How to Divide a Rootbound Clivia
Gardening Question from Shushilla:
My clivia is severely rootbound, basically there is no more soil in the pot. If I cut through the roots to separate, will I kill the plants? This has been planted for at least 8 years and I have 3 other pots in the same condition. Thanks so much.
Answer from Pat:
Clivia (Clivia miniata) can be divided any time after bloom. After many years in a container, these drought-resistant, fleshy bulbs native to South Africa will become seriously root-bound just as you describe. In a sense, they eat up all the soil in the pot so that there seems to be nothing left but roots. Despite this bad state of affairs, clivias don’t mind this condition and often bloom better when crowded. Eventually, however, there comes a time when the soil really is all gone. all irrigation water drains off, and the plant shows evidence of stress. When this begins to happen you know it’s time to divide.
October is the last month of the year when clivia can be safely divided and still bloom the following year. For this reason, October is the customary month for dividing them. You can wait until October if you wish—your plants won’t die in the meanwhile— but technically clivia can be divided any month after bloom. This means you can do the job now in June if you so desire. Getting clivia out of a treasured ceramic container without breaking the container can be a struggle but it can be done nonetheless if you know the following trick. Here is a step=by-step explanation of the best and sometimes the only way to remove an old clivia from a ceramic pot short of breaking the pot:
First, cut around the edge of the root ball by sawing up and down with a sharp or serrated knife between the roots and the pot. Then force water from the hose up the drainage hole to loosen the bottom of the rootball. Next place the pot on its side on the ground, sit on the ground yourself, put your feet on the edge of the pot and grab hold of a big handful foliage in each of your gloved hands. Then while pushing against the pot with your feet, pull with all your strength on the leaves until the plant finally—and usually suddenly— pops out of the pot and you perhaps roll backwards on the ground. One of the most popular TV segments I ever did was the one in which I got down on the ground and demonstrated this technique. I forget who taught me this method, but sometimes it’s the only way to force an old clivia out of an old and treasured container, like my huge old Bauer, terra-cotta pot I bought at a garaged sale forty years ago. It’s the same one I used for the TV demo, it’s still filled with clivia, and there’s not a crack in it. Come to think of it, it’s about time those clivias need dividing again, but this time I have to find someone else to get down and dirty and do the job.
Once you get the monster out, then cut the individual plants apart using the same knife you used for loosening the roots from the pot. Once you get the job started you will usually be able to pull the rest of the individual plants apart with your hands. Many roots will fall off. Just throw these away. It will not hurt if you destroy some roots. Indeed it’s inevitable. Cut off any dead, damaged, or long dangly roots to about six or eight inches in length. Root pruning is a necessary part of replanting many bulbs. I have often replanted clivia when only three short roots were still attached to some of the smaller plants. They still did just fine and none died. Also, clip off any dead or damaged leaves brush off the old soil, and lay the newly divided plants on sheets of newspaper while you prepare the pots.
To do this, put a piece of broken crockery over the drainage holes of new containers, fill them with fresh bagged potting soil, mix in a handful of organic fertilizer, and replant the bulbs with leaves attached, three to a pot. . Place all the pots in a shady place with bright light. Keep watered and once they are growing well, fertilize regularly until the end of October. Often I have so many divisions, I plant them in the ground. Thus many of the shady places in my garden are now carpeted with clivia. Plants will bloom again in February or March. Having written all this to you, I suddenly thought “this demo must be in my book—all my old TV segments are in there!” So I looked it up and—Voila— found the step-by-step method neatly boxed on page 346.
Photo by katerha 
Pat,
Thank you so much for the prompt response.
I’ll repot these clivias thanks to your detailed instructions and without worrying about dead plants.
Since you mention old pots, 2 of my plants are in old pots that would have been painful to lose.
Again, thanks so much for your detailed emails.
Sushilla
It’s great to hear you plan to put my tips into action. Many thanks for your reply!
It worked! I saved my pot, now hopefully my plant will survive! I was just about to take a hammer to my pretty glazed pot when I decided to look online for a little help.
Thank you for writing back! Yes this sure does work.
I guess I will just have to try to make another video of this someday, though at my age now I will need someone to lift me down on the ground and get me back up again. But I bet I can still do this job.
