I did have to look up your location, since I as a northern gardener in the U.S. have found it difficult to get flowers on mine often, and only because I think the light during it's long time indoors through the fall and winter, just isn't enough for regular flowering. Mine comes thruogh with very weak growth , which quickly breaks when it's moved outdoors for the summer here, which does on occasion allow it to flower in late fall when it's back indoors for the winter, but not every year unfortunately. Perhaps yours is in a greenhouse through the winter months which accounts for the better performance and reflowering year after year. I do note , since they are supposed to flower best as container plants if left quite rootbound, that I see yours has perhaps gone a bit past that advice, with the roots being exposed evidently? I tend to worry about those surface roots getting a bit too much drying and sun perhaps with mine ,but evidently in your case, it does no harm? Nice work , none the less, and it does take lots of patience to wait for the first flowering from seed grown onces, since that can take quite a few years as a rule. Mine wree very young plants perhaps under a year old when purchased and even then I'd guess mine took about seven years for the first blooms, though they're said to do so in as few as five years sometimes! Oh well, but mine looks a bit healthier as it approaches a safe time to once again move it outdoors for the late spring and summer here, and I only hope it loses far fewer leaves as the wind tends to break the ones that have formed indoors.

You grew that from seed? I'm impressed, it's lovely.
Karyn

Hello Birdinthepalm, My strelitzia is in a south facing patio window in the winter as I don't heat the greenhouses enough ( I lost 6 flowering plants about 10 yrs ago ) because I was ignorant enough to think a cold greenhouse was sufficient and they all turned to mush.
When I put it outside during warmer weather the leaves get very sunburnt and feathered but the plant needs that sun and weathering to initiate the flowers for the following winter or spring. It's either pristine foliage or flowers I don't think you can have both.Cutting off a few sorry looking leaves does't harm the plant at all as they are soon replaced. Hope yours flower well for you.
Felixcat

I will admit , trying for that more conservative approach to the location in summer , so I could avoid the leaf scorch and damage, I have found mine suddenly aren't flowering at all. I guess as mentioned , you can't have everything , though I'd prefer to have nice leaves as well. They do need the maximum light I'd say! Meanwhile my very old specimen should have a new home , but no takers here so far. Lifting the 150 lb. container to move it in and out twice a year has become a bit much for me, but it does require the big pot! I'd hoped to find someone with a greenhouse here , so it perhaps would flower more reliably for the new owner. I'd not give it to the average homeowner for regular indoor growing without some very big sunny windows!!

That's the trouble-when our plants are small we can't wait for them to grow but when the're big,if we can't plant them due to our cold winters we have to act like Samson and keep lifting them into their winter quarters! Still it's great to have a challenge isn't it?
Your plant must be massive if it's that heavy!

I'd guess though it's in a huge pot, I never spent the money to buy a lighter soil mix and being that its' mostly a mix of garden soil with very fine and "packed" sand that probably adds at least double the weight, though the plant is very large, though nothing near the size of estasblished ones in warmer climates. They do have those very heavy roots of course, so that's a big part of the weight as well. Mine has also mulitplied with offshoots over the years , so it's grown into a clump of six or so plants , even after removing a few divisions over the years. Reminds me though, I have been tempted to keep just the smaller younger specimen, which has flowered successfully, just so I'd not have to deal with such a large specimen as the mother plant! Having said all that about how big and heavy mine is here, I guess it's nothing compared to removing or transplanting very old and huge specimens with their very deep and extensive roots where they're grown inground and I guess it was recommended to have some heavy earth moving equipment , should you want to dig and move one of those!

felixcat,
Do you ever think mine will look like yours????

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Yours is beautiful.
What size pot is that?
Valerie

Hello Valerie, I think your plant looks very healthy indeed and there is no reason why your plant will not become as big as mine. I think you may have yours in too big a pot at the moment and does it have holes in the bottom? Don't forget they thrive in sunshine and unfortunately this does lead to scorched leaves ( which can be removed ) and are soon replaced.The pot mine is in is about 16" diameter and deep and was repotted last year from 12" pot as the roots were through the bottom.Incidently the big roots broke as they were totally jammed into the holes in the bottom.I think they do like being pot bound but there is a limit. I don't fertilize it very often yet it had 5 flower spikes -two are over -two are out and one left to come.
I do hope yours does well for you it looks good.
Regards Hazel.

