I've been to a few nurseries lately and everyone has those pretty bird of paradise trees. You know the ones with the mimosa like leaves and pretty yellow and red flowers. Well I have one and have had for 2 yrs. now and not bloom one. I don't know why it doesn't love me, I water it, feed it, talk to it and nothing. lol It gets filtered sun. It looks healthy and is green. Any ideas as to what's up with this plant?
bird of paradise
AuntAnne,
BE PATIENT! If you wait, it will come!
When I married my DH, he had had a BOP for three years, and it had never bloomed. Well, I took charge of the yard, which had been totally neglected, and decided to repot everything. I dumped out the Bird which was wild and unruly, and began sawing the roots in half to divide and repot it. Well, don't 'cha know I sawed completely through the Bird that was developing beneath that soil and probably would've bloomed in the next 3-4 months. I never told him, either.....
Fast forward to today. The Bird is out about 15" and will probably bloom sometime in the next few weeks. It's been almost 3.5 years since that fateful day.
BE PATIENT!
One word of warning -- BOP can get Leaf Scale. Those little white spots all over the leaves are actually creatures that are sucking the life out of the plant through the leaves. And, that Leaf Scale is airborne (the wind can blow it, and it can live in the soil beneath the plant), and can blow to any Sago Palms you may have. If you prune your Bird or cut away bad leaves, you MUST disinfect your pruners in a bleach solution (I forget the ratio -- I think it's 10:1, but I can't remember if that's 10 parts bleach to 1 part water or the other way around). Also, since Leaf Scale can survive in the soil beneath your plant, DO NOT use that soil for anything else if you repot the Bird!
I'm in a tug of war with the DH now because I had removed the BOP to a quarantine area to treat the Leaf Scale away from my Sago Palms, which are highly susepible to Leaf Scale infestation. Well, he decided recently to pull it out to the corner of the garage. I checked for Leaf Scale and it's clean for now, but come next Spring when it gets rainy again, I pretty sure the leaf scale will appear, and the Bird will need to go to quarantine again. I fight Leaf Scale with NEEM Concentrate mixed in a 2-gallon sprayer.
If you end up with Leaf Scale, you will need to spray diligently every 7-10 days to combat it.
Be Patient, but be Forewarned!
Linda
Mine's in the ground or I'd try moving it about to see where it likes best. I wish that I'd done that. I'm going to trim back the oak tree that shades it and see if that helps. Thanks and I will look on the leaves.
Anne
Are you two talking about the same plant. Sounds like one is the tropical with the banana looking leaf. The other may be Mexican BOP or Pride of Barbadose.
My tropicals have never bloomed.
The other ones have several flushes each year. The BOP/POB needs lots of sun to bloom. How old is your plant ? Blooms best the 2nd year.
D
It's the one with the mimosa like leaves. This is its second year. I'm thinking that the sun issue may be the problem. However, in that it's in the ground there just may be nothing to do for it.
Pride of Barbados does like sun as DD said, I have one that I started from seed that Trois gave me.
It bloomed on the third year, I have it in a pot so I can bring it in the garage if we have a freeze.
This way in the pot I can also move to the best spot for it.
I bet you could move yours to a pot this fall, and it might work for you a lot better.
Josephine.
Sprinkle old dried coffee grounds around the base and top of the sagos to control scale...
I have the POB that I grew from seed about 3 years ago. It bloomed the second year and this year it is about 5-6 ft tall. I have it in the ground in full sun and have been picking seeds off it this summer. This is one plant that the drought has not affected. I planted a pink one last summer but so far no blooms and it hasn't grown but about 2 ft.
I have a Pride of Barbadose that I got from maybe DD I think ...hehehe and it is outside in the ground near my pond and the pampas grass and it never died back this last winter ..I didn't cover it or dig it up either it didn't do anything last year but this year it has been loaded wtih blooms and I am watching the seed pods to collect them
Yeah that's right rub it in, lol. Enjoy the blooms for me.
Anne
Does the Pride of Barbados get the leaf scale you were talking about? I just bought one and am now afraid to plant it. It does have some white film on some of the leaves. The nursery guy said it was from overhead watering. I don't want to expose my beautiful Sago Palm.
Mine seems to be fine we have watered more this year due to the heat and lack of rain we were having along with the fact of keeping things green and alive for my daughters wedding here next month and I have no seen any scale on it at all
Anne be patient it will bloom :)
I have never seen any signs of scale on mine.
My orange/blue Bird of Paradise (BOP) blooms continually all summer, spring and fall. My strategy is to NEVER cut off a LEAF no matter how brown or tattered it is as each "bulb" needs 5-7 leaves on it to bloom. I learned this from a florist in the "60s and it has always worked for me. It also likes lots of water and lots of time release fert. As for the orange/yellow/red Pride of Barbados (POB), it grows from seed and blooms the first year if kept in the sun, watered and fert. Right now I have 2 beautiful specimens - small bushes but big flowers - blooming and the hummers are loving them! Just because they are exotics and tropicals doesn't mean they are hard to grow!
Ann
K, I'll put some osmocote on it. But I don't think that there's much I can do about the sun issue. I hate digging things up, much less tearing it out to throw it away when it's still living. I'm such a wienie, lol. I may just have to buy a new one and put it else where in the yard and just have a pretty green tree/bush that doesn't bloom.
Anne
Here's Birdy!
Those are pretty too. I just think it would be too hot and dry here for them. Home Depot had them on sale earlier in the year.
Not too hot or too dry but it may be too cold at times.
perhaps though I mulch with leaves and hay in late fall. It works good for my brugs. It hasn't gotten below 26 and then for only a short time.
I have 2 of the POB planted in ground and they bloom each year, usually more than once. I do mulch them as I do all of my plants. Both of these are the yellow with red type. I started seeds of the pink and have one about ready to be planted out. These are real show stoppers when in bloom.
I also grow the tropical BOP. These are grown in large pots and over wintered in the GH. These are several years old. One is the giant that blooms black and white. It is easily 10' and I wonder how I will move to GH this winter. The others are the orange/blue like the photo above, much smaller. All have the untrimmed 7 or more leaves. All are pot bound and are watered often and feed banana peels, coffee grounds and a 20-10-20 fert periodically. Several babies have formed on both varieties.
Problem: I never get blooms. Any advise is welcomed.
DD
Plantladyhou?