I don't think you should deadhead a clivia. The scape the flowers grew on starts in the heart of the plant. If you cut the top off it could rot and kill the plant. Generally you should wait until it dries naturally and can be completely removed with a gentle tug. If there are seeds, this can take a long time. You can remove any seeds that formed if you want, but leaving them on will cause no harm. If you leave them on the plant they will take 6-12 months to ripen and form attractive red berries.

So will next years flowers grow from the current "scape"? If not will a new scape form?

Thanks

This post was edited by gynot on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 18:54

Nothing new will grow on the old flower scape. Next year's flowers will form on the other side of the plant.

I hope you can see the two scapes on my Clivia. The one to the right is from flowers that formed in April 2012. It formed berries and I harvested the seeds in May of this year. At the same time, the scape in the center (which is really on the left side of the plant) was blooming. I decided to remove the berries on the new scape to give the plant a rest. It has produced seeds for three years in a row. As you can see, the older scape is still going strong. It should begin to wither soon, and I will remove it when I can do so without hurting the plant. Both scapes should probably wither in a month or two.

On fertilizer, you might want to consult a nursery that sells them for use outdoors. I grow mine in containers and use Dynagro Foliage Pro, a complete fertilizer with a 3-1-2 N-P-K ratio. My mentor's website is still one of the best online sources of information, but it too focuses on containers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clivia Nutrtion

Thanks for all the info.

I noticed you have mulch around your plant. Are they prone to rotting if I have it right up against it. Would it make a difference in the ground or pot in doing so?

That's not mulch. I make my own mix for plants like clivias. It's one part pine bark chips, one part granite grit and one part Turface. All the components are between one-quarter inch and one-half inch in diameter, which makes a very fast draining mix. Clivias are very prone to root rot in containers, and also in the ground. The mix I use is discussed in the GW container forum. It's called the gritty mix. In South Africa where clivias originated they grow in the debris on the forest floor. Sometimes they even grow in the crotches of trees, like orchids.

I am very familiar with the Gritty Mix. I just dread the sifting. I have a Kumquat that was on the verge of death until I transplanted into the Gritty and fed it Foliage Pro and Pro-Tekt. It doing much better now. If I ever pot Clivias, I'll remember that, thanks.

Tony

Brake of the small sticks where the flowers was on top. And leaf the rest. It will take between a month or 2 for the plant to absorb all the nutrition in the long stick thing don't know what you call it in english. The long stick thing will turn a yellow colour and it will be easier to remove it then. I have seen over the years while growing thousands of clivias that if you pull the long stick thing out when it is still green that you get sometimes a small plant that starts to grow out from the spot where you pulled it out from. But when it turns yellow it does not happen. From flowering time and tile you can harvest the clivia seeds takes normally 8-12 months for the seeds to develop.When the seeds turns red, orange or yellow you can harvest it. And germinated it and grow your own clivias from it.