I have had a lovely bird of paradise plant in my apartment for a year. It was thriving and growing until a couple of months ago. The edges and brown and splitting and even some chunks of the leaves are dead. The new growth even grew brown and dried out! The plant is watered according to the plant instructions, it's near sunlight. Help! What can I do to save it?

Hi Eleanorcross,

I've never tried growing Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) indoors but I wonder if your plant might be suffering from lack of enough light as well as humidity. Hopefully others who grow it indoors will be along soon with advice or suggestions.

I don't know what watering instructions you received as there is no standard advice, but I suspect a watering problem. I cannot see the pot in the photo, but my educated guess is that the soil is getting too dry. When properly potted, White Birds are hard to over water. In general, they need water as soon as the surface of the soil feels dry. Always add enough water until you see some run through the drain holes.

How far from the window is it and what direction does that window face?

Low humidity is not a problem for this plant as long as the roots stay hydrated.

When I place my finger in the soil it is moist? I can't see the run off because it's in a pot that has the run off enclosed in one of those built-in drainage pots. Do you think that's the problem? I water it often as I know that this plant requires lots of water. The closest leaf is only 6in from the window. It's in a corner next to the windows which faces east.

I have this plant in my yard here in Florida. Grown with 4-6 hours of sun, endures a 40" rainy season followed by eight months of spotty watering from Mother Nature.
You probably can't over or underwater these plants, as they really don't care. But if your growing it with the closest leaf tip 6" from an east window, I suspect inadequate light. Especially in the corner between windows.
Try getting it more direct light, 3 hours of sun, otherwise bright. Now even so, these "fronds" last 12-18 months in perfection, they are constantly producing new ones. Old ones get brown edges, start to split lengthwise. Their life span maximum is two years. Good luck.
I would suggest using a sandy soil, similar to what is used for cacti. A potting soil might hold too much water. They survive the rainy season here because the soil is bone dry 3 days after a 4" rainfall.

Eleanor - Can you post a photo that shows the pot? How often do find that it needs water and about how much do you add?

As Bill indicated, it would benefit from more light. Can you move it out of the corner and directly in front of the window?

What is outside the window? Perhaps a tree or another building?

Hi
Please help me save my paradise . It's killing me to see that is suffering and I don't know what to do. I water it once a month with 7 big pot water fills till it completely moist. It standing in the sun , not direct tho place in my apartment.

Hi everybody,
My BOP (strelitzia augusta) seems to be suffering a lot.
I bought it 1 month ago and initially I kept it in his pot waiting for the new one to arrive.
During the first week I didn't water it because the soil was still wet. Afterwards, brown spots appeared on the leaves, so I thought it might be suffering from diseases and fungus and I spayed the leaves with Cobre fungicide for 1 week.

After that, I watered a little with a solution of amino acids rich in zinc and manganesium, green plant fertilizer and chelated iron. I think I generated the burn from too many chemicals because the leaves curled inwards and the edges became very dry and burnt, and for this reason, after 2 weeks from the purchase, I thought it was time to water my plant, and with the intention of cleaning the soil from the chemicals I watered for two days until the water came out of the holes and replaced the surface soil.
Afterwards, I did not water because the soil was still wet, but I moistened the leaves constantly (5/7 times a day).
The plant is currently outdoors, the temperature during the day is about 18/19C degrees and at night 11 degrees.
It receives 2 hours of direct sunlight from 3pm to 5pm and I'm also noticing that it doesn't like the sun that much (I haven't figured out yet if the strelitzia augusta loves the sun, does it? ) since the edges of the leaves burn faster after sunbathing.
White spots are now coming out on the leaves and they are turning a bit yellowish, while the stems gots some brown spots. I checked with the torch and I don't think there are any mites (the small white spots you see in the picture are small residues of fungicide).
What can I do to save the plant? I have already shaped the leaves by cutting the burnt edges, hoping this will help it revive .
Do you think there is any chance it can be saved?

