pmurphy

I have a white bird of paradise about 9-10ft tall. About 2 weeks ago we moved it outside to the deck for the season (same place it was last year). When we were moving it I noticed a couple of new leaves forming (nothing unusual about that), and they were the normal green as any other new leaf. After about a week outside it seemed as though one was getting lighter and then, a couple of days ago, when this new leaf fully opened up it's a yellowish green in color, not at all like the other new leaf.
The new yellow leaf is very large, looks like all the others and appears healthy except that it's centered low within in the plant - normally, based on the size of the unfurled leaf, I assumed it would have pushed up to add height to the plant like the second new leaf.
Any thoughts?

I will try adding a photo when I get home

pmurphy

Here's a couple of pictures; you can see how light this new leaf is in comparison, and that it did not seem to form a stalk

Hammocked Banana

I think mine always open low and will continue to push the petiole out until the next new leaf pokes out. As for the light colour, its probably just because that leaf developed inside in the winter. I have had new leaves that are lighter than normal after winter, but never quite that light to be honest. I think it should fix itself as long as the new leaf doesn't burn. Maybe also give it a weak fertilizer with N and Fe to help it green up. Just my 2 cents.

pmurphy

Thanks for the info on the fertilizer, I'll give it a try.
But I don't think the lack of color is due to it being inside because the second leaf is normal in height and color. I've had this plant for almost 3 years now and nothing seems to phase it; you can't see it in these photos but 2 of the other taller leaves actually opened and unfurled inside during the winter (they have burn marks from the fluorescent lights because they were spread across the ceiling).
And to be honest, I never realized that this particular leaf was not developing the stalk until I noticed the unfurled leaf and took a closer look (kind of hard not to miss the yellow when the sun shines on it).

I'm curious, does the bird of paradise put out some sort of flag leaf before flowering?

Hammocked Banana

Hmmm weird I dont know what to tell you then, sometimes plants just do weird stuff when they start growing again in the spring. Im definitely no expert on GPOB I only have the one, which I've had for 2 years now. As for a flag leaf, no they dont show any signs of preflowering that I know of. They will keep pumping out leaves when they flower, and the flower will pop out from between the leaf petioles. They are usually pretty huge by the time they flower, way bigger than I could ever fit in my house.