How to Grow Cuttings From White Birds of Paradise

The white bird of paradise is a relatively rare, unusual-looking member of the banana plant family. Instead of the more common orange and purple flowers that resemble a tropical bird, this bird of paradise plant has subdued white flowers with a dark blue tongue. In U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 9 through 11, the plant can reach 30 feet tall with a 10-foot spread. The leaves are large and leathery, growing in a fanlike display from the top of multiple trunks. When the plant produces shoots at its base, it’s possible to grow cuttings from them.

Knife
Potting soil
Perlite or vermiculite
Rooting hormone
Small pots
Spoon or small trowel

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare a planting medium by combining 1 cup of perlite or vermiculite with a gallon of good-quality potting soil. Fill 3- or 4-inch pots with your mix, and water until the soil is saturated. Make certain your starter pots have drainage holes.
- 2
  Search for offshoots, also called pups, in late spring or early summer. Using a sharp knife, cut each offshoot you want to propagate at its base, as close to the mother plant as possible but without cutting into the main stem.
- 3
  Dip the base of the offshoot into a rooting hormone, following product instructions.
- 4
  Dig a small hole in the center of the pot, making it just a little larger than the base of the offshoot.
- 5
  Set one offshoot into the planting hole, and fill with additional potting mixture. Press the soil lightly around the base of the offshoot.
- 6
  Keep your potted offshoot in an area without direct sunlight but with bright indirect light. Leave it in this location for about eight weeks. Keep the soil moist, but do not allow the pots to sit in a saucer of water.
- 7
  Move your potted offshoots to a sunny location after about eight weeks.

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