| Life form | Herbaceous plant |
| Family | Strelitziaceae |
| Origin | South Africa |
| Ease of cultivation | Easy to grow the plant with little difficulty, suitable for having a small experience of floriculturists. |
| The size | In a pot up to 1,2-1,5 m in height |
| Growth rate | Average |
| Lifespan | The plant retains decorative qualities for 10-12 years, in the future old copies are replaced by young ones. |
| Temperature | In the summer: room temperature, in winter 53,6-57,2 ° F. Before flowering, such a low temperature leads to the fact that the strelitzia does not grow, but the flower buds are laid. It is easiest to leave the strelitz on the balcony for at least a month, and then move to the room. The second way is to ensure nighttime temperature changes in the spring. In this case it is possible to provide flowering in September. At temperatures below 50 ° F, roots begin to die off at the strelitzia. |
| Humidity | Should regularly spray the leaves with warm soft water, especially in summer in the heat, place the pot in wet gravel or expanded clay, wipe the leaves with a damp cloth. In winter it is also necessary to spray with cool water. |
| Lighting | Bright diffused light, requires a small amount of directional light. This will stimulate flowering. On the southern window you need to shade. The west and east window will do. If the light is not enough, Strelitzia will grow, but will not bloom. |
| The soil | A ready-made fertile and loose general purpose soil is added, with a small amount of sand added. For the soil of own preparation, take: 1 part of the sod land, 1 part of the leaf earth, 2 parts of the plant earth, 2 parts of humus, 1 part of coarse sand or perlite. Always use a pot with a hole. |
| Watering | Requires abundant watering and constantly moist soil in summer. In summer it should be watered every 3 days, in a special heat even every 2 days. From September to April every 10-15 days. Before flowering in the period from November to March, watering is reduced to 1 -2 times a month. Only in the spring the intensity of irrigation is increased again. |
| Fertilizer | From April to September every 3 weeks with liquid fertilizer. |
| Reproduction | In the spring, the branch of the daughter processes or the division of the rhizome. It is possible to propagate by seeds, which very quickly lose their germination, for normal germination, the seeds should not be older than 6 months. Seeds are soaked for 24 hours in warm water and plated in a mixture of wet peat and perlite and germinated at a temperature of 75,2-78,8 ° F, covered with a film or glass. Seeds germinate for about one and a half months. The germination period is shortened if seeds with thick skin are sanded beforehand, with emery paper. This will allow faster penetration of water to the endosperm. As soon as the sprout appears, transplanted into a mixture of earth and sand. As the seedlings grow, the temperature is reduced to 64,4 ° F. Young plants bloom in 3-6 years, when there are 6-8 leaves. |
| Bloom | White, yellow, orange, blue flowers up to 15 cm with orange bracts on large peduncles to 1 m. Flowering begins in spring. |
| Transfer | Young plants every year in March-April. Adults are transplanted every few years, during the transplant you can divide the rhizome. The pot for an adult plant should be deep, its diameter should be at least 25-30 cm. The roots of the shoot are fleshy and rather brittle, so you need to be careful when transplanting. Ranches should be sprinkled with charcoal. |
| Features of care | For better flowering, the plant needs a rest period in winter in a well-lit room at a low temperature. |
| Difficulties | At low humidity, it suffers from a spider mite, a scabbard, a mealybug may appear. Dark spots on foxes arise from the excess moisture in the soil. The plant can lose flowers if you move the pot. In winter, leaves can fall because of too low a temperature. Slow growth and lack of flowering can be due to malnutrition. Due to excess moisture in the soil, the base of the stem and roots may rot. |
| Air cleaning | – |
| Toxicity | – |
