My bird of paradise plant ( Orange bird) has recieved serval posts about it. its enjoying my grow light tremendously and has started to put out more leaves. big ones. i'm watering when soil is dry and feeding it regularly with each watering. its still in the same pot i got it in and i'm wondering if putting some 4 foot red t5 bulbs along with the green t5 bulbs will help induce flowers when it gets older- its also going to spend some months outdoors in the full sun early june to late aug.. At my community garden behind a locked fence - i don't trust my neighborhood people to not steal it- its pretty bad. Its about 3 feet or so now and growing vigorously. i was going to repot it later in the spring before it goes outdoors.


My questions are


It has 9 leaves on it how old is it?

Am I doing a god job with it?

Would mercile grow all purpose mix be good to transplant it into later this spring.

the only flaw i see is that some of the leaves get dry edges but it cant be helped as my clieing has a gaping hole in it from a bubble caused by fungus/past damage- group home maitmence have to fix. humidity might cause problems with this hole. i mist but it isn't as humid as it should be. lots of light and warmth. but kinda dry air

A picture of the plant would help a lot in determining its age. If you don't have access to a digital camera, somebody with a cell phone could probably take a picture of it for you and post it, too.

Great that it is growing, and enjoying where it is. New growth is always a good sign. Once the weather starts to warm, more fertilizer, and lots more water will not hurt. Any good potting soil will be fine. But keep in mind that Birds like to be pot-bound so don't pot it up until it is really crowded in the present pot.

Outside will definitely be much better for that plant, as it will surely be more humid unless you live in the desert. If you could give us a hint as to what part of the country you are in, that also might help us to help you better. I would think that even in the furthest north states you could put that plant outside before June.

I live in St paul MN. so i think june/ late may at the earliest

The Bird is tropical, so yes, delay putting it out until you know the temperature will remain (at least) above 50. I am being conservative here, but if you shoot for the 50 low, and you have a freak cold snap that takes the temperatures down into the 40's, you'll still be OK.

Birds grow fast in the tropics but much more slowly in temperate regions. I don't know that you will ever truly be able to know its age. Why is the age important? In the tropical and sub-tropical areas, Birds are in-the-ground landscape plants. While I was in the Miami area, I saw lots of them in the landscapes. I grew them in huge pots when living on the MS Gulf Coast and had really rare, all-white ones as well as the standard oranges. The whites were absolutely gorgeous. I don't know about them liking to be pot-bound. I would just suggest you have really well-draining soil, regardless of the pot/plant size.

Okay. I'm going to buy and put in some red bulbs to encourage flowers.

I am not sure what that statement means. Sorry.

Can you please explain the "red bulb" part? I'm with Ken. I don't know what that means and how it encourages your BOP to grow flowers. Also while you're at it, please explain this part so I have a better understanding. If there is a way to get things to flower, then I want to know about it! "some 4 foot red t5 bulbs along with the green t5 bulbs". Are they lightbulbs??

Down here, the white birds are not by any means rare. They are just not grown commonly in pots because they get too large very quickly. I have 3 clumps in my yard with the tallest stems at least 15ft. tall and 8in thick trunks. They would get taller but we need to cut out the tallest stems to keep them down to size and out of the power lines. There's one that got to over 35ft. at Selby Gardens. Huge flower 'boats' over 2ft. long.


The smaller 3 to 4ft. orange/blue ones will bloom once they are mature, in a big, tight clump. They do need full sun even down here in Florida. I'm sorry to say I don't think any amount of light bulbs of whatever colors are going to make that plant bloom for you for a while. Probably years. If you had a greenhouse with full sun all year, plus lights for winter, maybe sooner.

But we still don't know which kind of Bird of Paradise you have. If you can't show us a picture, can you at least describe the leaf size and how many fans of stems there are in the pot?

My whites were no larger than the oranges, but keep in mind, I had these birds well over 25 years ago and don't have a clue what their proper name was.

I have the orange bird of paradise. i would never in my wildest dreams keep a white bird of paradise because of the size issues stated.


T5 lights are for the sunleaves lighting system as far as i know, you can buy these at roots hydro ogranics. its a store located in st paul, Red spectrum bulbs do flowers while green does foliage. different colors do different things so a red/green combo plus outdoor sun in summer might work. i just worry having it outside in my kind of neighborhood will simply result in some guy stealing it.
I had this happen with a pot of strawberries in a more well to do neighborhood when i was a kid.

i figure the white bear community garden would be the best/safest place to grow it outdoors., the only problem is its far away to drive and getting a plant there and back would be a hurdle. esspically as it grows in size. maybe at the MSS gardens on ocean street but again its in a bad neighborhood plus they might mow and knock it over/ect. I'll have to talk with staff at MSS to see if its an issue. they may lock it up at night.

Oh, I was thinking "bulbs" as in iris bulbs. Sorry.

Thats okay... i think i missled you on how many leaves it has, its coming from one shoot so its a pup probably in a 1 gallon pot.with about 10 leaves. the air in my room has been dry so its been curling its leaves i misted it and it got better, roots are starting to grow out of the drainage holes in the bottom so it may need a bigger poytty i summer/late spring.

Keep in mind, these are (typically) large, vigorous-growing tropical plants. If you see roots growing out the drainage holes I would say that's a good sign that it is ready for a re-potting. My plants, all potted, ended up growing in huge, 24" diameter, 20-30 gal. pots. I had to use a hand-truck to move them around. I ended up dividing them since they all outgrew even these large pots. I gave the cuttings away.

Don't you think it should wait until spring. its mid jan in MN now. i will re pot if need be but aren't you supposed to wait until it warms up

Since this would be done outdoors, I certainly would wait until it is warm enough to do so. No need for either you or your plant(s) to freeze!

okay will do. . i feed it regularly and give it the t5 lights

I never grew any of my bird's inside, so I would say that what you are doing is working well.

Yeah ideally I would have it outside all year long but in zone 4 thats just not possible.

Not even close to possible! I couldn't even do that in 8b and that's a good reason why I no longer grow them. They are just too large and I have too little space to put everything in my three greenhouses and enclosed porch as it is.

Well I brought a bigger pot, red sprectrum flower grow bulbs and some Happy frog potting mix at roots hydro organics- the sales guy even threw in the pot for free. . Very good service and I highly reccomend this store. Happy frog is a organic high quality potting mix that has bat quano/poop in it, rumored to make people insane/crazy- thats what someone at mss told me anyway. but i figured the damage already has been done. i have already a mental disability,lol./ autism

i know the repotting will set it back in blooming but as i've stated before this plant is too young to bloom and i was told to only keep it pot bound when it reaches flowering age. which case if i still have it it will be a floor plant. The store clerk told me light wise i'm doing pretty good, he said mixing up the colors are the best option for what i have and that there are no stronger light fixture bulbs i could tap into for what I have and i'll just wait for outdoor sun which it'll get in june.


No sense in getting a whole new light fixture.


i have a 9 foot clieing, could this ornage bird possily outgrow that? I know a white bird would but this is a orange bird.