Each plant has its own roots. When one takes the plant out of the pot, one can then see what you have got before pulling the individual plants apart, trimming the roots, and replanting the plants three to a large 18-inch tub, filled with fresh potting soil. Clivia can take being crowded into a pot for many years. They often bloom better when crowded, so it sounds to me that if yours only got one flower it probably doesn’t need dividing yet. All the plants should flower in season. You should fertilize with balanced fertilizer, including bloom ingredients, a month before flowering and again just as the plant begins to send up flower spikes. This will make much more bloom. If you feed throughout the growing season your plants will grow faster and you can plant some in the ground if you want or fill more big tubs. Clivia does not need to be divided until all the soil is used up and the plants in a pot are so crowded that it seems as if there is only one huge plant all the same size, not three, with two being smaller. When your plants are failing to do well because they are too crowded, that’s when to divide. Regarding the size of your pot, 40cm is 15 inches diameter, plenty more room for growth. If you could take out two plants that tells me it’s not anywhere near ready to divide. I do not know where you live, but here in Southern California clivia blooms in late February or early March, not now, unless they are blooming out of season. One can divide them any time after bloom through October and if you fertilize them they will bloom again at the usual time of year, in February. Also, you should never let the plant dry up. Water it year round. Don’t let them dry out prior to dividing.
Yellow and brown leaves on clivia often are a sign of salt damage or wind. Possibly the plants need re-potting in fresh soil mix. Do this job after bloom, not before.
I am very new to growing Clivia, but find them a beautiful plant. I have an area of 3ft by 35ft being a border in the backyard and am wondering whether I could grow clivia all along, if so, would it be best to use bulbs or seeds. I live in South Australia
I have now read several sites with advice on dividing Clivia and I am still wondering what to do about the masses of roots which are form an intertwined mass about 1.5 inches thick below the pot. It is in a plastic pot so I don’t need to preserve the pot but even if I cut down the sides I will still be left with the problem of extracting or separating those roots. Do you know if the plant will die if I just cut them off? Thanks.
Once you get the plant out, cut through the roots with a large knife. Pull off any damaged roots and shorten all the good ones. Replant the clivia. It will grow.
Don’t be afraid!
Hello, Last year I got a record crop of blooms after we moved into a new location. Guess my plant loved it. When my husband took over watering, he would water my Cliva from the top down. It got a mold between the leaves. I have spent months of using products to stop this, and for bugs just in case it was a spider that left the white moldy stuff between the leaves. Of course no blooms what so ever. So I just chopped all the leaves off. The plant is over crowded so I will have to divide. Tips on planting the bulbs with no greenery would be appreciated. By me cutting all the moldy looking leaves off all of the bulbs, have I ruined my plant? What would my next step be other than not let my husband and dividing the plant? I’m not sure if I bury the bulbs or put in fresh soil the same height as they are now. Thanks
Clivia rots if over watered, but it’s difficult to kill them. Also they do well and bloom well when crowded, though eventually need dividing. Mold between leaves makes me feel you are growing this as a houseplant or in too dark a location. Though clivia will grow and bloom in shade they don’t like gloom, they do need reflected light. Fertilize to help your bulbs grow healthy leaves again to replace those you cut off. When replanting, don’t bury the bulbs in soil. Plant to the same height as usual.
Hi I have one lily plant in a pot I have had it for over 14 years and the base is so big I wondered if I could somehow cut it down or make the base smaller so I can put it in two containers the base is about 4 inches wide please can you help me thank you
Clivia usually needs a pot far larger than 4 inches and in 14 years it would either be dead or by now be growing in at least an 18-inch-wide pot. The best solution with clivia only 4 inches wide is to transplant the whole clump into an eight- or ten-inch wide pot. If there is more than one bulb then clivia can be divided to put into more than one pot, but usually one bulb alone after division is several inches wide. The roots are large and fleshy. Four inches sounds so small for a clivia that is 14 years old that it sounds to me as if you are talking about some other plant altogether and I cannot imagine what it might be. Do you mean Amaryllis (Hippeastrum)? Try to find out what kind of “lily” you have and write me back. Also what do you mean by “base”? Do you mean root? Or do you mean bulb? Most plants that are called lilies grow from bulbs. Clivia is a type that has a collection of evergreen leaves in a tight white clump at the bottom above fleshy roots below.
