hey hey what's up Garden friends how's
everybody doing I hope you're good cuz I
am great and this is not all going to
fit into frame hmm yes that's a little
better
except hey hi can we focus please there
we go
all right so in one of my more recent
videos I've talked about rosemarys and I
want to talk about Norfolk Island pines
it's a really common plant there out at
the nurseries all over the place right
now because it's the holiday season and
these cute little pine trees are popping
up all over the place you see MIT the
grocery stores any type of market at the
hardware stores they're all packaged up
nice and pretty in these little foil
things that my cats love these hood your
cats like these things they make so much
crinkly noise can't let them too close
to them though because they end up
eating it and that's not good for them
it's a festive type plant because
they're tiny little pine trees except
these plants the Norfolk Island pines
which is what is it are Ikaria hetero
phyla the Norfolk Island pine which
actually not a pine tree even though it
really does look like one doesn't it and
they get massive that's not something a
lot of people are too concerned about
because unfortunately these are kind of
like a toss away plant people buy them
during the winter time they give them
someone as a gift or they keep it as a
gift and then they just sort of throw
them away or they die and there's a lot
of different things that happen with
them but you don't often see them as a
house plant in large sizes now even
though these can take very brief cold
spells they really prefer to be warmer
in a frost free climate so zones 10 and
up may be warmer parts of 9 and up
really not gonna do great below 40
degrees not for a long period of time
but if you're keeping this as a house
plant you don't really need to worry
about that it really only matters when
it comes to when to bring it inside just
bring it inside before temperatures drop
below 50 degrees at night time as these
are popping up at all the different
garden centers and all over the place to
purchase them for the holidays so I'll
dressed up and cute with ornaments on
them and oftentimes sprinkle up with
some glitter I'm not a huge fan of
though it's pretty very very very messy
these guys in their smaller state really
are not representative how these look
when they get bigger when the Norfolk
Island pine gets to be a large tree it
is so cool-looking actually they start
to look pretty cool before they're even
that
generally by the time they're just a few
feet tall they'll start to show some
neat characteristics needles on these
guys are very very very soft very
pliable
they don't really candle out like other
evergreens do or other piney spruce II
type plants we're basically like little
cones start to come up on them you can
break those up and whatnot when you want
to encourage a different type of growth
with these if where you get cut it is
where it stops so it's best to avoid
pruning unless it's to remove dead
foliage no back buds on these guys as
you can see there are a fair amount of
trunks in here that's not gonna be how
this will stay at maybe for a couple of
years but this plant these Norfolk
Island pines they can grow up to two
feet a year in their optimal conditions
maxing out around a hundred feet in the
coastal US where they can be grown and
other areas even larger than that
obviously that's not going to work as a
house plant not at that size but they
tend to grow much slower indoors for my
purposes this year I only needed these
little guys I didn't need any big ones
cuz I'm gonna be planting these up and
doing something else with some and
that'll be in a separate video I'm just
going to go ahead and undo this bow here
and pull this guy out we can have a look
at what's going on in here so as you can
see the hairs not only was this wrapped
in foil it's also in a plastic liner the
problem with this is this isn't going to
allow for drainage even though oh wow
that's like is this stapled in there
what's the deal into the title of this
video to unboxing on Norfolk Island pine
okay yeah there we go
there's glitter everywhere not as
attractive but it is better you want to
make sure that those holes are there
that these can drain freely one of the
tricks with these pines is to make sure
they get as much sunlight as possible in
the home everything I'm gonna be talking
about is endorsed by the way if I hadn't
mentioned that so indoors as much
sunlight as possible generally from one
direction is a little bit better and
then make sure that you rotate the
plants every so often maybe every other
week just to have more of an even growth
on them let's not let them dry out for
very long also probably no more than a
day you just use your finger to do a
soil test if that top inch or so is dry
give it a good watering until that water
is running all the way out the bottom of
the pot sometimes with the Norfolk
Island pines they will start
to show that they need watering when
it's too late so if you're basing it off
of how the plant looks once they've
started to kind of droop a little bit
and brown out sometimes it's too late
then one of the reasons it's so
important that the water flushes through
the bottom of the pot is to ensure that
you're giving this plant a heavy drink a
heavy drink is important because these
often have very weak roots is usually
not a lot going on inside the pots when
it comes to their root systems it takes
them a little bit longer a few years for
them to start establishing themselves
and you can see this guy rocking all
over the place clearly this one probably
isn't rooted in there very well at all
their roots just usually are not very
well developed so I'm gonna pull this up
so we can have a look at the roots and
