Whenever I see an ad declaring 95-100% germination I have to smile.  Here in North America (and I suppose other parts of the world) getting the seed to germinate is rarely an issue.  The problems arise between germination and the 2 leaf seedling stage.  Even South African growers admitted to me that they have a lot of losses at this stage of development.  Spring and early summer, in my area, present the appearance of droves of fungus gnats.  Even in coco chip media they are an issue.  In fact, I think they liked the chips better than the coco peat!  Much of the advertising about the coco chips stated that the fungus gnats would not invade the media...beware of any such advertisements.  Fungus gnats love little Clivia roots.....period.  There are also claims that coco chips/peat have fungus prohibiting properties.  I have not found this to be true.

All growers should note that these are "my" growing methods.  There are almost as many growing methods as there are growers of Clivia.  Over time, most growers adapt their own methods, once they see what works best for them.

One of the biggest issues for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere is that we are receiving seed mid summer to early fall which is not an ideal time to be planting seed.  There are two primary methods of dealing with this issue:  plant the seed in containers indoors or preserve the seed for planting the following spring.

Preparing the seed is a fairly straight forward process.  I am now using the dilution of household bleach as my “sterilization” method.  I make the bleach solution for seed sterilization by using 2 tablespoons per cut of water.  This may actually be too strong a solution, but does not seem to harm my seed for the 10-20 minutes they are in the solution. 

Seedling mix is prepared by mixing Perlite, coco chips and coco coir in equal parts. 

Planting indoors requires small containers and a warm area for germination.  I continue to "nuke" my moistened (with water) mix for 5 minutes.  I am still using the Ziploc and Glad containers.  I have found that the deeper containers allow me to keep the seed in these “cozy” little seed houses for a longer period of time.   Once the seed have been treated, they are placed on top of the media and the lid placed on the container.  I use a Brother labeling machine to print the name of the cross and the breeder.  This label is attached to either the side or top of the container.  Now, it is time to find an area for germination.  Many use the top of their refrigerator.  The air there (hot air rises) is normally several degrees warmer than the kitchen.  Now, it is a waiting game.  Some of the seedlings should begin to germinate within a week.  Some take as long as a month or more.  Be sure to check the containers on a regular basis...you may still find the occasional non viable/rotting seed, which should be removed as soon as discovered.  Use clean tweezers or forceps to remove non viable or fungus covered seed.  At this point, I use a spray bottle of either diluted Captan (1 tablespoon per gallon) or a dilute bleach solution to spray the area where any seed are removed. 

Many use a lot less than a sterile environment for seed sprouting with excellent results.  If your seed are very fresh, with the radicle (root tip) raised at one end, you can expedite sprouting by using a small biopsy tool to free the radicle.  I have used this method, in the past, with good results.  You may also use a sewing needle to carefully tease away the skin on the seed at the SIDE of the radicle, being careful not to harm the growing point.  The skin then be easily removed with tweezers.

An alternate method is to place the seed on a piece of paper towel or coffee filter moistened with boiled water or bleach or Captan solution and place in the same small sprouting box.  Again use either the top of the refrigerator or a heat mat to expedite sprouting.

Preserving the seed for planting the following Spring is also a pretty straight forward process.  Seed need to be clean.  I also dip mine in the bleach solution and then place on paper towels to dry.  Once this is done, I place the seed in the very small (think craft beads) Ziplock bags with a 2"x 2" square of paper towel.  Next, I attach a label with the name of the cross and of the breeder.  I then place all of the little packets in a Seal a Meal bag and place the contents under vacuum. Seed are then stored between 4-6 degrees C. (approx 42 degrees F.).  Seed should be viable for at least a year.  This method has been proven, in a laboratory environment at Kirstenbosch Gardens in South Africa, to be a viable means of storing seed, a number of years ago and is the method used by some of South Africa’s well known breeders.

An alternate method is to prepare the seed packets as above and then place all of the little packets in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Seed should be viable for at least 6 months.  This method was proven, in a laboratory environment at Kirstenbosch Gardens in South Africa, to be a viable means of storing seed, a number of years ago and is the method used by some of South Africa’s well known breeders.

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