Strelitzia nicolai (White Bird of Paradise)

[Amanda L]

My husband bought this for me last week and it has been outside in full sun since. I wanted to ask some basic care questions. I know that some people here grow Bird Of Paradise and I just wanted to give mine the best possible chance of thriving. I know that I will have to bring it in during the winter, since we dip down to the 20s and lower during the winter months.

Okay, here are my questions.

What are the watering requirements?
What are the fertilizing requirements?
At what night temperature should I bring it in?

The leaves are kind of curling, should I be worried about this, is it normal. If it's a concern how do I correct it?

The plant tag had no information except this:

"How to Grow:Prefers full sun. Use as accent plant"

That's all it said!! I have never seen such little information on growing in my life!! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[flhiker]

Hi Amanda. They don't like to stay wet and prefer bright light to bloom. So keep it on the dry side and water with good water. Tap water will give you a salt build up over time.
Here's a good link for this plant. good luck

Plants are the Strangest People: King and Queen (Strelitzia nicolai and S. reginae)

[Swamper]

Oh man, I just answered a long reply and didn't get through. Ok here's the short version
A. I agree with Dave
B.1.water average, meaning when in doubt don't water
2. doesn't need a lot of fertilizer, if any
3. Curling? look for bugs or has it been hit by cold yet?
4.It doesn't like cold it's a Zone 10 to 11 palm.So keep it away from windows and vents.
C. Thank God for the short version huh?

[Amanda L]

Thanks for the link Dave.

Short versions are sometimes good Swamper. Sometimes I type a long reply or start a thread and by the time I'm finished with everything I need to say, I'm not logged in anymore. I have had to learn, the hard way, to select all and copy everything I typed. That way if you get logged off before you are able to post it you can just paste it in the box again.

Right now it's outside. We are having unseasonably cool weather, about 75. There aren't any bugs that I can see. I will give it a thorough inspection tomorrow to be sure. It does get full sun for most of the day. I have watered it only once and it rained 2 days later.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Amanda L

Sometimes I type a long reply or start a thread and by the time I'm finished with everything I need to say, I'm not logged in anymore. I have had to learn, the hard way, to select all and copy everything I typed. That way if you get logged off before you are able to post it you can just paste it in the box again.

What I do if my reply is looking like it's taking a long time to write, is press the 'Go Advanced' button. That imediately restarts the time-out so I've got a bit longer. Then I ocasionally hit the 'Preview Post' buttom which is available once you have done the 'Go Advanced', that also resets the time-out.

I get into the habit during long posts to keep hitting 'Preview Post' to stop it logging me out.

Of course the other way is to tick the 'remember me' option when logging in, but I don't do that because then if a google link leads me here I end up logged in, and if I don't have time to read I loose the marker of what I've not read yet.

[Swamper]

Amanda and Rosie, you guys are brilliant!!!

[Hedge]

Hi
From what little I know about Strelizia to persuade them to re-bloom, winter neglect in a bright but cool location on the dry side should promote reflowering. Hope that helps and congrats on a super new baby!