I purchased a potted clivia a few months ago and upon watering it today I noticed a root is growing out through one of the drainage holes of the pot by a good few inches. Should I repot this to a bigger pot right now or wait until spring time? Sorry for the obvious question but its the first time i ever had a pot plant and dont want to end up killing it.
In my experience, seeing roots coming out the drain hole doesn't automatically mean a pot change. As long as the plant isn't severely root-bound, and still has some growing room, then it probably won't require a larger pot. (People often root prune when they have clipped the plant way back, or want to keep the same size pot) Roots can be clipped back at the drainage hole as well with no harm to the plant.
Just a note, In my experience Clivia hate to be repotted unless absolutely necessary. The pot breaking for exaple is a good time, otherwise if you pot them up to fast them take longer to rebloom.
this is my experience also, in fact I did have a pot split. The plant was so healthy looking with abundant blooming that I hesitated to repot... eventually the 10" or 12" plastic pot was bulging and starting to split... we had to use tools to break it open and get the plant out. A major excavation that resulted in dividing it into 5 plants... not much soil was left and a lot of root was pruned out. A really satisfying plant to have, nice even when not blooming... mine was one given to me by my mom, who'd got hers from her mom. Btw, I gave away 4 of 5, and the one I kept is now back to the overgrown place it was, as described above... but in a ceramic pot this time. I guess I should watch for cracking!
Ceramic pots might not be the best for it, they definatley will break the ceramic. I have had one that has, same with sanviervaria.
i had to cut the pot away in the end to get the plant out is was really root bound, luckily I only broke a few small roots in the process. While i was cleaning up the loose soil from the roots I managed to get a tear in one of the outer leaves near the base of the plant. Should I leave this or cut the leave off as close to the root as possible? Will it repair itself if left or will it just die? many thanks