I have a Clivia for about 20 years. It was divided once about 4years ago. It’s in a 18inch pot right now and is so root bound I think I would need a chain saw to divide—– the roots are soooo intertwined with each other. What do you suggest,
Your clivia does not need a chain saw to divide it. However, the time to divide it is in October. Dividing them now in November means the newly potted plants most likely won’t bloom next year. Nonetheless, you can do the job now if you wish.
Years ago I divided a very root-bound clivia in a TV segment on NBC San Diego. Wish I still had that TV segment. One way to do this job is to break the pot, but if you want to preserve the container and use it another year, this is how: First, in order to loosen the roots from the side of the container, use an old no-longer-needed 12-inch-long kitchen knife or long Japanese garden knife to saw in an up-and-down motion between the inside of the pot and the roots of the root-bound plant. Cut in this way all around the roots and as deep as possible. Next, squirt a strong spray of water from the hose up the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot. This will help to loosen the roots which may be pretty tightly filling the pot inside the bottom of the container.
Then sit down on the ground. Bend your knees and put your feet on the edge of the container, one foot flat on each side on the top edge of the container. Now grab the foliage of the clivia firmly around some of the stems with your gloved hands. Next, take a deep breath, gather all your strength, and PUSH hard with your feet, while you PULL as hard as you can on the stems of the clivia! The root ball should pop right out of the pot. !f not, get up off the ground and squirt more water up the bottom hole and then get down on the ground again and try once more.
When I did this on TV I fell backwards and you can bet my audience sitting in their easy chairs at home and watching the 5:00 p.m. news were laughing.
Next, put the plant onto some newspaper and use your knife to cut down between the bulbs to divide the roots. Clean up your divisions of single bulbs. Don’t worry if you cut off some roots. You will need to shorten them anyway. Make divisions, one plant each or several bulbs each. Shorten the roots to 4 or 5 inches in length, cutting off any parts that are loose or damaged. Throw away the excess roots you have cut off. Even if you remove all of them, the bulb will grow new ones.
Replant 3 to a container in fresh potting soil, or in a big drift in prepared soil in bright shade out in the garden. Clivia can bloom in shade as long as there is plenty of reflected light. Don’t plant them in sun or they will always look ugly. After replanting wait 3 or 4 days before watering so the plants don’t rot. Then water normally. In mid-February feed one handful of 14-14-14 slow-release fertilizer per bulb. You might be lucky enough to get them to bloom.
I watered some clivias I planted in the ground up at my granddaughter’s house in Hollywood, since I wasn’t sure they would remember to do the job. The clivias I planted that day all grew, none rotted and they all bloomed the following March. If you plant them in the right spot and feed them once a year prior to bloom, clivias are a cast iron plant.
Hi Pat …. Would love some advice, I was given multiply Clivia today and I have planted put those that had roots attached however some of them don’t have any notice led roots as such. Will these survive if I plant them? Thanks in advance ….. Kind regards Julie
Yes the new one’s will put out new roots. After replanting in fresh potting soil, wait a few days or a week to water. This can help them not to rot, though my experience is they survive anyway, even if watered after replanting.
Hello, I have a big clay pot with 4-5 Clivia bulbs that used to bloom in my last place. I live in Imperial Beach, CA about a mile from the beach. The pot is in a place where it gets full sun from daybreak till about 1:00 PM. With the last 2 years of heat waves my Clivias have not bloomed. Is it possible that 90° heat and full sun is too much? It takes a while for the pot to cool off. Lots of websites talk about bringing your Clivia in when frost starts in October. Of course in southern California October is often the hottest month of the year. So can you give some more specific advice pertaining to Southern CA beach towns? How do I get my Clivias to bloom again?
Clivia is not adapted to full sun. In order for it to bloom, keep it in an area where it gets bright light but no sun. Fertilize in late January or early February with a handful of Osmocote 4-14-14. Clivia like to be rootbound but after roots have consumed all the soil, it’s time to divide and replant. Do this job in October.
