I've grown two Birds of Paradise from seeds. They are exactly one year old
and are growing well indoors and producing new leaves. The plants are,
however, quite root-bound, and I'm wondering if they should be potted up or
do they prefer to be cramped?

I would appreciate any advice on getting these plants to flower
successfully.

Many thanks.

On Fri, 4 Jun 2004 14:52:53 +0100, "Joanne"
wrote:

I've grown two Birds of Paradise from seeds. They are exactly one year old
and are growing well indoors and producing new leaves. The plants are,
however, quite root-bound, and I'm wondering if they should be potted up or
do they prefer to be cramped?

I would appreciate any advice on getting these plants to flower
successfully.

Many thanks.


From seed, they take several years to reach flowering size, and while
it's said that being pot bound encourages flowering, I would think
that at this stage you need to keep potting them on until you get them
into something like 8 or 12 inch pots.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
I've grown two Birds of Paradise from seeds. They are exactly one year
old
and are growing well indoors and producing new leaves. The plants are,
however, quite root-bound, and I'm wondering if they should be potted up
or
do they prefer to be cramped?
I would appreciate any advice on getting these plants to flower
successfully.


From seed, they take several years to reach flowering size, and while
it's said that being pot bound encourages flowering, I would think
that at this stage you need to keep potting them on until you get them
into something like 8 or 12 inch pots.



Thanks, Chris. I had read that they like being pot-bound to flower, hence
my question. I'll pot them on tomorrow and hope I don't kill them doing so!

Cheers!

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 18:26:34 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote:

~On Fri, 4 Jun 2004 14:52:53 +0100, "Joanne"
~wrote:
~
~I've grown two Birds of Paradise from seeds. They are exactly one year old
~and are growing well indoors and producing new leaves. The plants are,
~however, quite root-bound, and I'm wondering if they should be potted up or
~do they prefer to be cramped?
~
~I would appreciate any advice on getting these plants to flower
~successfully.
~
~Many thanks.
~
~
~From seed, they take several years to reach flowering size, and while
~it's said that being pot bound encourages flowering, I would think
~that at this stage you need to keep potting them on until you get them
~into something like 8 or 12 inch pots.
~

I would search Google Groups on this one - it was the reason I found
urg in the first place and there isn't a lot of info out there on
them! We get a thread every few months... so does rec.gardens who tend
to get more response because they are more common elsewhere.

Consensus seems to be to pot on when the roots try to escape, up to
12-15" then let it get potbound. Hopefully it will flower. Note: they
often flower in winter!!!

Mine's just grown a huge leaf (way bigger than any previous) and lost
three smaller ones at the same time, and is coming up for 3 next
month. I don't expect it to flower for another couple of years at
least. I cheated a few days ago as Waitrose had 3 stems reduced to
affordable so I bought them :-) and am tempted to stick them in the
pot! :-)

One consolation is that once you've germinated one, it takes some
serious neglect to kill it

jane (back from travels)

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

In article B54wc.1224$Js1.159@newsfe1-win,
Joanne wrote:

Thanks, Chris. I had read that they like being pot-bound to flower, hence
my question. I'll pot them on tomorrow and hope I don't kill them doing so!

Unlikely. The two easiest ways to kill them are to let them get
waterlogged, and to freeze them hard. Other than that, they look
exotic but are very tough. Use a free-draining compost (50% sharp
sand may seem excessive but isn't) and leave them outside in the
summer. I have to spray (with soft soap) against mealybug and
red spider mite, but they don't seem to attract much else.

In the winter, forgetting to water them is a forgivable offence.
MUCH better than the humid tropics plants for a scatter brained
gardener. In Africa, they go for 6 months without rain, but that
is probably a bit harsh here. I have not tried.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

My seed raised Strelitzia both flowered a couple of months ago for the first
time at the age of 6.
I think this was helped by having been in a glasshouse last summer, and not
getting a great deal of water, so they dried often and really cooked, this
must have ripened them.
Now I am wondering when they will start to throw "Pups" and become clumps
rather than single plants.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

David Hill wrote:

My seed raised Strelitzia both flowered a couple of months ago for the first
time at the age of 6.

Yes, 5 or 6 years old is about right for first time flowering.
Occasionally you might get a 'rogue' that flowers a year earlier, but
you can also get laggards that wait until they are 7 or 8 years.
They're a total pain - I once had 6 out of a batch of 20 do that.

I think this was helped by having been in a glasshouse last summer, and not
getting a great deal of water, so they dried often and really cooked, this
must have ripened them.

I have a 'youngster', which was planted outside in a south facing
border 2 years ago. It flowered in late September - no doubt
encouraged by the heat and light intensity earlier. It was watered
heavily and fed regularly however, so I don't reckon that drying out
is a trigger. It seems to be growing stronger than ever this year and
no doubt appreciates the humus enriched, very sharply drained mud
stone that I have to cope with. It does not get direct, overhead sun
- due to a light canopy formed by a tangle of Plumbago auriculata and
Jasminum polyanthum. Despite being South African in origin, my plant
can scorch badly and appears to prefer light shade.

Now I am wondering when they will start to throw "Pups" and become clumps
rather than single plants.

Based upon plants I've grown in the past, suckers usually start to
appear a year or two after first flowering. A 10 year old will often
have a couple of decent growths and a 12 year old that has been grown
well will have several that are of flowering size. If you have the
patience, they can be brilliant plants and are very easy to grow.
They become extremely large however and eventually have to be split.
You need a good saw to get through the roots and rhizomes!

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November
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