| I personally have not planted my ‘Bird of Paradise’ yet – it is still inside the polybag. But I had planted a cousin of the ‘Bird of Paradise’ – Heliconia. Their needs are not much different.
‘Bird of Paradise’ loves the sun & if planted with a bit of shade the leave will be bigger, taller & the flower slightly bigger than those planted under full sun light. In my country, there is no winter. It is either sun, sun, sun or rain, rain, rain. So I believe that the reason Pikevi move it indoor. But this plant loves the sun.
It grows best in organic soil or compost mix with soft soil (not those clay types) with good drainage. I personally like to use a mixture of compost, very small gravels with fine soil & top soil. The soil should be not kept dry or soggy. Long period of dryness can lead to yellowing of leaves & slow death. The soil should just cover the root & not too deep. Roots that are kept deep will affect the flowering & plant health. One of Heliconia where I had experimented by planting the roots deep had resulted in the leaves stem breaking & turns yellow. It did not even grow big.
Remove any dead leaves to reduce fungal infection. Without those dead leaves – it look nicer.
I fertilize my plant every 7 to 10 days. Please do not place the fertilizer too close to the stem. Evenly spread them & watered them after you have spread the fertilizer. Please do not fertilize them if you have just planted them. Let the roots settle down first. I did not fertilize my new plant close to 2 months after I have planted them.
This plant is to be grown in a bundle or bunch of shoots in a single stem. Space them out so that there is room for the flower to bloom. These plants really need space to grow well.
The nursery owner sold to me the ‘Bird of Paradise’ in 01 polybag for S$9. It sure is pricy in Canada - $70 for one.  |