this one actually isn't that bad I've
seen much much much worse than this you
can see that it's potted up in a very
very PD potting as well which is gonna
help retain some moisture I would
probably prefer it have not quite this
much peat in it because I don't want it
to stay stopping wet for too terribly
long so considering the size of the
plant that's up here I would prefer to
see the roots coming up a little bit
higher but it's been getting good deep
watering those roots are down low
they're starting to move around this is
a fairly healthy plant now I have dirt
on my phone there have been times in the
past when I've picked these guys up to
do like winter arrangements with them
and they had like next to nothing as far
as roots go on them so that was a nice
surprise one of the things that make
these a decent plant to keep in the
house other than the fact they get huge
so when you take that into factors
that's not the best house plant but I
mean so does a ficus those get gigantic
- their growth is going to be slower in
a pot that's for sure
but what I was going to say is that they
do tend to have kind of a dormancy sort
of period not really a sort of it's a
dormant period being the spring and
summer maybe early fall it depends on
where you live when temperatures are
above that 45 50 degree mark you can
keep them outside and of course bring
them in the house in the fall winter
time I would recommend before you do
that start planning several weeks in
advance before you move your plants
inside and start to gradually reduce the
amount of life they're getting so they
can be a little bit more accustomed to
being indoors because no matter what you
do no matter how much Sun is coming
through your windows it's not the same
as full Sun outside where it's not
filtered through the
glass just helps ease the transition a
little bit so now that they're indoors
as much light as possible don't let them
sit in their water but make sure they
are watered frequently placing a tray
underneath them works really really well
you can I have done in other videos I've
shown would make sure you have gravel in
them and that's a pot is sitting above
the water that way there's water in
there to evaporate and provide humidity
to the plant having a more humid
environment as when help reduce browning
on the foliage if you live in a very dry
area like my winters are very very dry
here spray bottles come in very nifty go
ahead and just give them a mess every
now and then it's quick and easy and it
helps prevent those tips from browning
from their needles from browning out
Brown tips are usually a sign that they
need more water if you notice that the
branches are starting to droop a little
bit that's also sign that they need more
watering yellowing also that's usually
means more watering unfortunately it
also sometimes means it's been getting
too much water that's why I said to be
safe make sure that it's not sitting in
something where it can't drain like
those foil packs soils make lovely
lovely packaging to give them way as a
gift but not for the longevity of the
plant that'll probably kill them they
don't want to be sitting in their water
it's not gonna make for a very happy
pine not buying Norfolk Island pine
all-purpose balanced fertilizers usually
what's recommended something like a fish
meal fertilizer they like that a lot too
I always like to talk about where do the
plants come from these grow in coastal
areas and they are in rocky sandy soils
that drains very very freely but there
are also areas that have a decent amount
of precipitation normally and that's why
I've been saying they like that frequent
watering but they don't necessarily
wanna be sitting in it they're used to
water moving right through their roots
since during the winter time they're
indoors I mean not for everybody you
might grow these outside that's that's
not what we're talking about here they
really don't need to be fertilized
I don't ever fertilize mine during the
winter time partially because it's
really hard for me to get enough light
on these guys in the winter time I don't
have any south-facing windows that have
bright bright bright intense light and
so what can end up happening is if
you're fertilizing them and they're not
getting the right amount of sunlight you
can actually start to get some really
lucky and weird-looking plants that
leggy growth is occurring because the
plant isn't getting the light it would
get outdoors it's not really in active
growth however it's receiving fertile
that fertilizers giving the plant that
energy to go ahead and put on some
growth but the plant isn't necessarily
getting the light that it needs to have
stout short compact growths not that
these are tout compact plants but in
contrast to being a lucky plant
so those spread out the lean and whatnot
because you're giving them fertilizer
and telling the plant go on grow do your
thing but really in wintertime it's best
to just let them chill keep them watered
and just let them chill they'll be okay
they don't need fertilizing now in the
springtime though you'll start to see
some cute little this actually kind of
has some on it which is probably just
because of where they were grown it'll
start to push out some cute little green
tips that'll start coming up from the
very top of the plant up here you can
kind of see those little buds in there
those will eventually in the springtime
when this goes back into active growth
those will start to branch out and
spread basically form a whole new
section just like you see right here but
up here and then so as soon as you start
to see some type of movement and that
top piece there any type of change
that's once time to go ahead and start
fertilizing I don't typically keep these