Having complained so much about how heavy mine is in it's 21in. diameter pot and such a heavy soil mix, it reminds me of that old topic of plants finding their own depth sometimes, though I think the "birds" tend to have very shallow surface roots, even though the ones farther down may go quite deep into a container or in the ground I'd guess. At any rate having repotted mine so the upper roots were just covered with an inch or so of soil, years later I found that the bases of the plants had at least four inches of extra soil then over the uppermost roots, as if they'd pulled themselves downward deeper into the containers. As I figtured all that extra soil on the top was only unnecessary weight to move around I did remove about four inches of the top soil and no ill effects have resulted and the whole thing is of course much lighter to move, or at least "somewhat". Though of course being somewhat rootbound is recommended for better containers blooming, it should be remembered perhaps the rootbound condition should be when they're mature plants , and allowing them to be rootbound to young in their growth will stunt their growth, so they should be repotted as for most plants til they've reached some maturity . I wll admit that most sources seem not to mention what size those large containers pictured are in reality, though some places say they're planted in good sized "tubs". I'd guess the 16in. diameter might be minimal for blooming sized plants, but only a guess on my part!

I'm dreading having to repot mine again as it's a very mauling operation. I've left mine at all stages of growth until the plant is totally jammed before potting on but it has flowed regularly at every stage. It's such a pity it can't be planted out permanantly,still we can't have everything and to see snowdrops pushing through the snow is worth a kings' ransom!

In regards to leaf scorch, I have a 4yr. old nicolai, and when I put it out in the warmer months, I first put it in a place where it gets only a few hours of sunlight for a few days, then over the course of a week or two, move it slowly into more and more sun , thus gradually adjusting to the brighter light. Although I have seen no flowers yet, I am anxiously awaiting they're arrival.

That is a good idea, I never thought of acclimatizing the leaves to more sunlight but I suppose it does make sense.

Acclimating is important to all plants, including cactus..I had a few cactus sunburn when taken outside during summer months. It didn't kill the plants, but foliage reddened.
As far as leaves vs flowers, I've read it's best to fertilize once a month, during growing seasons, alternating house plant food one month, then flowering the next, etc.
Also, I believe a Bird has to be at least 7 yrs of age before blooms start..don't know if this is fact or fiction. And supposedly, a Bird requires at least 7 leaves, plus roots need to be slightly rootbound before buds form..Toni

Hello Toni, Yes you're right my BOP was around 7yrs when it first flowered quite some years ago now and has always been very pot bound before each potting on.
Hazel.

My little juncea with a large Sansevieria in back.

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gonzer it's beautifull!! I am soooo moving where ever you live. I hate the cold. Darn thats nice to see thanks for the pics.
Valerie

Oh! Gonzer. That is truly lovely. It's nice to see tropicals actually planted in the ground instead of making do in pots as we have to here in the colder climes.Absolutely super-sonic!
Hazel.

I live in IL..Last summer I planted 2 banana trees in the ground (during summer) and they grew to be huge..I'm thinking of planting both types of birds in the ground this summer..don't know if it'll work or not. Does anyone have opinions? Thanks, Toni

Hello Toni, I wish I had the chance! I'd definately go for it.
Hazel.

