Diana, Your clivia seedlings are OK. Clivia roots are covered with something like the velum on orchid roots. Go to CliviaNet at: http://www.clivianet.org/ and follow links through "Cultivation" to Loukie Viljoen's tutorials on starting Clivia from seed, at: http://www.clivianet.org/LoukieViljoen.html where you will find lots of images of clivia seeds starting to turn into seedlings. Clivias can take from 3 to 9 years to reach flowering from seed, depending on the species or strain you are growing. Clivia nobilis is probably the slowest growing species. The Belgians are pushing the Belgian Hybrids strain to flowering in just 18 - 24 months. This is being done through a combination of selective breeding and cultural methods. Regards, Jim Shields in central Indiana, where the new Clivia greenhouse is at least framed in steel. At 03:16 PM 11/24/2004 -0800, you wrote: >I am transplanting clivia seedlings from seed sown last year. I am >surprised at the roots - they are thick and don't seem to have any fibrous >roots at all. Is this the way they are supposed to be? > >About how many years does it take for a seedling to flower? > >-- >Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA