Bird of Paradise Indoor Care | 5 Easy Care Tips | Strelitzia Nicolai & Reginae Plant Tips

Hey everyone, welcome back to another plant video. If it's your first time here, my name is James and I'm from Sydney, Australia. I started this channel because I wanted to share some of my tips on what has worked really well for me in terms of indoor plant care. Today's video is going to be about the birds of paradise or what I like to abbreviate it as the BOP. What a BOP! I'm going to be going through things that you should know before purchasing one and some tips and tricks to best care for them indoors. I'll be leaving chapter marks throughout the video if you want to navigate through different topics but until then, sit through and let me take you on a journey. Look, I'm going to be real honest with you here. When I was first seeking for a birds of paradise, I actually had no idea that there were so many different varieties. The two common types that you will actually see sold at the nurseries or hardware stores are usually the Strelitzia Nicolai and the Strelitzia Reginae. There are other types of varieties out there such as the Alba, the Cordata and the Juncia. So back in early 2020, I was frantically running around flower power at 4.40pm trying to acquire a birds of paradise before closing time at 5pm. I then asked staff where can I find a birds paradise and they sort of pointed me to a general direction and I walked on over and I found a whole row of these small birds of paradise about knee height and I was trying to decide between these three that I'm going to quickly show you a picture of here. Out of the picture, I actually went for the one that looked a little bit more like a shallot as opposed to the other two which was a little bit more luscious and grow because when you do think birds of paradise, at least in my head, I think tall and strong. So I did want that to eventually evolve into that one day. I then took it home and then did a little bit more research and to my shock horror, I found this YouTube video of this time lapse and basically it was between one to four years. On the first year, it was probably the same size of my own birds of paradise and then on the fourth year, I only found it actually doubled in size. So probably like from here to like here. I realized that it was the Strelitzia reginae as opposed to the Strelitzia nicoli. Anyway, let's go through some key differences. So the Strelitzia reginae has boat-shaped leaves and if it ever flowers, it flowers the color orange. The Strelitzia nicoli which is otherwise known as the giant birds of paradise, if it ever flowers, flowers white. Also, it has banana-shaped leaves. I'm going to quickly take you outdoors now. Thought I'd switch it up a little bit in today's video by taking you the outdoors and showing you the types of Strelitzias that you might find. I'm going for my usual regular run and I do notice that there are a few birds of paradise on the way of my usual route. Right behind me, you can see a Strelitzia reginae. I'm apologizing for the audio in advance in case it's a little bit windy, but basically you can tell it is a reginae by the orange flowers over there and I'm going to keep going on my run and showing you a little bit more. Quite interestingly, the one behind me is a Juncia and I actually didn't even notice this until I looked a little bit closer and I was like, oh that is a birds of paradise. But basically, you can see that they've got really thin leaves and apologies for the shiny forehead, but yeah, that's also a birds of paradise. Amazing! So I normally run past this apartment complex and notice that they have so many Strelitzias planted in here. I just wanted to show you why they're called the giant birds of paradise, the Nikolai range in particular, because check out the depth and size of this. It is about triple my height. I can't even get it through the entire lens unless I pan downwards. But you can also tell that they are a Nikolai because they have these white flowers that are flowering over here. And we're back! Easy for you. I actually had to do some physical exercise out there. The birds of paradise originate in South Africa and I'm a little bit biased towards the Strelitzia Nikolai in particular because I feel like it gives your home such a, what I think, a classier and more luxurious and tropical feel if you do have the space. So if you haven't bought one yet, I would say the Nikolai is the one to go. Make sure that you're reading the label before you do. So soon after I realized my fatal error of buying the incorrect birds of paradise, I rushed out and got the Strelitzia Nikolai, which is the one sitting right behind me. But as you can see, they do grow a little bit giant and it's gonna grow through my ceiling at any single minute now. So do only buy it if your space can accommodate it. So I just wanted to quickly introduce you to my birds of paradise Reginae that I have right here. Unfortunately she's been attacked by spider mites so I did have to prune her a little bit so she is looking a little bit sad. And obviously I have the Nikolai behind me, the giant birds of paradise, the one that I really wanted from the beginning. But essentially they are both beautiful specimens so you can't really go wrong. It really depends on the space that you have inside your home. If you've got the luxury of space, I'd actually be biased towards the Nikolai. But if you don't, you probably want to go for the Reginae. They're a little bit smaller. You can see them lined up for example at swimming pools because they can span a little bit of a longer surface area as opposed to the Nikolai. They do grow a little bit larger in height and scale. But yeah, totally up to you. It's really a preference on what you like aesthetically. I would say that the care tips are pretty much the same across the two. So let's get into it now. So let's talk about lighting. Bright light is especially important for the birds of paradise. They're usually used to that in nature. If your home does not have bright light, do not be acquiring a birds of paradise. They absolutely need it. They can even tolerate hours of direct sunlight so make sure that the spot that you're choosing it is actually a bright spot. Unfortunately here in Sydney, I've actually seen a lot of birds of paradises planted in shop fronts where there is absolutely like no light or even windows. And I get the appeal. The birds of paradise look so elegant and appealing. But if you don't have the correct lighting conditions or at least some grow lights or some sort of mechanism to allow them to acquire some light for photosynthesis, then don't be purchasing one of the birds of paradise. Let's talk about watering. In proper lighting conditions, the birds of paradise are heavy feeders, meaning that they need a lot of water to sustain. I would usually recommend that you let your soil dry out a little bit between watering. I found that extended periods of drying out between my waterings actually gave my birds