Hazel, I'm really impressed w/your Bird..how long did the seeds take to germinate?
What size container is it in? And what type of fertilizer do you use?
Of what I read, it takes at least 7 leaves before flowering..Plus, over time, a Bird should be repotted until roots fill pot..as far as feeding, one month plant should be fed w/all purpose, the next month blooming, etc..
Unless plant is young, they then suggest using all purpose, high in nitrogen..
I don't know what I'd do w/a 150lb plant..LOL..sounds like too much work to be lugging in and out..But I've seen a Bird planted in 23" ceramic containers...it was gorgeous..and very heavy. The container itself probably weighed 50lbs..But the flowers were beautiful..that was the tallest Bird I'd ever seen..
It'd be nice living in a warm climate, yr round where plants could be planted directly in the ground. Oh well, wishful thinking..LOl..Toni

Hello Toni, I found the seeds very easy to germinate,Just make sure you remove the orange tuft and soak it in warm water for at least 24 hrs even 48 hrs I keep warming the water to leach out any inhibitors. Then sow about quarter ins deep in a warm propogater temperatute around 75 degrees.Keep moist and you should get germination after a month but be patient some seeds are like some people-a little slow but worth the effort!It's great to see the little green needles break through the compost. I'm afraid I don't fertilize my plant often enough and certainly don't follow any feeding regime. The pots I use are cheap plastic ones which are much lighter to move around,but there are some very nicely made ornamental looking plastic ones around now. I think it may pay you to buy a seedling plant a couple of years old to get a few years in unless you want the joy of growing from seed. Either way give it a go the harder the challenge the greater the achievment.
Hazel.

Hello there Hazel, nice to meet you on this forum also!
Here's a pic of my Strelitzia. I have had it for around 6/7 years I guess, it was from the 'dead and dying' trolley as I call it at B&Q. I just can't resist having a look to see what they have on there!
I felt so sorry for it, with 2.5 leaves and at around 6inches tall, it was a weedy little thing. It is now over 4ft tall from the top of the pot. I am really hoping it will flower at some point. It got a bit of wind damage/scorch last summer as I put it outside briefly, but at the moment it's still indoors in a south facing window....moved to here for the pic though. Would it be better in the g/h do you think?(my husband thinks so, lol!) It had some spider mite over the winter but I blasted it with the hose and zapped them into oblivion. It looks diferent to yours, hope it isn't one of those Giant Birds I've read about!!
Regards, Gill.

Hello Gill,Your plant looks good to me and now it will definately be better in the greenhouse while temps fall below 9-10 at night, but better outside during the late spring summer when temps are warmer. You must ideally place in full sun in English weather to initiate flowers,unfortunately this does burn the leaves somewhat but I prefer flowers to leaves any day.
Hazel.

I'm inclined to think that mine with the lower light and very chilly temperatures at floor level during the winter indoors, does get damaged brown spots on new growth perhaps if I overwater, so I've tried to be more conservative with the watering under cool low light conditions. It's had less of that this past winter. In other words, my poor plant between perhaps burning in summer in full sun and cold and gloomy all winter, isn't getting very ideal conditions , though the sunburn is perhaps a better situation. I do think they tend to get root rot with the cold damp soil during winter here indoors.

Hello Birdinthepalm, Have you a south facing sunny window you could place your plant in? I am very lucky to be able to pull mine indoors every autumn through the winter cold but because it's in a due south aspect it gets any winter sun available. I think you're right the extremes are not the ideal.
Hazel.

I think the reason my floors are so cold , is the lack of insulation in the crawl space, and last winter the floors seemed even colder than usual. I have some good sized south windows, but the sun lovers all compete for that space, and it's a toss up of course which ones are "favored" with the best exposures, and the Bird would take up too much space perhaps if placed there, leaving little room for the rest of my sunlovers. I will say even moving it where it is right now nearer another south window, in my small front hallway, does seem to have helped this winter with it's general health. It used to be much farther out of the direct rays in past winters, and suffered more. It does bring up the topic though, of what kind of minimum soil temperatures they can endure for long times without problems, and I do know even in southern CA , some days can be might chilly in the winter, and the soil isn't exactly toasty that time of the year? I'd guess soil temperatures then might linger in the fifties for days perhaps, but I never did use a thermometer to find out when I lived there!
As most of us know, it's not only those winter highs that make a difference for some tender plant's survival, but soil temperatures as well, with some not tollerating cool soil even for long!