Giant Bird of Paradise

[GREENHAND]

I have this one in this pot for a couple of years with no blooms. any tips for bloom production.

[epicure3]

Looks like you need to put the whole deal into a bigger pot. I don't know if that will make it flower, but it might.

[edric]

Are you in a zone lower than 9b? Yhis is a photo of a rare double, little to much fert. I guess, Ed

[John Case]

I cut all of the pups off and allow the strength of the plant to be focused on the main trunk. I ferilze (top dress) with compost twice a year. It is in the ground.

I flowered last year and a new flag leaf has appeared meaning a new flower this year.

I am in a 9b area.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

[_Keith]

You should have the heat. Here folks nail potted things like Hibiscus and Bougainvillea with a combo of Miracle Gro, Epsom Salts, and Super Bloom to push things into blooming. Some of these formulas are so strong you would think they would kill the plants outright, but they work and they work well. I'll see if I can pull up one of these recipes and post later.

[Jeff in St Pete]

I always heard they flower best when neglected. My clump in FL was in a spot where it received very little supplemental watering. In addition I would throw a couple handfulls of fertilizer around it maybe once a year. It grew fast from a 3 gal size and was flowering in just a few years. It was probably my most neglected plant in my yard, yet it always looked good and flowered for me many times. They are really tough plants!

Unfortunately I cannot grow them here. I tried, but they get black sooty mold very easily.

[_Keith]

I am not saying this is the right thing for your Giant Bird of Paradise, but for those of us who have a winter, this is one person's technique for Hibiscus. - keith.

Ted and Doris Schrade, who grow 48 hibiscus plants along their driveway on Fanny Drive (near St. Pious Church), have tips that have helped them grow car-stopping, eye-popping plants.

First, because part of their planting is in full sun and a smaller part in filtered shade, they can quickly point to the superior bloom of those in sun, and there in lies their first tip. Full, direct sun!

Next month, in mid-October, pencil-sized stems of their plants will be pruned so that five eyes remain. Smaller stems will be cut back to two eyes. A sealer will be applied to all cuts. Cuttings will be potted. When temperatures go to 35 degrees, and until danger of frost has passed, the plants will stay in a portable green house heated by a kerosene heater. During this period each plant will be given one cup of Peters 20-20-20 diluted at half-strength every other week.

Full-strength fertilizing with 20-20-20 every other week will begin when the plants are moved from the greenhouse. At this time the first of three feedings of Ironite, one cup per plant, is will be applied. Ironite will be applied again at the same rate near Memorial Day and on August 15.

Magnesium, in the form of Epsom salts, will be applied at the rate of one-half cup per plant just after buds appear, and again around the Fourth of July. Dolomite lime will be applied at the rate of one handful per plant some 4-5 times a year, or when the leaves look yellow.

The potting mixture for plants and cuttings is composed of one bag each of pine-bark mulch, cow manure and humus, all purchased at local discount garden centers. Containers, which are built by Ted, are 18x18x18-inch cypress boxes with hardware cloth at the base, each holding about 25 gallons of potting mix.

Spraying as needed with Spectracide Bug Stop takes care of most bug problems.

[DoomsDave]

I am not saying this is the right thing for your Giant Bird of Paradise, but for those of us who have a winter, this is one person's technique for Hibiscus. - keith.

Ted and Doris Schrade, who grow 48 hibiscus plants along their driveway on Fanny Drive (near St. Pious Church), have tips that have helped them grow car-stopping, eye-popping plants.

First, because part of their planting is in full sun and a smaller part in filtered shade, they can quickly point to the superior bloom of those in sun, and there in lies their first tip. Full, direct sun!

Next month, in mid-October, pencil-sized stems of their plants will be pruned so that five eyes remain. Smaller stems will be cut back to two eyes. A sealer will be applied to all cuts. Cuttings will be potted. When temperatures go to 35 degrees, and until danger of frost has passed, the plants will stay in a portable green house heated by a kerosene heater. During this period each plant will be given one cup of Peters 20-20-20 diluted at half-strength every other week.

Full-strength fertilizing with 20-20-20 every other week will begin when the plants are moved from the greenhouse. At this time the first of three feedings of Ironite, one cup per plant, is will be applied. Ironite will be applied again at the same rate near Memorial Day and on August 15.

Magnesium, in the form of Epsom salts, will be applied at the rate of one-half cup per plant just after buds appear, and again around the Fourth of July. Dolomite lime will be applied at the rate of one handful per plant some 4-5 times a year, or when the leaves look yellow.

