I Stopped Killing Bird Of Paradise Once I Knew This

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]The bird of paradise does not want to be sat in indirect light. That's the common advice you might have heard, but it will make him unhappy. These plants want as much sun as you got to offer, and when we give it to them, they grow compact, bushy, and they might even flower for you. Flowering is highly sought after in the house plant world, but it's very tricky to achieve indoors. It's just not bright enough compared to the great outdoors. I've had mine in my southwest facing conservatory for over a year now where he gets sun on his back from midm morning to early evening, but still no sign of a flower. He's as happy as he could be sitting indoors in my gloomy climate, but I'm not sure I'll ever see a flower. The other part of the equation is maturity. They only really flower when they're a few years old. So maybe when he's a preschooler, he'll do the business. Now, there is a caveat to all this bright sunshine. As you can see here, this was in the early months of me owning him and I had him pressed up against the glass. Not a good look. The glass amplified the light a bit too much and he got sunburn. Not to worry though, a quick prude and he was back on track.

[00:01:06]Another thing that you'll notice about mine is that he's a bit one-sided. All the leaves are chasing the light to the right where the sun is brightest. That's completely normal, but it does mean I should have been rotating him every so often. I didn't. And now he's picked a favorite direction.

[00:01:21]>> So what do you do when you can't offer him a sunny conservatory?

[00:01:25]>> Well, there are two options. You can either grin and bear him becoming a bit lanky and a bit stretched out, or you can buy him a Santi grow light for his birthday. I'd recommend their 36W bulb that you can plug into any floor lamp that will handle the wattage. It should be plenty bright enough for him. And use my link in the description for a juicy 25% discount.

[00:01:48]Let's talk about root because this is what unlocks how you care for this guy properly. And the first thing to understand is that they grow through ryomes. What on earth is a ryome? I hear you whale. Basically, they are big fat chunky stems that sit horizontally under the soil. As the plant matures, those ryomes get bigger, push up new shoots, and send roots down into the pot. That's how the plant spreads. You'll see the same thing with plants like zezy plants.

[00:02:15]Now, ryomes store water and energy for the plant, which means two things.

[00:02:20]They're quite drought tolerant and hate sitting in soggy soil. This means we should on the side of caution when it comes to watering. The worst thing you can do is to keep topping up the pot every Saturday without checking first. I let mine dry out completely before giving him a drink. And to tell when that point is, I use my good old moisture meter. I wait for it to get into the dry zone and then soak the soil thoroughly. This is the wet dry cycle we need to get into to make sure those ryomes don't turn into a mushy mess. How often you water will change throughout the year too. I tend to water say every 7 days in the summer and then maybe every 10 or so days in the winter, but it probably will be different for you.

[00:03:03]It will also be determined by how much light you're giving him. The sunnier the spot, the quicker he'll need a drink to support that growth.

[00:03:11]When you have a look at the soil of yours, you'll probably notice that he's got a lot of junk in the trunk. And this is normal. Like I say, those ryomes grow pretty chunky pretty quickly and tend to push out of the pot. You can see this with mine, or at least I can feel them anyway. The more they sit around in the same pot, the more it becomes disfigured. So, does all this chunkiness mean that we should be repotting every 6 months? Not really. No, in my experience, they tend to like a snug pot. In fact, I would say they prefer to be left alone and not fond with at all.

[00:03:43]I've had mine for about a year and a half now, and I've not repotted once, and he's not telling me he wants to repot either. Growth is still coming out with a plum, and there are no signs of yellow leaves. Once that changes, I will upgrade him to a bigger part. Now, if you have a peek at the crown of my plant, you'll notice there are three clumps coming out of the soil. This will either be the ryome spreading under the soil, sending up new shoots, or I've got three separate plants in the pot. I'm guessing the latter because growers tend to put multiple plants in the same pot to make it look nice and full in the shop. This isn't much of a big deal, but I do need to keep an eye on the root a bit more than if it was a single plant.

[00:04:21]This manager has potential to get very messy.

[00:04:26]When it does come time to repotting, do make sure to use the right soil. Avoid heavy compostbased mixes designed for the garden because they hold on to water for too long and the ryomes really hate that. Instead, they want an airy chunky mix that drains quickly and dries out in good time. Cyberotanica do a fantastic range of pre-made mixes for pretty much any plant type and their details in the description along with a discount code to make good use of. But if you're more in the DIY camp, then my recommendation is to start with a base of coconut core and add plenty of perline orchid bark to really open it up. I'll link to a video at the end where I show you my potting mix recipe in detail. So stay tuned.

[00:05:09]So the most distinctive part of this plant is of course the big beautiful leaves that can fill in a large space in the home. Think of these as giant solar panels. The more of these he grows, the happier he'll be, but we should maintain them from time to time. The thing to avoid is using leaf shining products. I know we want these big leaves to shine, literally, but it creates more problems than it solves. Lots of them are oil based and won't do any favors to the leaves. Instead, it's much better to just keep them clean with a damp cloth.

[00:05:41]This does two things. It clears away the dust so that he can photosynthesize better. Plus, it keeps naughty pests at bay. These cheeky chappies are prone to catching a bug or two. Ask me how I know. Thankfully, they're pretty easy to spot because there aren't many hiding spaces for them. Spidermites in particular tend to hide out in that nook in the leaf, spinning their wispy webs.

[00:06:03]So, when mine got infested, I took it outside and sprayed it down thoroughly and then treated it with pesticide every few days for a month. And wiping down every so often will dislodge anything hoping to colonize.

[00:06:17]If you've had your plant for a while, then you'll have probably experienced this kind of thing happening. This is actually a perfectly natural phenomenon, the plant just doing its thing. So, don't panic. In the wild, bird of paradise grow in windy, exposed conditions, and those splits actually help the leaves let wind pass through instead of tearing the whole leaf apart.

[00:06:35]So, it's not damage, it's actually a feature. I would say though that this does tend to happen more in hightra areas. If folks are brushing past the leaves all the time, they split more easily. My conservatory doesn't get used all that much. It's pretty much just me mincing about making videos and looking after plants. So, mine doesn't get knocked about too much. As the plant matures, though, splits are just part of the look. You're not going to keep those leaves perfectly pristine forever.

[00:07:04]It's my ultimate goal to get this guy to flower. And whether that actually happens where I live, I'm not so sure.

[00:07:11]But I am giving it my best shot. If you have the same dream as me, then you really need to nail two things. The first is light, which we've already covered, and the second is nutrients.

[00:07:22]Now, bird of paradise can be quite hungry, but only when it's actually growing. If it's getting enough light and pushing out new leaves, it will make good use of nutrients. If it's not, then feeding won't do much at all. Folks often think that fertilizer is there to speed up growth, but it's not really.

[00:07:38]Light will only ever do that. Feeding just gives the plant what it needs to make the most out of that light. So, don't fall into the trap of giving him a bonus feed every week or adding half a capful more to the watering can, thinking that it will boost growth, because it won't. This can actually lead to fertilizer root burn, which really is one of the trickiest holes to get out of. What I do instead is feed little and often. Every time I water, I add a diluted feed following the bottle instructions. So, what about winter?

[00:08:07]Should we stop feeding when the temperatures plummet? Not necessarily.

[00:08:11]As long as you're not living in a fridge, temperature shouldn't be an issue. Instead, it's the light. The key is to watch out for growth. If the plant is still sending up new leaves, then he'll still need nutrients to support that growth. If he seems to have gone into hibernation, then hold off until spring. I actually continue with my light dose all year because he continues growing in winter, albeit a bit slower.

[00:08:34]Let's touch on every plant owner's favorite topic now, humidity. And does this plant want high humidity? In an ideal world, yes. Like most tropical plants, you would prefer not to live in a desert. So, if your home is bone dry, then you might see a few crispy brown leaves here or there. But he's actually far more adaptable than people give him credit for. My advice here would be to start small. In my experience, smaller plants are just much better to your home than large established ones. The leaves come with might struggle for a bit, but any new growth will be adapted to your conditions, and that's where the plant really settles in. And honestly, I wouldn't really go out of your way trying to raise humidity. Misting does next to nothing, and running a humidifier all day just for one plant isn't exactly practical for most people.

[00:09:20]As long as you've got decent light and you're watering properly, this plant will be absolutely fine in normal household conditions. So, that's it for this video. Watch this video next where I show you the exact soil mix I use for my indoor plants.