The Norfolk Island Pine is only distantly related to true pines. Its genus is Araucaria and native from New Guinea to Eastern Australia with a couple of species found in South America. Species are very tall growing in the wild.

They are sensitive to temperature, preferring a range between 70ºF during the day and 55ºF at night. They will suffer cold injury below 35ºF. They also do not like hot weather. They require high humidity, so misting them daily is important for their health. Your south-facing window is a good location as long as no heating/AC vent blows on the plant. A bright light location without sun will also work. The growing medium should be well drained and acidic—a combination of potting soil, peat, and sand is best. Water only when the top inch of soil feels dry. Fertilize only in the spring and summer. Repot every 3 to 4 years into a next-larger size container.

I appreciate all the help. Is this window large enough for a Norfolk Island Pine? Ignore the way the window looks. we're having it replaced soon.

For a smaller one, probably about a foot tall, that should be fine.

"For a smaller one, probably about a foot tall, that should be fine."

What if I remove the desk and put the tree right on the floor?

"if you water when only the top 1” of soil is dry and you dont check deeper down in the pot, you can easily over water. Don’t do that. "

How often do I water the tree then? Do I keep it moist or wait for all the potting mix to dry out?

Can you take all of the tape off the window?

for watering, use the dowel trick.

use a sharpened wooden dowel and stick it in the soil all the way to the bottom and immediately pull out and inspect.

Dark, damp with soil clung to it = don’t water.

Clean and dry = water

Check. Every day or two.

"Can you take all of the tape off the window?" Like I said in a previous post, I'm having new windows installed (in a week). The window is currently broke. When it's repaired there won't be any tape on it.

So assuming there's no tape there and no desk how big a Norfolk Island Pine do you think I can grow there?

Thanks again for your help.

Sorry, guess I missed the part about the window.

Since you want it to grow, I’d get one between 1-2’ tall.

whats tbe window measurement?

If you place the tree right on the floor, the lower portion below the window won’t get any light and will likely end up being pretty bare with only growth on the top.

Id get one that’s no bigger than the window and place it on the desk.

After I buy it can I leave it in the same container it's in until the roots grow through the bottom or should I re-pot it into the 5 1 1 mix?

Thanks again

I have 2 of these, 3yrs old & overwintered inside, summers outside. They are in 511 mix, plastic pots (since they're so large-3ft). They are in s.facing window inside, on pebble trays. I use MG & I fert weekly year round, using 1/4tsp per gallon . Only probs I've had is losing a few bottom branches during height of garden season being too busy to water as often as I . should. I have repotted them yearly and root pruned any circling, girdling or j-hoooked roots. They almost doubled in size this year! Easy to grow if given enough sun & enough water- but only if in free draining "potting mix".

I bought the tree today. I gave the tree a good watering cause the soil felt dry. I thought there was too much soil on the roots so I removed some but I think I broke some roots. I read that these tree's don't like root disturbance. Do you think I killed or stressed the tree?

Not sure what you mean by removing the soil. Do you mean from the surface or transplanting? How were the roots broken? They are not that sensitive but you should wait for March before doing more.

I removed the soil from the surface.

Curious why you did that? Was the tree showing signs of any kind of stress?

Well I saw the bottom branches buried in the soil so I thought it was too deep. I'm a newbie with indoor gardening. With conifers I normally remove any excess soil that's around the root flare before I grow it in a container or plant it in the ground.

Another problem came up. Yikes, this tree's working against me :(. I bought the tree but didn't know it came in a double container. The problem is that the container that the pot was in didn't have any drainage holes so for 2 days the tree's roots were sitting in water. I didn't know that the water never drained through the bottom :(. I've since removed it but do you think I killed the tree?

If you'd killed the tree it would be dead. If it's not dead you haven't killed it. The has outer double container is a cache pot and is standard practice to hide ugly plastic pots and to avoid damage to furniture. It shouldn't contain standing water but you don't need to remove it altogether. It's unlikely that standing in water for two days will have hurt your plant.

If the bottom branches were buried that is suspicious. It implies the tree was recently badly repotted.

Thanks. I forgot to mention in my post that I watered the tree the day I bought it.