Why wont new leaves open on birds of paradise?

Dottie B
by Dottie B

I have a Bird of Paradise plant for a few years. Unfortunately I have three new leaves but they haven’t opened, any suggestions?

  4 answers
  • Rebecca Taylor Rebecca Taylor on May 25, 2019

    Hi Dottie, here is a video I think can help.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjb4so3ymM0

  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on May 25, 2019

    maybe they got damaged from weather,bugs. gently unroll them by hand, more info.Strelitzia nicolai need very bright light to develop the thick, rigid leaf petioles and leaf blades they typically display in a greenhouse or skylit atrium environment.

    The "stuck" unrolled leaf can be due to insufficient water pressure (turgor) in the leaf due to too-dry medium (usually because the tech is petrified of killing the plant by keeping it moist, especially in a dark corner such as this one); or because low humidity has prevented the edges from separating from the inner rolls of leaf tissue as the new shoot emerges; or from a pest infestation hiding inside the rolled-up shoot, usually scale or mealybug, that "glues" the tissues together with honeydew.

    Try misting with lukewarm water and a drop of soap along the edges of the leaf blade. The soap will help the water penetrate beyond the sealed edges and into the inside portion of the leaf and "un-stick" it. Sometimes the leaves may guttate (secrete moisture droplets containing sugars and salts from the plant's cells), and when this moisture dries along the leaf edges, it can literally cement them to whatever they're touching (in this case, the inner portion of the unfurling new leaf). The misting with soapy water should help clean away this residue and free the leaf to do its thing. But the soil needs to be moist in order for the plant to have enough water pressure within its tissues to mechanically expand and unfurl its new leaves.

  • Alice Alice on May 30, 2019

    I wish I knew how to answer your question but I don't so I found a video on YouTube that might help...


    https://youtu.be/IieWcF8F1lY

  • Dottie B Dottie B on May 30, 2019

    Yes I received a couple of suggestions, tried the one about washing folded leaves with hot water and help them by unrolling the leaves. It worked on all 3 leaves, let’s see now if the flower will ever appear. Thank you