Strelitzia Nicolai 101; Growth, Light, Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting & Propagating
The Strelitzia Nicolai is easily one of my favourite plants.
I love everything about it!
Its look, the way it defines spaces, and the tropical flare it adds to any environment. But most of all, I love its ease of maintenance!
You give this plant a big, (very big) and bright, (very bright) space and it will reward you with stunning, enormous leaves month after month; Summer and Winter.
It won’t disappoint you!
Watch out though!
This plant is not for everyone and not for every space!
So, before you go out and buy yourself a Strelitzia Nicolai, read through this article and make sure you have the right space for it!
Strelitzia Nicolai, also known as Giant White Bird of Paradise, or even Wild Banana, is native to the evergreen coastal forests of Eastern South Africa.
It is also considered native to Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
It is naturalized in Eastern Mexico.
This plant is widely sold as indoor plant, but it rarely produces flowers indoors.
It is commonly planted outdoors in regions with warmers climates.
It is often mislabeled and confused with the Strelitzia Reginae, a smaller type of Strelitzia, as they are both known as Bird of Paradise Plants due to their inflorescence resembling tropical birds.
size really matters!
If you are looking for a low maintenance, fast growing indoor plant, this is it!
I can’t think of a better plant than the Strelitzia Nicolai, provided that you have a large space with a tall ceiling available, and that this space is also very, very bright!
My Strelitzia grew from 3 to 7 feet in 18 months!
That’s right! It doubled in height in just over a year. And this is just its height!
Its footprint has grown considerably as well!
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the right amount of space for this plant. You can look for the Strelitzia Reginae instead. It’s harder to find, but it is as equally as beautiful and it doesn’t grow as big!
Here’s the difference between the two!
Strelitzia Nicolai
Strelitzia Reginae, (in the pot to the right).
Photo Credit: Luca Deasti on Unsplash
Here is the growth of my Strelitzia Nicolai in 18 months.
As you can see, it went from corner plant near the Fiddle Leaf Fig to taking over my home office.
This picture was taken in December 2019, when I first brought my Strelitzia Nicolai home from IKEA!
This picture was taken 6 months later in May 2020. You can appreciate the significant growth in only a few months!
This is my Strelitzia a year and half later in May 2021.
18 months of growth in these 3 pictures.
ideal light
The Strelitzia Nicolai does relatively well in areas with medium to bright light conditions, but it absolutely thrives in bright light conditions!
South facing rooms and windows are ideal for this plant, as it can tolerate a few hours of direct sunlight in the morning.
Too much direct sun exposure, as in the case of a Western room or window, can actually scorch and damage the plant’s foliage.
Make sure that wherever you place your Strelitzia Nicolai, there are no vents, nor drafts. This plant has absolutely no tolerance for cold temperatures and drafts of any kind!
This newly unfurled leaf is facing my home office southern window, where it soaks up a few hours of morning direct sunlight.
Another beautiful unfurling leaf reflecting the bright light coming from the south facing window of my office.
Notice how only part of the leaf is unfurled, while the tip is still tightly sealed? This unfurling process causes the leaf to be split. This is very common in Strelitzias, especially when they grow into bigger plants. There is no reason to worry though. A good way to help your plant unfurl the rest of its leaf naturally, is to mist the portion of the leaf that is still sealed. The increased humidity will help the leaf break the seal that keeps it tightly wrapped up!
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preferred humidity levels
This plant loves high levels of humidity.
However, it is pretty good at tolerating the average household humidity levels, which can be pretty low in the summer months when the air conditioning is blasting at full force.
The trick is to balance the lower level of humidity with more frequent waterings, misting and perhaps, even considering grouping your Strelitzia Nicolai with other plants of similar size.
A good way to maintain high levels of humidity for large houseplants such as this one is to group them with other plants of similar size. Mine is in good company with a Fiddle Leaf Fig.
watering your strelitzia
There isn’t a rigid schedule to follow when it comes to watering your Strelitzia Nicolai.
This plant likes its soil to be moist but not soaked. Use your finger to determine if your plant needs watering.
If you stick your finger in the pot and you feel that the top soil is still pretty humid, the plant does not need to be watered.
A rule of thumb is to allow the top 50% of the soil to dry out between waterings.
You’d prefer to under-water than over-water this plant!
Based on our climate, the watering frequency of my Strelitzia varies throughout the year…
We have very cold winters and because of that it is important we maintain a low humidity in our homes to avoid condensation and mold.
