Help! Hurt bird of paradise!

I have owned a bird of paradise for about two years. It is about five feet tall and has about half a dozen large leaves, with another half dozen small leaves near the bottom. Since I got the plant, I've taken good care of it and it appears healthy, sprouting up a new leaf about every 4 months.

My problem is that a friend was here, a clutzy friend, and he fell on my bird of paradise. FELL ON THE DARN THING. So he bent almost all of the stalks; they snapped like twigs. I couldn't believe it. All of my big beautiful bird of paradise leaves, now sagging and resting on the floor. Even though the inside supporting material snapped, the outer "skin" remains intact. I quickly hijacked some poles from my rubber tree and carefully used them to prop up my bird of paradise's damaged stalks...hoping they will restore like broken bones.

My question is, will the plant ever heal? If so, how long would it take? If not, what should I do? I'm considering just pruning off the bent stalks, but that would be like starting over with it. Even though I haven't had it very long, I'd like to keep it instead of having to buy a new one.

thanks for any advice,

phil (phrom san phrancisco)

p.s. my rubber plant, newly liberated from its poles, is quite enjoying its freedom.

Reply to
Phil
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Cut off the bent stalks as close to soil level as you can to keep the over all look of the plant remains healthy. They won't heal. Yes it will be like starting all over, but in the two years you've had it the root mass has grown so it won't take two years for it to be as lovely as it was. As soon as the days get longer and warmer it will start pushing out a bunch of new growth. Probably by fall weather you will be pleased with its recovery.

zhan

Reply to
zhanataya

Just love on your friend. Some folks are not as graceful. Thats why I don't follow sports. I'm not graceful and I've fallen on my plants.Once did such a good job that I crushed my heel and had a plate and 10 screws put in.

Be glad your plant is alive. It'll come back as it is established. Probably will fool you and look bette rthan prior to its haircut.

-- Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky

2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful ô¿ô -
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Reply to
J. Kolenovsky

Yeah, if I had a friend that was that clumsy, I would demand the klutz pay for the damages and the dude forever be in debt to make up for what he did. I would have taken the jerk's wallet out of his pocket and taken all his cash as a down payment for the irreparable damage done. Was the dimwit drunk when he fell on the plant or is he just a complete idiot? I might even have beaten the crap out of him too (just as a down payment reminder)!!

Reply to
Cereoid-UR12-

Poor plant. Poor you. Poor friend. Accidents happen, as I was reminded when a Dudge van the size of a battleship totalled my faithful old Sentra last week.

As Zhan says, few plants 'heal' with splints. (Nice for us that people

*do*.) And as she also notes, a healthy root mass is likely to help the plant recover.
Reply to
Frogleg

This is pretty freakin' hilarious, especially if you consider that this "friend" is actually my girlfriend! I was covering for her because she felt so awful when it happenned. But now she knows, if she falls on any more plants, to prepare for an alabama beat down, heh heh.

phil

Reply to
Phil

Ah ha! Now the plot thickens.

You got the chick drunk in hopes of getting some nookie and she totals your plant as she passes out instead.

Was it worth it? Are you expecting her to pay for the damages in ways other than monetarily? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!! Are you hoping to experience a different type of bird of paradise? Are you expecting monthly installments of hugs and Lewinskys?

Reply to
Cereoid-UR12-

Salty Thumb expounded:

Where was an SUV mentioned? Dodge vans were around long before SUVs.

Reply to
Ann

Michelle expounded:

Maine, too. More guns per capita in Maine than in Texas, I've heard. You don't hear of housebreaks up there, most doors are unlocked, because most everyone's got a gun or two and know how to use them.

Gun control just makes legal gun owners jump through more hoops. Like those prisoners say, they don't buy their guns from dealers, they buy them on the street; there's more out there than any licensing authority is ever going to keep track of. Keep yourself safe, don't expect a law to do it.

Reply to
Ann

All the countries with gun laws that basically keep the guns out of the hands of everyone but a very few have almost no murder rate at all and dont have little kids dying from finding daddy's gun and playing with it ... like England and Japan. Lots of people got guns in Canada, dont lock their doors, but dont suffer from redneck or survivalist mentality either and have a murder rate like England and Japan. see "Bowling for Columbine"

The US has a murder rate puts it in the league with third world nations at war. It seems to be mostly due to a marketing strategy that "violence sells", a political strategy that uses the threat of violence to keep our attention off the real issues, and a national identity that glorifies violence and a "shoot first and ask questions second" male macho crappola mentality.

When I was running for public office I had to drive quite a distance on back roads. at that time there was somebody out there pretending to be a cop, stopping women and attacking them. I had the choice of how to defend myself and I chose locked doors and a cell phone rather than a gun. Yes, I am a good shot, no I dont think I could pull the trigger and kills somebody.

Wisconsin is trying to over ride the Govs veto of a concealed carry law. I know states with em would like us to believe that crime drops, but those people are not really into rigorous statistical analysis either. All I know is every single police organization, every single cop out on the street is against this kind of bill. Ingrid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reply to
dr-solo

it stops shit loads of criminals and lunatics from getting a gun legally. they DO try to buy from gun dealers. buying street guns is like buying your VCR outta somebody's trunk. you get what you pay for. Illegal guns are more expensive and are mostly pieces of shit that are as likely to blow up in a persons hands as misfire. Ingrid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reply to
dr-solo

Ann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Actually I think it was a Dudge van. But you should be ashamed of yourself for reading my crazy talk. :-) Anyway, you probably don't need an anti- tank weapon for a van, probably just a regular grenade would work fine.

Reply to
Salty Thumb

I'm glad you had the choice.

BTW How's your double tap? Second shot close to the first?

Regards,

Hal

Reply to
Hal

snipped-for-privacy@wi.rr.xx.com expounded:

Oh, please, Ingrid, it does not. Go ahead and believe it does, it makes you feel safe. I don't need gun laws to make me safe, I've got what I need to do that.

And I wouldn't sully my eyes with Bowling for Columbine. I definitely don't get my 'facts' from Michael Moore. One fact that Michael Moore failed to tell you was out of the 34 states thatpassed concealed carry laws, *none* experienced an increase in crime.....none of them. Maybe you should have watched John Stossel the other night, they don't call gun control a myth for nothing.

Reply to
Ann

Scientific American just had an article on teh decline in crime rates since 1990. Nobody is sure why crime declined, and evidently it had nothing to do with concealed carry either. I personally think it had a lot to do with extremely low unemployment and a very healthy economy. Oh yeah, crime is now on the rise... INgrid

Ann wrote: One fact that Michael Moore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reply to
dr-solo

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Michelle

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Michelle

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Michelle

Reply to
Michelle

Especially those criminal football players who take steroids. Yeah, we need to stamp that out.

Reply to
animaux

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