probably be fine there even if it is a bit warmer.  It wants to be watered frequently with the soil evenly moist, then dry until the top inch or two is dry.  Feed once a month.  The blooming cycle begins when you provide 30 days of 36-40 degrees Fahrenheit temperature OVERNIGHT.  Now since you don't need to worry about daytime temperature, or supplying it light for about 12 hours a day for that 30 day period, you could conceivably place the pot in a refrigerator for the 30 day overnight period.  I don't know if this is a workable idea or not, but if you had room or budget for a small refrigerator, one of those mini types, you could use it to provide chill hours for some of the exotic plants.  You could use your own refrigerator, but it might be difficult to put a pot with dirt inside, although you could place a bag around it.  It would only be for 30 days and only at night.  Then I am assuming this is where the foliage wilts and dies.  After the 30 days, then for 6-8 weeks, just keep it at the regular temperature and give it very little water and no food.  When the stalk comes in then you start to water well.  So what do you think? They are very beautiful.  I finally got definition that they are native to zones 8-10 which is the same as Texas to South Florida so they won't need to be chilled a great deal, but apparently they really need it in order to bloom well.  Good luck, Melissa