Thank you so much

@Extra5000 - You need to refine your watering technique. Wait for the top half-inch of soil to get dry to the touch. Then give it just enough water so that a bit trickles through the drain holes of the inner pot. Never let the inner pot sit in water.

If your plant is close to a sunny window indoors, as kit should be, then I would expect that it would dry out enough to need water every 7-10 days.

WillC thank you so much! Will do!

Hi, I have taken on someone else's suffering bird of paradise to revive it. It was severely dehydrated and the leaf on the only non-snapped stalk in bend right at the tip. I repotted and thoroughly watered it. Any tips on what else to do?

Repotting doesn't fix any plant problems except for plants that are badly potbound. But repotting unnecessarily can cause many other problems. Give your plant a location close to a sunny window. Remove any soil you added to the top of the original soil then water only when the top inch of the remaining soil, feels dry to your touch.

It does look like its in desperate need of a drink in that last photo. Sometimes really dry soil doesn't absorb water and the plant remains dry with the water running down the sides of the pot and out the bottom. Sometimes its necessary to make sure the root ball is getting water by taking the plant out the pot and sitting in a bucket of water for a while.

Kevin - What you posted is true, but in many cases, the opposite may be true. Leaf wilting can occur when roots are no longer functioning properly due to overwatering in which case the appropriate remedy is to let the soil dry out.

Thank you guys! The repotting here was necessary because it was INSANELY dehydrated. Literally crispy to touch, dirt kind. When I tried watering in the original pot, it pooled and then ran down the sides. I've been resting the leaves on a support system and giving it 12 hours of light (mix of natural and grow lights). It hasn't been getting any worse, and dare I say, one of the leaves might even be a little better looking. I do wonder how long it takes for new growth to show up on a bird of paradise?

When any plant gets badly dehydrated the soil becomes "hydrophobic," like a dry sponge and resists absorbing water. The solution is not a larger pot but letting the pot sit in water for a few hours to re-saturate the soil and then never letting it get that dry again.

Your plant's recovery will depend on how badly the roots were damaged by the dehydration, by the repotting, and any watering issues subsequently. The more light it gets the better it will do. Keep the soil damp, but not wet.

Hey, I purchased a bird if paradise from someone who was having a hard time keeping it alive. There are currently only 4 leaves on it that all have fairly significant damage. I believe it was from a lack of moisture. I was wondering if those who are experienced with BOP know if it can withstand being fully cut down to zero leave. Can it bounce back with only root and a stock or is the best course of action to wait for new growth before I chop it?
Any advise is appreciated.

Each Bird of Paradise plant has a single, central growing tip. If that is cut off or damaged, then the plant may stop growing. All other older leaves can be pruned off if you want. Provide lots of warmth, sunlight and keep the soil moderately damp.

Hi everyone. I bought a BOP (Strelitzia nicocolai) a few weeks ago and am having some trouble with it. I have only been watering when the top layer is dry about once a week (although i cant see the bottom drainage holes). It gets indirect light every day and was noticing some serious inward curling around the leaves. After a week of rain I decided to pop it infront of a different window for some direct sun. I made the mistake of putting neem oil on the leaves before hand. I watered it then left it for a few hours and came back to a big drooping/sagging mess.
This is the state of the plant a few days later - my main concern is the leaves with the holes. Is that some sort of pest or fungus.
Any advice is appreciated - im a total newbie.

Thanks,
Hope

Hi, Can someone please advise me on how to save my birds of paradise plants. I bought this plant around 3 months back which came in a 4" pot so I repotted it into around 6" pot and placed it near my fireplace for 2 month which received very poor light and watered weekly once. After the plant lost 2 small leafs from bottom, I move the plant to outdoors around a month back trimmed the brown leafs and kept watering but till the plant shows no improvement. The new leaf that opened 2 days back is also brown. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Please help me save this plant.