of paradise some brown tips. So my recommendation is actually watering soon after it is dry. I actually experienced firsthand with my Strelitzia reginae that when it wasn't receiving enough light, it wasn't consuming enough water. And I found that firsthand. I was dipping my finger into the soil and finding that the soil was still wet within a week. I soon realized that the place that I put it had not enough light and I'm always stressing the importance of light when you're looking after plants. Obvious signs of over watering include droopy leaves, excessive splitting, browning of the edges. So you want to prevent some of these signs. As with all plants, there will be some natural build up when you are watering it with different sort of chemicals such as liquid fertilizer and oils, etc. So you do want to look at leaching the soil from time to time. Regarding repotting, repotting is a little bit of a strenuous exercise with these guys, obviously because they're so giant. So it is desirable to have someone else there with you, so you're not causing your plant any harm when you're trying to transport it in and out of a different pot or into the same medium. They do prefer to be a little bit more pot bound. You could probably get away with not repotting for about 18 to 28 months. You do want to repot a little bit sooner so you can replenish those nutrients in the soil because generally after a year's time, they do sort of dissipate. Typically, you want to choose a pot that is about 5 to 10 centimeters in diameter, a little bit larger than the previous pot if you do want it to grow. However, if you're happy with the size, you could replant it in the same medium. However, make sure you're changing out that soil. Repotting the birds of paradise is recommended in spring and summer because that's when the plant is the strongest. So my personal recommendation on a potting mix includes 70% premium potting mix, 15% charcoal and 15% perlite. You can substitute the premium potting mix for, for example, 35% cactus mix and 35% orchid mix. They have roughly the same ingredients. Another mix that you can consider includes 30% peat moss, 40% compost and 30% pumice or perlite. For those in Australia, I'll leave a link in the description box with the products that I purchased from Bunnings. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. The thing that I always remind people to do is making sure that you're wiping those leaves down. The birds of paradise needs it especially. The leaves are so large and they have a massive surface area for dust to accumulate on them. So make sure that you're wiping this down periodically and you're also preventing it from snarky pests. Some of the common pests that your birds of paradise will experience are scale, aphids, mealybugs as well as whiteflies. I've actually also been attacked by spider mites which has been crazy. I do see they suck the life out of your plant. Anyway, I'll probably just hone in onto one topic which is the mealybugs. I've gone over to multiple mates places who do own birds of paradise and they all have mealybugs for some reason. This kind of white cottony looking pest that is attached to the leaf. So the tip that I recommend to get rid of mealybugs includes getting a cotton swab, putting a little bit of rubbing alcohol and if you don't have any rubbing alcohol, I actually substitute this for hand sanitizer. Obviously during these COVID timings, everyone's got a bit of hand sanitizer at home. I dip that in to the hand sanitizer. I bring the cotton bud over to the leaf and then I start swirling the cotton bud around to get rid of the mealybugs. After I've cosmetically removed all the mealybugs, I'll grab some paper towel, prepare a little bit of a solution of a little bit of diluted dishwasher liquid as well as some neem oil. Then I'll give it a thorough wipe down. So a common problem that you may face with the birds of paradise is that sometimes the leaves may get stuck and you may want to just give it a little bit of a helping hand. I've got two methods here. The first one I try is misting and if that's not too effective, the second one I go for is a little bit more physical in action where I grab some paper towel and lukewarm water and then kind of glide that over the leaf and then sort of maneuver it out. Finally, on to my favorite topic on styling. So I'm a little bit particular on how I style my plants in general and even with the birds of paradise, when I first bought it, the bases were actually perpendicular to each other. I didn't like this personally because I didn't have much apartment space and it was growing a little bit too wide. I found that if I brought the bases parallel, it would allow me to achieve a little bit more of a luscious look as well as giving me a little bit more apartment space. So when I repot it, I actually pulled the root system out and then kind of realigned the base. Then I used a stake and some rubber tires to just encourage the direction I wanted to grow out of. Even though that was a risky operation, my birds of paradise was pretty much fine afterwards. I didn't notice much repot stress. It was still pushing out new growth which was a positive sign. So other things I do is I grab some scissors and I go and I snip some of the brown edges that can occur. Don't be alarmed if some of the browning is spreading. It is a little bit normal but then just make sure you're monitoring the health of your plant to figure out what the signs are. So the signature look of a birds of paradise is that it stands tall and strong, at least in my head anyway. So I wanted to buy a pot that matches that sort of description. I bought one that was an outdoor pot, the one that I've got right here and basically I grab another pot and I place that on the inside because most of your nursery pots out there won't be of this height. So then essentially I place that on the inside, as so. And then I place the birds of paradise into the same pot but with a saucer underneath so they're making sure that there are no leakages when I do water it. But remember to do your measurements before you're purchasing these pots. I mean I purchased mine online and I made sure that I did the measurements of the openings of the diameter because you don't want to be left disappointed that it doesn't fit. Thank you guys so much again for watching. I really hope this video was useful for you. Feel free to drop me a comment or a question about the birds of paradise in the comment section below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I drop some regular content so I'll leave some floating icons so you can dive into some other cool plant related stuff on my channel. But remember if you like today's video remember to give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven't already, it would really mean a lot to me. And switching on that bell icon so you don't miss any updates when new videos drop. But until then stay safe, eat heaps of cake, and I will see you in my next video. Bye for now.