I am a newbie with B.O.P. but mine is doing the same with top leaves. Mine is indoors by a south facing window in the cold months. I am expecting new leaves this spring/summer. I just recently visited a big greenhouse near Greensburg Pa . They had orange trees with oranges on them, and tender Ensete banana trees, Cukes grown verticly with little cukes on them, also big palms. I would just LOVE to have a nice big heated in winter greenhouse and have even a quarter of the tropical plants they had in their greenhouse. I need to play the lottery more often. Well, when I do I never win, maybe Grover Cleveland can give me some money (new lottery game) Moma needs a conservatory, or big greenhouse. Poaky1

Any plant in a pot needs repotting on a regular basis. There will be some who make the claim that a ponytail palm will "thrive" on neglect, but that is not true. That the plant will suffer a lot of abuse without succumbing to the stress cannot be taken as indication it approves of the stress. No plant does, and neglect is always accompanied by stress ...... or it isn't neglect. The most often overlooked key to a persistently healthy plant is regular repotting into a soil that won't hold enough water to be a limiting factor. At the point your plant can be lifted from the pot with the root/soil mass intact, it will benefit from a repot ...... and a repot is much different than potting up. Potting up ensures the limitations imposed by root congestion remain, where repotting eliminates entirely the limitations associated with root congestion. Over-watering in poor soils can be lethal. The idea is to use or make a soil that allows you to water to beyond the point of saturation, so you're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids (salts) when you water, this, without the plant having to pay an "over-watering tax" in the form of significant loss of potential. Tight roots can rob your plant of more than 90% of it's potential as the congestion reaches the critical stage. All the succulents, trees, and most houseplants I grow are grown in this medium: Best luck! Al

I think the white flowering Bird of paradise is more of a purely foliage plant indoors and does an outstanding job in that aspect. Moreover, the white flowers aren't much to fancy IMHO. They do get big but they are constrained by the pot and the indoor growing conditions so I don't think they will be bursting through the roof. Here is a pic of mine. It came along with me from a rental apartment. The landlord said he would trash it if I wasn't interested taking it along with me. For the longest time I thought it was a foliage plant. Then I discovered that it was a bird of paradise. I spent a couple of years trying to give it enough light including outdoors on a balcony to coax it to bloom. It just made the plant raggedy, the wind messing up the leaves. Eventually I realized it was the giant one which wasn't going to flower in that conditions I could provide. I am happy thinking of it as foliage only houseplant again.

Hi, Amanda. Because of the sudden reduction in the amount of water your plant will actually need, maintaining appropriate moisture levels has just been moved to the forefront in terms of criticality. The easiest way and arguably the best way to monitor moisture levels deep in the pot, where it counts most is by using a wooden 'tell', which can be very easily made from a 1/4 or 5/16" wooden dowel rod. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Are you left with any additional questions or concerns? Al