South Africa is home to the unusual and vividly colored plant known as the “bird of paradise.” It is a huge, comparatively simple plant to grow. Birds of paradise can be multiplied by either sowing seeds or growing plant cuttings of stems and roots in a new pot. Here is our manual on how to propagate birds of paradise.
Best Time To Propagate Bird Of Paradise
The lovely bird of paradise needs specific times and seasons for its various methods of reproduction.
By slicing a piece of rhizome with a clean, sharp knife, early spring is the ideal time to propagate bird of paradise cuttings.
Similar to this, the best time to divide a bird of paradise is early in the spring, just before the first burst of new growth emerges.
However, it is important to keep in mind that, depending on the indoor temperature and plant health, potted indoor plants may start producing new growth earlier than anticipated.
So, in the late winter, You should carry out the necessary division.
Propagating The Bird Of Paradise Plant By Seeds
Another effective way to multiply the strelitzia plant is by sowing its seeds. Birds of paradise seeds, however, require more time to mature and sprout. For your bird of paradise plant to grow from seeds, you will need a lot of patience.
Strelitzia plants bloom as they mature to produce flowers and seed pods. Later, the pod ruptures, releasing the seeds that were harvested for planting.
As an alternative, you can buy the seeds from gardening supply stores and plant them. Fall is the ideal season to plant bird of paradise seeds.
Apart from the seeds, you will also need:
- A pot with enough drainage holes
- Water
- A basin
- a nourishing potting mixture for the growth of seeds.
How to grow birds of paradise plants from seeds is shown here.
- Before planting the seeds, soak them in a bowl of water at room temperature for about three days. The seeds’ tough seed coats are softer after soaking, which promotes quicker germination. For the three days, you’ll be soaking them, using fresh, clean water, and changing it every day.
- As an alternative, you can freeze the seeds for roughly 14 days before planting them. After that, to improve germination rates, slice through the seed coat of the soaked or frozen seeds with a sharp knife.
- Fill the container with potting mix and lightly moisten it. Make sure to place the seeds a frac12 to an inch below the topsoil in the moist potting soil.
- To encourage the seeds to germinate and sprout, water them less frequently and on a daily basis.
It usually takes at least two months and occasionally even a full year for the seeds of the bird of paradise plant to sprout. Faster sprouting is encouraged by positioning the pot in an area with sufficient indirect sunlight and a comfortable temperature.
To retain moisture, cover the top of the pot with mulch. Mist the plant frequently to promote faster growth.
You can either move the plant outside onto the ground or into a new pot once it has grown steadily.
Important Tips:
- The use of fresh tools at the outset is crucial. To propagate the plant, use a clean, sharp knife.
- For repotting, it’s best to select a pot that is at least 20% larger than the one it replaces.
- Divided plants frequently experience shock and appear frail for a few weeks, but they don’t require any special nutrients to remain healthy.
Propagating The Bird Of Paradise Plant From Cuttings
Once a division starts to exhibit strong regenerative growth, you can move it into the pot where it will live for a while whether you want to display your plant indoors or outdoors. Here’s an easy method for repotting bird of paradise cuttings.
- To propagate the mother plant and the offspring, you must dig them up. It’s better to remove the plant entirely from its flowerpot.
- In order to transfer a clean-rooted plant for propagation, the soil around the plant’s roots will need to be loosened by watering before it is removed.
- Use a clean, sharp knife to trim a small piece of rhizome from the broken stalk of birds of paradise. Roots are typically connected in the majority of cases, so sterilizing the knife will ensure this.
- Keeping the roots as separate as possible is therefore essential. To separate the roots, loosen the potting soil with lukewarm flowing water.
- The broken birds of paradise stalk’s open incisions should be evenly treated with a rooting hormone.
- Similarly, ensure that each division has a living fan with connected, moist bird of paradise roots.
- Set up top-notch planting supplies for the propagation pots. Birds of paradise don’t have a preference for specific soil combinations.
- A loamy potting mixture with sand or perlite added is one of the recommended soils for the plant.
- Finally, add every division of the birds of paradise to the pots that have been prepared.
When the cutting stands straight once more or sprouts a new leaf, you’ll know it has been strengthened. Strelitzia cuttings typically develop roots in two weeks. As a result, after these two weeks, new leaf growth is possible.
Important Tips:
- To germinate, birds of paradise need specific conditions, including a lot of indirect light, temperatures of at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and high humidity. Similar to this, the seedlings may suffer harm and even perish in temperatures below freezing.
- Spray the soil and cover it to maintain moisture.
- Remember that the USDA hardiness zones 10–12 are where you must grow these plants. In addition, in the summer, Zone 9 may maintain a Bird of Paradise, but you should bring it indoors in the winter
- Once you notice sprouts, continue to give your young Birds extra attention for the following few months to a year.
Can You Grow Birds Of Paradise In Pots Indoors
Even if you live in a USDA zone with a colder winter, you can grow bird of paradise plants in pots indoors. When a frost is a forecast, moving the pot inside will help it survive by shielding it from the frost.
Usually kept as decorative houseplants in pots, birds of paradise plants. They make a lovely addition to add a touch of the tropics to your space with their large, waxy, banana-like leaves and vibrant flowers that resemble birds in flight.
When given the right essential elements, growing strelitzia plants in pots indoors is simple and successful.
An adequate number of drainage holes in a flowerpot and a potting mix that is rich in nutrients are the first requirements.
After it has been propagated, place the plant in a bright area or a location that receives at least six hours per day of indirect light.
Install a humidifier, mist the plant every day for humidity levels greater than the required minimum of 50%, or water it once every two to four weeks.
For the indoor strelitzia plant to flourish, it is essential to treat any fungus infections and to provide it with liquid fertilizer.