I reside in the Seattle, WA area. My clivias bloom in June/July after moving outside once night-time temps stay above 40. The 2 pots are 40 lbs +\- each. It’s a lot of effort to move them out in Spring and back in for Fall. They stay cool and dryish over winter.
I’ve noticed the color of the flowers is darker with better light – not serious sun, but bright. One garden expert says ‘full sun in Seattle is part sun anywhere else!’
I also understand the cut rhizome should be allowed to dry/callous before repotting to prevent root rot. That seem reasonable with a rather succulent plant.
Since October is when the pots come inside, I think October is too late to divide/repot.
Your advice would be appreciated.
Stephen
The reason we divide clivias in October is in order that they will bloom the following year as usual. You can divide a month earlier if you think that is preferable. In fact, divide them any month after they flower and it will be fine. October is the last month this job can be done.
I live in North County and I am moving in March to a nearby home. I would like to transfer my 10 foot border of beautiful clivias, that have bloomed every year for the past decade, to clay or plastic pots. They are just at the cusp of blooming. I divided them 3 years ago so the plants should not be intertwined and not significantly root bound. Your sage and trusted advice is much appreciated. Thank you!
The correct time to transplant clivias is any time after blooming until October. My experience all through the years was if you transplanted after October they would not bloom on schedule the following late winter or early spring as usual. But a year later they would bloom on schedule as usual. Now I have discovered in my own garden that climate change has changed the schedule, as is happening with many plants.
Let me share my own experience: I have big drifts of clivias in the ground and have not intention to ever divide them. I also have many clivias growing in large tubs under the shade of sheared Australian tea trees I planted myself 60 years ago and a pergola of Chinese wisteria. Wisteria and clivia bloom at the same time and provide a stunning color contrast. Last fall I asked my gardener to divide these and replant them. He dug them all out but in some cases just stuck the plants back into the tubs and never filled the tubs with potting soil. Luckily climbing around in my garden in spring I discovered that he had forgotten to fill them! These tubs did eventually get filled but not until January. Well, imagine my surprise when despite late planting and neglect all of them bloomed and if anything, better than ever.
Hi Pat,
Thank you very much, so far. My clivia, which my deceased mom gave me, which was started by seed from her neighbor well over 20 years ago, had a problem blooming last year. I believe it is because there are so many eaves, so tight against each other, the plant tried to bloom, but there wasn’t room for the stem and flowers, so it only grew about 2 inches tall, jammed in. I’m wondering, can I remove it from the pot it’s been in for over 20 years, and cut straight down the center of the leaves, trying to keep roots on each side? In advance, thank you very much. At the same time, I need to separate a one year old baby plant growing on the side of it.
Many years ago I demonstrated on TV how to remove a root-bound clivia from a pot. October is the best time to do this job and be sure plants will bloom in February or March next year after division. However, now in November is fine. Even if your clivia does not bloom in late winter or early spring as it should, it will bloom another year.
Here is how to remove and divide a root-bound clivia without breaking the pot:
Lay a dribbling hose on top of the pot and let water gradually sink in. Also squirt some water up the drainage hole. Next, cut around the root ball next to the inside of the pot using a sharp, old, 1-to two-foot-long kitchen slicing knife dedicated to garden use. Serrated knives work well but I have always used an ordinary straight knife for years. Saw the knife up and down all the way around the plant keeping the side of the knife in contact with the inside the pot as you go. Next, lay the pot on its side and sit on the ground with feet facing the plant. Bend your knees and put your feet clad in leather garden boots, toes facing up at the sky, one on each side of the plant on the the rim of the pot. Grab the green leaves of the clivia as close to the roots as possible. Now shove with your feet against the rim of the pot and tug as hard as you can with your hands. The clivia that needs dividing should pop out of the container all at once and you may fall backwards.
Afterwards divide up the plants, cut off some roots, and replant in fresh potting soil in large tubs, three plants to a tub. Make sure to cover the drainage holes with a piece of broken crockery before refilling with potting soil. Allow plants to stay dry for about a week then water thoroughly every week. This was one of the most popular TV demonstrations I ever did. Wish I could repeat it but I am now almost 90 years old, though still in pretty good shape.