In summer, when it’s hot, we turn the air conditioning on, which drastically dries the air out.
Then we have the shoulder seasons; Spring and Fall, when heat and air conditioning are off and our home relative humidity tends to be high.
I basically have three different watering frequencies based on the seasons and their relative humidity levels; winter, summer and shoulder seasons.
Summer is when I water my plants the most because air conditioning really dries out the air. Besides, plants are in their growing season during these months.
Winter is when I slow down the watering frequency because even though the air is dry, it’s not as dry as during summer, and the majority of plants stop their growth for the season.
Shoulder seasons, (Spring and Fall), is when I water less because the humidity is higher and the soil takes longer to dry out.
fertilizing is key
The Strelitzia Nicolai grows big and grows fast.
It’s hungry for food!
Despite my habit of feeding my plants every week from Spring to Fall with an all purpose liquid food, I take it a bit easier when it comes to my Strelitzia, and I go every two weeks!
It’s like a gentle giant, and too much fertilizer can actually burn its roots!
repotting strelitzia
Since Strelitzia Nicolai grows fast, you can expect to repot your plant at least once a year, until it reaches a plateau size, and you’ll have to start dividing your plant.
Repotting plants is not just about upsizing their pots, but it’s also about checking their roots’ health by giving it a good wash, and replacing the nutrients depleted soil.
So, whether you think your Strelitzia needs a bigger pot or not, it is a good habit to repot it anyway, even in the same pot, to replace the soil.
A well draining soil mix is ideal for your plant. You can buy a generic potting mix and add a good amount of perlite to increase drainage.
Buy a pot that is no more than 2″ bigger in size than its current one, even if this plant grows fast. Bigger pot means more soil, more soil means more moisture retention and more moisture retention means greater chance for roots rot.
Make sure you buy a pot with draining holes, and ideally a terracotta pot. Its porosity is ideal for indoor houseplants’ soil aeration.
Click here if you want to learn more about repotting houseplants.
This is a root cutting of the Strelitzia my friend Michelle divided.
It’s a good representation of the Strelitzia root system.
propagating the giant strelitzia
At a certain point, your Strelitzia Nicolai will outgrow your home.
You will have to downsize your plant.
Or perhaps, you feel generous and want to share your love of Strelitzia Nicolai with the people in your life!
The best way to do that is to divide your plant, (propagate it).
Simply pull your Strelitzia out of its pot and determine how many actual plants there are in that rootball.
Often there are multiple plants in one pot. I know I have 3 in my pot.
There are two ways to divide the plants and their roots;
- cutting the roots with a sharp knife. That’s it! Simply divide your plants.
- gently pulling the roots apart. You may want to soak the rootball in water to make the parting easier.
My friend Michelle Strelitzia was growing too big for her home, so she decided to divide it into three plants.
She kept one for herself, she gave her sister in law one, and she gave me her third cutting, (because one Strelitzia is never enough right???😜).
Once Michelle removed the plant from its pot, she confirmed she had 3 plants all intertwined into one rootball, so she gently pulled the plants apart until the roots came apart as well.
Then she delivered one of the cuttings to my door!
Curb-side Strelitzia delivery! We are in the middle of a pandemic after all!!
general maintenance
There are a few but important aspects to consider if you want to be successful with your Strelitzia Nicolai;
- Prune the old and yellow leaves! Plants put a lot of energy into each leaf and flower they produce. They continue to spend that energy on those same leaves and flowers even when they are spoiling and dying. It is important to divert such energy into new growth by pruning the old and decaying leaves and flowers. Click here if you want to know more about the benefits of pruning your houseplants.
- Once your Strelitzia has reached a certain size you can no longer repot, you can prune its roots! Pruning plant’s roots helps you control and maintain a plant’s size. Click here to learn more about Root Pruning.
- Support your plant! Once your plant starts growing significantly is size, its tall stems and large leaves become heavy, causing the stems to bend all over the place. Some like the effect. Others don’t. You can support your plant by using special gardening ties; whether they are velcro garden ties or soft garden twist ties. The stems can be fastened around a central post you stick into the pot, or they can simply be tied together to bring the stems closer to one another. Stem support can be given to young Strelitzias and fresh cuttings that need to establish roots as well, (like I did with the cutting I received from my friend Michelle).
