Free Norfolk Iland Pine Plants

Norfolk Island pine plant is a wonderful household plant belonging to the tropical plant group. It is commonly visible in the well lighted and humid environment. This plant although resembling pine in a lot of ways is not a true pine. It grows as a garden shrub and is not as hardy as the true pine plants. Norfolk Island Pine is commonly visible during the winter holiday season where you will get to see this plant popping up in the floral shops, table tops, home environment and in the super markets.

Right location to plant Norfolk Island Pine plant : Upon knowing the requirements of a Norfolk Island Pine, you will have a good environment filled with good production of this wonderful plant. Thus, knowing the right location in planting this plant is very important. Although this plant requires good exposure to sunlight for healthy growth, you will make sure that access sunlight is not suggested. Opened location, well lighted, fertilized soil and good ventilation locations are best for Norfolk Island Pine.

Norfolk Island Pine being a household plant will grow well in patios, good ventilated room, sunrooms, warm to cool temperature room, partial to full sunlight areas. Make sure that this plant is not over heated or this plant will dry up in no time or turn yellow.

Repotting : Repotting has a lot of advantage in a plants proper growth and healthy growth. Repotting will encourage better growth of this plant at the same time increasing the life span of this plant. You don’t have to repot this plant every year, the best time to repot this plant is once in three years time.

Growth : The growth or tallness in height of Norfolk Island Pine greatly depends on the kind of care you give to this plant every year. Their growth is secondly determined by the location where it is grown. Norfolk Island Pine is a long lived plant, it has been studied that this plant has a lifespan of up to 150 years and some of the Norfolk Island pine found in the California Coast are found to grow as tall as 100 feet. Environmentalist has researched and found that this plant grows up to 2 feet every year. The growth of this plant is twice seen in Australia. When planted indoor, the plant will grow up to 20 feet.

Care : Norfolk Island pine plant is the favorite plant to almost every house holders; they love having Norfolk beautify their house with its everlasting green appearance. Thus, they choose to take good care of this plant in every way they possibly can. Taking good care of this plant will mean its possibility to grow all year round and for many years.

When it comes to taking care of the Norfolk Island pine plant, you need to keep in mind that this plant is not a true pine, not cold hardy and that they can tolerate temperature up to 1 C and not below. In this case, when the winter outside is freezing cold, you may need to bring the plant indoor to protect it from cold drafts.

Light : Light is the prime component needed by the Norfolk Island during its growing time. Being a tropical plant, this plant is a great lover of light and humidity. This plant grows best when it is provided with direct sunlight or indirect sunlight. If you are growing this plant indoor, it is good to keep the plant at a south facing window to allow maximum amount of indirect sunlight. Some signs of drying of the leaves or yellowing of leaves can be seen when the plant is left to grow in an access light/or direct sunlight.

Humidity : As you know by now that Norfolk Island pine plant is a tropical plant and tropical plants need humidity to grow to its full potential. Thus, it is important that you consider humid temperature when growing Norfolk. Humidity falls especially during the winter months, in order to maintain good humidity you can either use humidifier, mist the plant at least two times in a week or use a pebble tray with water. Lack of humidity in this plant can show signs of browning of the entire branches leading to browning of the leaves.

Water : Water is one of the basic requirements of every plant as the same applies to the need of us human beings. You will have to keep this plant well hydrated for its proper growth. In order to maintain good moisture in the soil, you are suggested to water this plant as soon as the top soil of this plant gets dry or feels dry. Lukewarm water is good. Misting the leaves during its active growing months will encourage proper growth and slow misting during the winter months because this the plants resting period. The other way to maintain watering ritual to this plant is by watering this plant twice during the week days. You are not suggested to overwater this plant or leave it under-watered as this may very possibly lead to browning of the leaves and branches.

Fertilizer : Fertilizing any plant will encourage good yield and it is important to know the right time to fertilize your plants as the growing time for any plant depends greatly upon the type of season. When it comes to fertilizing Norfolk Island Pine plant, the right time to fertilize this plant is during the spring and summer months—the active growing period of Norfolk Island Pine. It is good if you can provide fertilizer to this plant at least once in two weeks.The kind of fertilizer suggested for the Norfolk Island Pine is water soluble balanced fertilizer or liquid fertilizer (20-20-20). Acid fertilizer such as rhododendron food which has good nitrogen concentration is suggested during the plants active growing stage especially in summer when the plant is grown outdoors. This will help in healthy foliage growth.

Diseases : Norfolk Island Pine is often attacked by pest such as scale insect and mealybugs. The plant when attacked by bacterial infection, virus,, trauma etc will result in dead plant tissues. Signs or symptoms of this bacterial attack can be noticed once the leaves start to turn brown or yellowish.

Uses : Norfolk island pine plant with its evergreen appearance serves as a wonderful household plant. This plant serves as a good holiday decoration. It resembles Christmas tree and is decorated during the Christmas season. Another common use of Norfolk Island pine plant seen in the Asian countries is that this plant is used in art sculptures because it has soft wood that makes sculpturing easy.