Bird Of Paradise COMPLETE Care Guide 🌱 Tips + Tricks For Strelizia | Plant Tips For Beginners

Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, hi my name's Claire and this is my glamorous assistant Yoli. She's the brains behind all of this. And in today's video we're going to be taking you through everything you need to know about bird of paradise plants, the do's, the don'ts and how to keep them happy and healthy. Before we get started, if you enjoy this video please make sure to give it a thumbs up and feel free to subscribe to be kept up to date with any So back when my shop was open I used to stock these plants all the time but for some reason just never kept one for myself. I was down an extra last week and stumbled across this one and just completely fell in love with her. I haven't been able to stop staring at her since so yeah I thought I'd make a little care video on her today, partly because I was just looking for an excuse to show her off. She's so beautiful. So bird of paradise are native to South Africa and often referred to as banana trees just because their leaves look so similar. In their natural habitat they're capable of growing up to 20 feet tall which is huge but as houseplants they tend not to grow above about eight feet. When it comes to light these plants do enjoy some direct sunlight but on the whole primarily as houseplants they're going to do best in what's known as bright indirect light. Bright and direct light basically just means an area that receives lots of bright natural light but not too much direct sun. So you might say they enjoy partial sunlight. They enjoy about three to four hours a day of direct sun any more than that can actually scorch their leaves and cause them to burn over time so next to an east-facing window or a few meters back from a south-facing window. A south-facing facing facing window oh my god south-facing window I used to grow the bird of paradise plants for my shop under grow lights just because my house had quite a lot of areas that didn't receive much natural light and they coped really well with this so that is also an option. In order to make sure they're able to absorb all the light you're giving them regularly dusting and wiping down their leaves is really really important. Dust and dirt can build up really quickly when they're kept indoors and if it's not dealt with it's pretty much the same as keeping your plants in a low-light area which they really won't enjoy and it also makes them much more prone to pests. If you do keep your bird of paradise in a lower light spot chances are you're going to notice its growth slow right down and also it's probably going to look a lot more stretched and leggy as opposed to healthy full and bushy. The other important thing that you should do for full and even growth is to rotate your plant every few weeks or so just so that it can absorb even amounts of light from all angles. As the plant matures you'll often notice splits starting to form in the leaves this is totally normal and nothing to worry about it actually occurs to allow more light to reach the leaves at the bottom it's just nature doing its thing. With watering I've said this before in lots of my other videos but I would always recommend just monitoring the soil instead of sticking to a strict watering schedule just because scheduling your watering can often lead to issues. This is simply because the environment of everybody's homes is slightly different and so the amount of water you give your plant is going to slightly vary depending on that and also it's going to vary depending on the time of year. These plants like the top layer of their soil to dry out slightly in between waterings so that's a really easy way to tell. Obviously in the warmer summer months that's going to happen slightly quicker so they'll usually require more water over this period. Drainage is also key if they're not able to properly drain after each time you water them then the roots are going to end up sat in water soggy soil and that can lead to things such as root rot which can actually kill your plants. When you water your plants I'd advise taking your plant in its nursery pot and just thoroughly thoroughly soaking it through until water pours out at the bottom then leaving it for a while so it has time to properly properly drain and then when it's not dripping anymore when it's absorbed all the water it needs then going ahead and putting it back into its pretty pot basket whatever you've got it in. I'll usually wait until the top two inches of soil have had time to completely dry out before I re-water her just to make sure I don't give her too much. I've said it before as well but some plants such as these ones depending on where you live can actually be quite sensitive to the chemicals and minerals found in tap water. You can eliminate this risk by using things like filtered water, distilled water, even rain water just to make sure that they're kept happy and healthy. During the growing season which tends to be the spring and summer months fertilizing your Bird of Paradise regularly helps to encourage and support new growth basically just by upping its nutrient content when it needs it most. I know a lot of people get away with not fertilizing. I personally see this like running a race on an empty stomach like even if your plant continues to grow it's probably not reaching its full potential. I'll use a natural diluted fertilizer every few weeks or every other time I water during growing season. You have just got to be quite careful not to overdo it because although these ones are quite heavy feeders giving them too much fertilizer can actually lead to something called fertilizer burn. If you've never fertilized before I would advise easing your plants into it quite gently for example if the bottle says to add half a cup to water then I would advise maybe starting with a quarter cup and gradually building it up over time. If you think you might have over fertilized there's a couple of options. You can either wait until the next time you come to water and then give the soil a really really good rinse out flush through with pure unfertilized water or depending on how badly you think you might have overdone it you can also repot your plants using fresh soil. There are lots of natural fertilizing methods that you can use as well. I made a video a little while ago about how you can make your own plant fertilizer so I'll link that in the description box below. During the colder winter months I would personally advise laying off the fertilizer just because outside of growing season your plants don't need any extra nutrients and it can actually end up doing them a lot more harm These ones absolutely love humidity. They're tropical plants and will always do better with higher humidity levels as opposed to lower. Not enough humidity can lead to things such as browning edges and crispy leaves that are more prone to damage whereas higher humidity levels will allow the leaves to stay conditioned and happy. A really common issue with these plants is that you'll notice their leaves start to curl which is so often caused by lack of humidity. As house plants it's recommended that they receive no less than 50% humidity but as I say they will always appreciate more. Using a humidifier is the easiest and most obvious way to raise the humidity levels in your house but there are also some cheaper options such as leaving pots of hot water out and about out and about you know what I mean leaving them out around your plants and also using pebble trays. Misting is often thought to be a replacement for having a humidifier and it's really not. Yes misting your plants can temporarily raise the humidity levels but unless you're going to be doing it literally all the time it's not going to make a massive difference when it comes to humidity. There are however loads of other great benefits of misting such as helping to keep the leaves clean and conditioned and also helping to ward off pests. When it comes to temperature these ones are fairly adaptable it's generally recommended that you keep them between 18 and 24 degrees celsius but they can absolutely tolerate lower temperature drops at night. The one thing they absolutely hate is cold drafts and constant fluctuations in temperature so this means don't put your bird of paradise next to an air vent or a drafty door as they will most likely throw a tantrum very quickly. Most house plants prefer a steady temperature which basically just means it doesn't fluctuate too much so keeping the conditions of your home as stable as possible is a good idea. One of the main things these plants are known for is the beautiful bird-shaped flowers they produce. I'll pop some pictures there. A lot of you are probably wondering how you can get your bird of paradise to flower. There are a few things to take into consideration. Besides making sure that its conditions are just right a key factor is the maturity of the plant. Usually a bird of paradise won't bloom until it's at least four years old so if you've got a little one and you're expecting it to produce flowers sorry that's not going to happen. As I say the conditions you keep it in are so important and lighting is key if you want your plant to bloom. A lot of the time the main reason bird of paradise plants don't bloom inside is because they're not getting enough light hence why if you grow them outdoors as opposed to indoors they're a lot more likely to flower. The same goes for fertilizing if it's not receiving enough nutrients then it probably won't flower either. Another important thing to remember which is just kind of a general note as well for these plants is that they actually quite like being root bound. This means that they won't necessarily need repotting very often and actually really like their roots to be quite compact in the pot. Transferring them to a bigger pot too soon can send them into shock, it can stunt their growth and it can discourage them from flowering. I've made a couple of top tips videos for faster and fuller growth and house plants. There's a lot in there that can be applied to this plant so if you're looking for some more tips and tricks for your bird of paradise then feel free to check them out. I really hope this video was useful, if anyone's got any questions feel free to drop me a comment down below and I will do my best to help. If you enjoyed this video please make sure to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel and I'll see you in the next video.