as houseplants because my aesthetic is
more on the tropical sides than on the
palm tree looking side even though these
look really cool when they get bigger
I just don't often see them for sale and
a larger size to start out with so I
don't really bother because like I said
generally it takes them a few feet about
three feet four feet tall sometimes in
two feet depending on how they were
groans I'm just start showing the really
really neat characteristics of why I
think that these are such cool looking
plants why most people think they're
such cool looking plants if I stumble
upon one that's the right price and a
decent size then I'll go ahead and get
one because they look really cool but
for now I mean they're just they're more
gifts and for other people when trying
to do something sort of fun and wintery
now I was out doing some Christmas
shopping and well that happened it was a
good deal I don't know what my point was
there lately lost track of what I was
saying anyways when I was going to make
those that if you are giving these as a
gift even though these wrappers look
really really cool maybe you know
someone who doesn't necessarily have a
green thumb why not go ahead and buy a
pot to put it in and preferably one that
has a hole this one does not have a hole
I'll draw a hole in it later for now I'm
just gonna pretend there's a hole in
there and that I've drilled one in there
if you get the right size pot you don't
really even have to do much you can just
set it right in there okay well that
looks like garbage in a situation like
this where the pot sticking up I'd
probably add some moss around the side
or some ribbon or even better you can
keep it in that foil and just tear the
bottom of the foil out and have that
coming out the top that would be cute or
even better just go ahead and repot the
plant completely do so like I said make
sure that you're using a pot that has a
hole in the bottom or I'm just
pretending there's a hole in the bottom
of this one for right now and a cactus
soil works really well for these guys
season for that being is that it doesn't
hold on to the moisture for too terribly
long really have to make sure that they
stay watered frequently if you're gonna
go that route it just makes it so much
easier to avoid the plant dying back
because of root rot because of water
building up down here and it's just not
being a happy camper typically cactus
soils tend to have much better aeration
because it's a loose soil the air can
move through it more oxygen and that
does help encourage root growth too with
the plants that prefer that most plants
really as I mentioned I can't really
repot these right now it's because I
have a separate project going on with
these that'll be in a separate video and
I don't want to repot it and then repot
it in robotics like I said they have
weak roots they probably wouldn't
appreciate being repotted over and over
and over again but when it comes time to
do that I'll be more detailed in that
video might seem a little bit silly to
have two separate videos on these guys
but I just like the idea of being on
what I have of videos that's really more
just about to care what to do with these
indoors and transitioning through the
seasons in a separate video that way
when it comes time to pop them up and do
something fun with some I can just dive
in and just play around with it and say
hey if you want to know more about
taking care of the plant then check out
this other video I will also say the
foliage on these is actually a fairly
light green right now which it should be
a little
darker than us it's not showing on
camera at my lighting I have in here
which is mostly for my plants not
filming it's not really doing these guys
justice that's for sure yeah that
doesn't help no I'd say that that's
worse is it
I can't tell okay but that's gonna do it
that was just a quick rundown different
things to keep in mind with these plants
the main thing like I said is light and
water they do need some humidity so the
spray bottles are nifty or humidity
trace it's just there's a lot you can do
it the main thing is don't fertilize
them during the wintertime and don't let
them dry out for very long either okay
that was fun I hope everybody's doing
well don't forget to leave the video a
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you back I have a blast scenery's
pictures but everybody has going on if
their plants and in their gardens and
just talking everybody it's a good time
and comment down below let me know some
of your experiences with these guys I
have seen these potted up indoors in
certain places around like sixth I'd say
ten feet tall and they look so cool
these really are not representative of
how they look when they're big I've said
that before I'm keeping my eyes open
maybe someday I'll get one that's a
little bit bigger yeah like I said let
me know some what you guys got going on
with your Norfolk Island pines some of
your experiences have they done for you
these like I said it tend to be kind of
a toss away plant a lot of the times
you're given people as a gift and then
they have them for a few months and then
they die and then it just goes into the
garbage which is sad and unfortunate but
I they propagate from seed fairly easily
so I guess it's it's not the end of the
world just a little bit wasteful but it
just happens sometimes and sometimes
things like that can be an experience
that leads people into buying more
plants than warning about them and
trying again and that's always a good
thing all right I have a ton of glitter
to clean up I hope everybody's doing
well and as always everybody and most
importantly keep on growing that
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you