- Strelitzias have huge leaves. These leaves can collect a lot of dust over time. Dusty leaves, not only are unsightly, but they also prevent your plant from processing photosynthesis effectively, hence compromising its health. Wipe your Strelitzia Nicolai leaves at least once a year using a home made natural product that won’t damage its beautiful foliage. Check out this article for the recipe.
- Rotate your Strelitzia Nicolai periodically, like once a month! It is important because its long stems will tend to lean toward the sun. If you don’t want to have a plant leaning one way, continue to rotate it in order to maintain a “structural balance”.
These Velcro Garden Ties come in different widths and lengths to adapt to different plants and applications. This is the one I used to tie Michelle’s plant to a support stick until the roots are established into the new pot.
These Velcro Garden Ties are available on Amazon.
This is one of my Pinterest Pins for my article on Cleaning Houseplants Leaves.
something extra that is good to know!
As described before, it is totally natural for the Strelitzia Nicolai to have split leaves.
Scientists believe that these splits in the plant’s giant leaves have a functional purpose;
The main purpose is to reduce drag in the wind.
In nature, these leaves are so big that they could easily break if they didn’t have splits for the wind to pass through.
Others also suggest that these splits allow sun rays to reach the lower leaves of the plant in their native environment.
So when you see splits in your leaves, you have no reasons to worry.
As the plant grows, you’ll notice that the new leaves will unfurl in stages.
One part of the leaf, generally the tip, will remain sealed while the rest of the leaf will unfurl. You can help you Strelitzia Nicolai to naturally unfurl its leaf by misting it daily. Higher levels of humidity will help the leaf break the seal, and eventually unfurl completely!
I highly discourage you from doing what I did, (see picture and captions below!).
Don’t use your fingernails to break open the seal that keeps the leaf wrapped up, and don’t do it as soon as you see the spear unfurling one part of the leaf! Give your leaf time to develop!
Just mist your leaf and the plant will unfurl when it’s ready!
This is the newest leaf on my Strelitzia Nicolai.
Do you see a problem with it? Yeah…I think I was too “eager beaver” to have the whole leaf unfurled, and went ahead “helping” the leaf the moment I saw a piece of the leaf unfurling. Instead of misting the leaf to let it unfurl naturally, I aided the leaf by gently running my fingernail along the folds wrapped around the spear.
It unfurled right away, but after a couple of days I noticed how the part I forced to unfurl was still very pale in colour and flapping down.
That is nature telling me I should have let the plant do its own thing. The leaf was clearly not quite ready to be unfurled!
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Hey Plant Loving Woman!
Are you a middle age mom?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious?
Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
To reveal your #1 Personal Houseplant that best
helps you reduce your anxiety.
Thank you for all the great tips!! I look forward to learning more!😀
So glad you enjoyed it!
Where can I get one
Hello Mary,
it really depends where you live.
If you live in a big city, places like IKEA and Home Depot sell them.
You can also find them online;
If you are in Canada try;
https://plantcollective.co/products/birds-of-paradise-plant-strelitzia?_pos=1&_sid=cc199bc92&_ss=r&variant=29664494583907
In the U.S. you can try:
https://www.thesill.com/products/bird-of-paradise-large-indoor-plant?_pos=2&_psq=bird%20&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=39503828025449
Thanks for he great article. My problem is the plant has grown up to the ceiling of our sun room. What is the best way to trim it, so it’s not all bent leaves and stem?
Anil
Pennsylvania
Hello Anil! Thank you for your kind words.
Unfortunately, when you trim Strelitzia’s stems, they won’t grow back…It is an incredibly fast growing plant, and the only way to contain its growth is to prune its roots. You can read more about root pruning here.
https://blog.mytastefulspace.com/2021/06/22/root-pruning/
Very informative article. I was searching for tips on repotting mine, and you gave me all the information I needed and more. Thanks from South Australia🇦🇺😊
Hi
Having a plant cut down outside can l take a cutting from it
It is very big almost full hight
Dh
Hello!
Id this is a cutting of Strelitzia, I am not positive it will work. Strelitzias are propagated by division of their roots. If you can get to its roots and repot a chunk of it, it will work. I am afraid that stems and leaves won’t root.
Very helpful and clearly explained from own experience with great examples! I still struggle with the watering of my Strelitzia nicolai’s – you mean if the top 50% of the soil around your finger is dry you need to water? Best regards!
Thank you!
And yes, if the top 50% of the soil feels dry to the touch it’s time to water. However, if you keep your Strelitzia in a fairly bright area, you can pretty much water this plant on schedule once a week or every 10 days.