Tropical Bird of Paradise in a pot & drip watering syste

DavidCee

My wife has bought a tropical bird of paradise & planted it in a large pot. Can you make any suggestions other than don't plant in a pot. LOL

We were told direct sun for 6-8 hours on the tag. Now I am being told that is bad. Maybe the tag was written for CA. It has developed curled leaf edges and has what might be a burn in the center of one fairly young leaf. We have limited shaded areas.

Regarding drip watering the link below talks about running small tubes direct to the root zones.

http://www.phoenixtropicals.com/watering.html#basin

All of the drip watering systems that I am familiar with have small tubes running underground BUT emerging from the ground close to the plant's root zones. These tubes terminate in emitters. These emitters can be regulated by twisting the knob like head.

Am I confused? We will appreciate any advice.

Thanks

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 2:17 pm Post subject:

Many of the leaves on your new plant probably grew when the plant was in a different climate since it most likely came from Southern California, near the coast. It might have even been grown in a greenhouse. The leaves of a plant adapt to the climate they were grown in, so our dry air and hash sun will beat those leaves more than if they had grown here. Leaves that grow on your plant here later will be better adapted.

The tag on the plant that tells how much sun exposure it needs is also very likely to be a recommendation for Southern California. Less direct sun is needed here for flowering.

I have seen TBP plants growing in full sun here. They survive but they take a beating, so really its better to have them in a shadier spot. The North side of a house seems to be ideal for TBP here. In that location they get lots of indirect sunlight, enough to flower, and the foliage will still look lush.

My TBP are done flowering. They flower in winter and spring and do not flower during the summer.

Drip emitters can be placed above our below the ground, but I think you are correct in that most of the time they are above the ground. Placing them below the ground can subject them to being clogged by roots, so I believe a different type of emitter is best used in that case.