bird of paradice
 

How Do You Care For Bird Of Paradice Inside- Will It Bloom?

Re: bird of paradice
 

The plant needs to be about 4 or 5 years old before it flowers. It needs a summer of full sun and it should start to flower round about now. Oh and they like to be pot bound.

Re: bird of paradice
 

Treat it like a cactus. Allow it to dry out completely between waterings, especially during the winter months. It is an African plant. For years nurserymen and collectors have told me each separate plant must have at least 7 leaves before they will bloom. LOTS of full sun. They bloom year round here in Miami, both Regina and Nicolai. There is also a round spikey leaved form (similar in appearance to Sanseveria cylindrica), and a Giant orange/blue flower form that Ive seen grow to the tops of 1 story houses.

Re: bird of paradice
 

Sorry, just a pet peeve thing really, but.....Paradise...a beautiful "Garden of Eden" setting.......paradice.....more like two dies for gambling...I know, I would have been a real pain in the backside as a grammar teacher!

Re: bird of paradice
 

Bird of Paradise are very easy to grow in the home. I had one for well over 20 years until it contracted a petiol problem and died. During the winter,keep in a nice sunny window, keep it on the dry side, but not desert dry. The flower stalks arise from the leaf axils and mine usually started flowering around about December. If you have many fowers starting to form, then keep watered and fertilized with a 5/10/10 if you can, but a 20/20/20 will do just fine as well. When spring get there, outside it goes into a shady area first and then gradually introduce to sun over time. Don't forget that the leaves will get light sensitive over the winter and need reacclimation come spring. Once new leaves begin show, keep moist and fertilze about every 2 weeks.
The plant should start to flower when it has achieved about 7 to 10 mature leaves.

One other thing, Bird of Paradise have two forms, one divides through the crown and one forms produces offsets. If you look in the pot you should be able to tell the difference. I would try and get the one that produces offsets in stead of the one that divides by the crown. The one that divides by the crown, can and does produces distorted leaves. Sorta like conjoined twins, where two leaves are produced at the same time and are not separate.

Re: bird of paradice
 

Re: bird of paradice
 

For potted plants I generally eschew granular ferts and use Miracle Gro maybe once a month.

Don't bother trying to grow a Bird outside in the ground unprotected in zone 7 or 8 for that matter - it's too cold and they never come back close to anything they were before if not outright die. Anything below 26F really nails 'em bad.

Unless you plan on building a hot house over it, I would leave them in containers/pots and bring them inside.

Re: bird of paradice
 

tommy..thinking of plants to add this summer ..one is BOP.. so question..
can i do similar as i do with my nanners? grow them out in spring/summer/fall then dig them up in fall and store in pots over winter?
anyone have experience with this in areas where the BOP wont survive winters?
thanks to all...

Re: bird of paradice
 

Re: bird of paradice
 

Hey Rae,

It sounds like you have the giant BOP that gets white flowers. Unless you can get a really really big strong guy to move it about. I would give it to someone who can take care of something that big in a green house. The giant BOP will really get way to big for anyone to have it in a pot. You can't plant it outside because, it would just die from the freeze. What you would want to get is a plant of Strelitza reginae, which is the regular BOP and a much more manageable plant in size and weight. What you have I think is Strelitza nicoli which is the Giant BOP. The new fad of getting a GBOP I think is running it's course as people find out how big that type really gets.

Try you local nursery for the regular BOP, usually call either orange bop or yellow bop. Either/or I would just find a nice home for the GBOP :)
:2738:

One thing about BOP they do like to be moist, but not sopping wet, and when growing feed with a regular 20/20/20 full strength once a week. They like to be pot bound. As for dividing, don't even think about it. They do not like being divided at all and will either die or not flower for a very very long time. (they like to sulk......:O)

One other thing. There is a variety out that called Strelitzia humilis. It is a dwarf and only grows about 3' high. Might be something to look for :)

Re: bird of paradice
 

I've seen people grow the White Birds, as they are known in New Orleans, in big containers in pots. They generally do not flower. I would think at some point they would. It just depends on what you want - do you want it to stay alive and slowly grow or do you want it to get big/tall and bloom?

If you want it to grow big and bloom you'll need a HUGE container/pot to put it in. Moist conditions are better than dry ones, ie watering 2 to 3 times a week but that depends on how warm it is where you have it.

Warmer the better. More light the better. Inside with lots of light and warmth is better than anything lesser than that (I know, this sounds stupid to say such a thing but you never know). You want it to bloom and grow 15 feet or more tall like they do in New Orleans and St Petersburg FL and all kinds of areas like that, 9A to 10B, then you need to build a green house that's at least 30 feet tall for where you are, which at this point I can't remember exactly but I think you are potentially 7A, which is way too cold to have a White Bird planted outside unprotected.

Re: bird of paradice
 

BOPs are beautifull plants. I have 3 for now, 2 Nicolaii and one Reginae. Bigger Nicolaii is potted plant and smaller one and Reginae are planted and will stay unprotected. There are Reginaes growing unprotected in area but that depends on microclimate so I ll be testing mine this way.

Re: bird of paradice
 

Thank you, Kurt, Tommy, and Ante, for the extremely helpful information.

When I inquired about growing the Bird of Paradise outdoors in Georgia, zone 7B, my main goal was to ‘Grow my BOP outdoors if I could and Not Kill it’ since it is too big a house plant for me.

As Kurt pointed out, another reason why my Giant BOP hasn’t been flowering is that it came as a divided plant – my neighbor kept the small one herself and gave me the big one. I don’t know how long she has had her GBOP or exactly when she divided it, except they never flower for her, either.

After reading your replies and web surfing on Giant BOP, most likely what my hand-me-down plant is, I learn more about how to take care of my GBOP for the time-being, but don’t really know what to do next. :confused:

Nevertheless, thank you all very much again. I'd like to thank Kurt and Tommy especially for spending a great deal of time helping me. I'm much obliged for your thorough instructions and wonderful tips.

Ante, good luck with your Nicolaii and Reginae; I know you can do wonders with them.
:o


Rae
Georgia 7B

Re: bird of paradice
 

Your most welcome Rae. Do try and find that dwarf variety of BOP. Just one more note on the GBOP. It will flower in a pot, but most likely the pot will be filled to breaking point with other plants :) ehhehehe. I've seen a local grower who had one and the pot broke from the pressure of the roots. Sorta like a size 40 trying to fit into a size 36 pants :woohoonaner:

Re: bird of paradice
 

Very easy to grow here in San Diego

Re: bird of paradice
 

Tony,

Congrats! They are beautiful!!

Kurt,
Without my telling you, you've already guessed that's exactly what happened to my 14" pot. I'm not really having a lot of fun growing plants due to reasons of long drought, deers, insects, birds, etc.

Have a great day!

Rae

Re: bird of paradice
 

I cultivate different forms of BOP, and all of them are very easy to grow. The BOP I like most is S. reginae "Mandela`s Gold" and S. juncea (see pic below). As far as I know, all forms need a cold period to bloom.
Someone from a nursery told me that S. nicolai needs to be at least 2,5 m in height before it`ll bloom.

Re: bird of paradice
 

Re: bird of paradice
 

I don`t know if all forms of BOP need the same cold period. All I can say is that my S. reginae plants produce blooms regularly after they have been exposed to temperatures below 10°C for some weeks. Sorry, but I don`t know if S. nicolai needs exactly the same procedure to bloom. I`m sure that an expert from Sayers Strelitzia Nursery will answer your question.

Re: bird of paradice