Clivia is well adapted to growing indoors, it is not too demanding for care, it is rarely affected by pests and diseases. The few difficulties that the owners of this unpretentious flower have are usually associated with insufficient knowledge of its biological characteristics or violation of the conditions of detention. Listed below are the most common problems encountered when cultivating the plant.
Why do clivia leaves turn yellow
In order to understand why clivia leaves turn yellow, you need to determine whether this is the result of natural processes, or caused by care errors. If the lower leaves gradually turn yellow, and new ones grow instead, most likely, the normal physiological process of dying off old leaves and replacing them with young ones takes place, which takes a lot of time and should not cause concern to the grower.
Worse, if a color change is observed on all leaves, this usually signals unfavorable conditions for the plant, which must be eliminated in order to prevent its death. Clivia leaves turn yellow when there is not enough water, or when watering is excessive. In the latter case, the roots rot, and in order to save the flower, you will have to dig it up, remove the damaged roots, while not forgetting to disinfect the cuts, and then transplant it into fresh soil and a new pot. By yellowing the leaves, a flower can respond to a lack of nutrition caused by a lack of regular feeding, exhaustion due to fruit set and seed ripening, transplanting, and even a change in location in the room.
Why is the clivia not blooming?
Many flower growers are interested in the question of why the clivia does not bloom. The most common reason is that the pot is too spacious for the plant. In this case, it actively increases the vegetative mass, increasing the number of leaves and roots, and begins to form flower stalks only after the root system has completely mastered the entire space of the soil. In this regard, the culture is recommended to be transplanted into a more spacious container only after the roots literally begin to bulge out of the pot, especially since it does not like transplants at all and does not tolerate them well.
Violation of the conditions of detention also often leads to the fact that the clivia does not bloom. Lack of nutrition due to lack of top dressing, low light levels, high room temperature or too short a dormant period – all this can provoke the plant not to lay flower buds. Sometimes, if it was not possible to provide a cool wintering, the clivia blooms, but forms very low flower stalks that are lost among the leaves, reducing the overall decorative effect of the culture.
Other clivia diseases and their photos
Among other growing problems, it is worth noting sunburn, which occurs when direct sunlight hits the leaf plates, forming white or brown spots on them.
Drying of the tips usually indicates waterlogging of the roots, which also causes rotting of the base of the leaves. It is necessary to limit watering, and if there are signs of decay, immediately transplant the bush into a new soil, while removing the damaged parts.
Spots in the form of rusty narrow strips are a sign of clivia disease, which belongs to the group of fungal diseases. Such a plant should be immediately treated with oxychome or another fungicide in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Of the pests, the culture is occasionally damaged by scale insects, which cover the leaves with brown spots, or mealybugs, which cause curvature and drying of the leaf blades. The measures to combat both pests are the same: mechanical cleaning with a soapy solution with the addition of kerosene or alcohol, after which the flower is washed under a warm shower, with a high degree of damage – treatment with an insecticide such as Actellik.
Images of plant leaves with signs of damage by pests and diseases of clivia will help to determine the cause of the problem and eliminate it in time, photos of some of them are presented below:
