Tips on Orange Birds of paradise

[D Palm]

I have a few orange birds of paradise planted in ground around the pool.  After a couple months of warm weathe, fish emulsions plus 6-6-6 granular fertilizer one flowering stem has emerged. 
 

What is the recommended Fertilizer ratio or product to bring these to the next level?

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, D Palm said:

I have a few orange birds of paradise planted in ground around the pool.  After a couple months of warm weathe, fish emulsions plus 6-6-6 granular fertilizer one flowering stem has emerged. 
 

What is the recommended Fertilizer ratio or product to bring these to the next level?

Increase the K.. They love it.  Growing up around a bunch of  these ..And my grandpa constantly chopping at them to pass around ..or just toss,  Notice they can take a couple years to really start flowering after planting ..if yours are younger.  If fat n' happy,  up that K. ( 12-15%, 3x a year should be perfect )

[D Palm]

@Silas_Sancona I planted mine last winter and a 20 degree night hit them, covered with a blanket but some burn occurred. Was kinda shocked to be honest that it sent out a flower. The fish emulsion is 4-1-1 and it has been bulking up with the leafs as I thought with the extra Nitro.

Ty for the tip!

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, D Palm said:

@Silas_Sancona I planted mine last winter and a 20 degree night hit them, covered with a blanket but some burn occurred. Was kinda shocked to be honest that it sent out a flower. The fish emulsion is 4-1-1 and it has been bulking up with the leafs as I thought with the extra Nitro.

Ty for the tip!

My grandparents had theirs planted in a entryway bed since... at least the early 70s.  Grandpa finally axed the last of them sometime in the 90s ..Not because something was wrong w/ them, but .. he had a thing for planting stuff, then yanking it later.  Anyway,

Those things survived every freeze that occurred there, inc the big 1990 freeze where downtown San Jose  hit 20 ..or 19F.  No doubt the side of town i grew up on / where my grandparent's house is located went at least a couple deg. lower.. ( Less development between the mountains and our neighborhood at that time )  I just can't recall how cold, even though we lived around the corner from my grandparents at that time.  Regardless, that side of town Is typically a few colder than downtown during really big cold events.

Think the only fertilizer he gave them was whatever leftovers remained from fishing trips out of San Francisco or Monterey Bay. Things were massive and full of flowers from roughly  April - October or November.  My grandma's sister still has some of the original plants in her yard in a different part of town.

[Merlyn]

Any suggestions on optimal soil conditions and amount of water?  I originally planted a bunch in a peninsula bed in the front yard, with a 1gph dripper running about 15 minutes per day on each clump.  These were the typical Lowes/HD 3g pots.  The soil was random yard dirt, mostly fine sandy stuff.  Some took off, some languished.  A couple of them died from apparent root rot.   So I took off the drippers and left them with just rain water...and they did about the same.  Over in my "tropical bed" area I have 3 clusters that are getting sprinkler-on-a-stick overhead spray every morning, and they are huge and flowering regularly.  The soil over there is a lot richer.  So I'm not really sure if they like lots of water, no water, rich soil, pure sand, or none of the above...?

[Silas_Sancona]

51 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Any suggestions on optimal soil conditions and amount of water?  I originally planted a bunch in a peninsula bed in the front yard, with a 1gph dripper running about 15 minutes per day on each clump.  These were the typical Lowes/HD 3g pots.  The soil was random yard dirt, mostly fine sandy stuff.  Some took off, some languished.  A couple of them died from apparent root rot.   So I took off the drippers and left them with just rain water...and they did about the same.  Over in my "tropical bed" area I have 3 clusters that are getting sprinkler-on-a-stick overhead spray every morning, and they are huge and flowering regularly.  The soil over there is a lot richer.  So I'm not really sure if they like lots of water, no water, rich soil, pure sand, or none of the above...?

Can't speak for others, but the ones at both my grandparents and Auntie's house lived on mostly rainwater ..and keep in mind, San Jose gets most of it's rain in winter, and winters there are cooler than Central FL.

  Completely ignored water-wise, at least at my grandparent's house, in the summer.  Soil they were planted in was the usual South San Jose clay / rock / silty sand.. Nothing special added, ..except the fish remains, lol..

[D Palm]

I feel in love with these species while stationed in San Diego, CA. Honestly, they look better in SoCal imo. I have tried these before in N. Fl and hurricane Matthew destroyed them…late spring planting. Why I planted in November last year to give them time to acclimate before heavy winds/rain. 
 

Native Sandy soil seems more of a must, nothing boggy. No drips, just water heavy and let it completely dry plus a couple days extra. I only did fish emulsions (4-1-1) watering in this dry weather and they have bounced back from cold damage really well…was super shocked to see the flower. I’ll grab a pick of it tomorrow. My Sunniland Palm granular is 6-1-8 so I put that down instead of generic 6-6-6. No supplement waterings at all since it appears the rain is here to stay.

They are common in retail around these parts but you rarely see a good bush.

Edit: Full blown sun too. Also another reason I planted in in November. First attempt in 2014 the sun absolutely nuked them. But they need it to dry out or you experience root rot. I would recommend planting Oct-Dec in N. Florida for best success based on prior failures. @Merlyn

Edited May 24, 2022 by D Palm

[D Palm]

Other “one-size fits all” resources say part sun is better but can tolerate full sun. That’s probably for California. Most part sun locations hold water from June-September in Florida and will rot the BoP.

Why I love Palmtalk!!

[D Palm]