Hello everyone.

I'm new to this posting stuff, so if I omit something, I apologize in advance.

I've had a Bird of Paradise (bop) for about 2 years now. It was about 3 feet tall when I got it and it's now about 5 feet tall.

I have no clue what colour it is as it has never flowered.

However, my concern is with the last few batches of new leaves.

It's growing a new one about every 8 weeks, and it grows all fine and dandy until it's time for it to unroll. Then it just stays rolled up and slowly dries out and dies. I lost two new leaves completely that way and the last one I unrolled by hand out of fear. The one I did manually is not a half unrolled pitiful excuse for a leaf.

The big problem of the moment is that I have another new leaf that is at the 'time to unroll' stage and I'm worried it will die too.

The other leaves on the plant (about 4) are all green and healthy with no visible signs of a problem.

Heck, the stalks of the leaves that didn't make it are still healthy.

The problem first appeared last Sept after a year and a half of healthy new growth.

Info: 10" pot, water when it starts to get dry, miracle grow once a month. The plant has a southern facing window, but doesn't get a lot of light due to the office buildings around me. And I can't get it any more light.

Any insight into the problem will be greatly appreciated.

(Sorry for the rambling.)

* * * *
Aaron.

Hi Aaron,

Sounds like a root problem. Check to see if the roots are terrribly potbound. If so, move it up to a 12" pot. On the other hand, if the roots look sparse and mushy, then root rot is the problem.