The potting mixture for plants and cuttings is composed of one bag each of pine-bark mulch, cow manure and humus, all purchased at local discount garden centers. Containers, which are built by Ted, are 18x18x18-inch cypress boxes with hardware cloth at the base, each holding about 25 gallons of potting mix.

Spraying as needed with Spectracide Bug Stop takes care of most bug problems.

Dang, those people are more psycho than we are!

[epicure3]

I am not saying this is the right thing for your Giant Bird of Paradise, but for those of us who have a winter, this is one person's technique for Hibiscus. - keith.

Ted and Doris Schrade, who grow 48 hibiscus plants along their driveway on Fanny Drive (near St. Pious Church), have tips that have helped them grow car-stopping, eye-popping plants.

First, because part of their planting is in full sun and a smaller part in filtered shade, they can quickly point to the superior bloom of those in sun, and there in lies their first tip. Full, direct sun!

Next month, in mid-October, pencil-sized stems of their plants will be pruned so that five eyes remain. Smaller stems will be cut back to two eyes. A sealer will be applied to all cuts. Cuttings will be potted. When temperatures go to 35 degrees, and until danger of frost has passed, the plants will stay in a portable green house heated by a kerosene heater. During this period each plant will be given one cup of Peters 20-20-20 diluted at half-strength every other week.

Full-strength fertilizing with 20-20-20 every other week will begin when the plants are moved from the greenhouse. At this time the first of three feedings of Ironite, one cup per plant, is will be applied. Ironite will be applied again at the same rate near Memorial Day and on August 15.

Magnesium, in the form of Epsom salts, will be applied at the rate of one-half cup per plant just after buds appear, and again around the Fourth of July. Dolomite lime will be applied at the rate of one handful per plant some 4-5 times a year, or when the leaves look yellow.

The potting mixture for plants and cuttings is composed of one bag each of pine-bark mulch, cow manure and humus, all purchased at local discount garden centers. Containers, which are built by Ted, are 18x18x18-inch cypress boxes with hardware cloth at the base, each holding about 25 gallons of potting mix.

Spraying as needed with Spectracide Bug Stop takes care of most bug problems.

If you have to do all that stuff, I would just grow something else.

[edric]

Mine blooms all year round, I just hit it with the 10-10-10, when I do the lawn, and water it every other day, min., Ed

[GREENHAND]

Looks like you need to put the whole deal into a bigger pot. I don't know if that will make it flower, but it might.

Yes it is about ready to bust out of that pot, i will do so

[GREENHAND]

I am not saying this is the right thing for your Giant Bird of Paradise, but for those of us who have a winter, this is one person's technique for Hibiscus. - keith.

Ted and Doris Schrade, who grow 48 hibiscus plants along their driveway on Fanny Drive (near St. Pious Church), have tips that have helped them grow car-stopping, eye-popping plants.

First, because part of their planting is in full sun and a smaller part in filtered shade, they can quickly point to the superior bloom of those in sun, and there in lies their first tip. Full, direct sun!

Next month, in mid-October, pencil-sized stems of their plants will be pruned so that five eyes remain. Smaller stems will be cut back to two eyes. A sealer will be applied to all cuts. Cuttings will be potted. When temperatures go to 35 degrees, and until danger of frost has passed, the plants will stay in a portable green house heated by a kerosene heater. During this period each plant will be given one cup of Peters 20-20-20 diluted at half-strength every other week.

Full-strength fertilizing with 20-20-20 every other week will begin when the plants are moved from the greenhouse. At this time the first of three feedings of Ironite, one cup per plant, is will be applied. Ironite will be applied again at the same rate near Memorial Day and on August 15.

Magnesium, in the form of Epsom salts, will be applied at the rate of one-half cup per plant just after buds appear, and again around the Fourth of July. Dolomite lime will be applied at the rate of one handful per plant some 4-5 times a year, or when the leaves look yellow.

The potting mixture for plants and cuttings is composed of one bag each of pine-bark mulch, cow manure and humus, all purchased at local discount garden centers. Containers, which are built by Ted, are 18x18x18-inch cypress boxes with hardware cloth at the base, each holding about 25 gallons of potting mix.

Spraying as needed with Spectracide Bug Stop takes care of most bug problems.

WOW and i though i was radical!!

[John Case]

Hard to see, but in the center of this photo is a flag leaf and the beginings of a flower