QA

Question: How To Care For A Norfolk Island Pine

Norfolk pine trees prefer several hours of direct, bright light, such as the type of light that can be found in a south-facing window, but they will also tolerate full indirect, bright light as well. Water your Norfolk Island pine when the top of the soil feels dry to the touch.

How do you care for a potted Norfolk pine?

Your Norfolk Pine prefers average room temperatures between 65-85°F. Avoid drafty areas near heating or cooling vents, exterior doors, and windows. Feed your Norfolk Pine once a month during spring and summer with a general-purpose fertilizer diluted to half-strength.

How do you keep a Norfolk pine alive?

Misting is the usual method for hydrating Norfolk pines, but a humidifier is more efficient and effective. Temperatures should range from 50 to 70 F during the day and 45 to 65 at night. Norfolk pines are dormant in winter, so don’t fertilize until spring using any product for indoor plants.

Are Norfolk pines easy to care for?

Norfolk Island pine trees are easy to care for indoors or outdoors, as long as they enjoy enough humidity.

How often do you water a Norfolk pine?

How often should you water a norfolk island pine? Water every 1-2 weeks, allowing soil to dry out between waterings. A tropical plant, the Norfolk Island Pine’s potting mix can be kept semi-moist, but not wet, which will lead to root rot.

Should I mist my Norfolk pine?

Mist the Norfolk Island pine liberally each time you water using a spray bottle filled with distilled water. Spray the undersides of the foliage and the trunk until the water beads and begins to drip off. Mist it at least four times a week to keep the foliage healthy during the summer.

Can I put my Norfolk pine outside in the summer?

Some folks like to grow Norfolk Island pines outdoors in a shaded or partly shaded spot for the summer. They love this and usually reward you by putting on a big burst of lush, new growth.

Why are the tips of my Norfolk pine turning brown?

If your Norfolk pine has brown tips, it may be a victim of extreme temperatures, either too hot or too cold, it might need water, or it might have Norfolk Needle Blight. For blight, you can treat with a fungicide, but if environmental conditions have weakened your Norfolk, there may be little you can do.

Should I repot my Norfolk pine?

These trees grow slowly, so you should only have to repot every two to four years. Do it in the spring as the tree is beginning to show new growth. When transplanting a Norfolk Island pine, choose a container that is only a couple inches (5 cm.) bigger than the previous one and be sure that it drains.

What do you feed a Norfolk pine?

Apply a balanced (20-20-20) liquid fertilizer to Norfolk Island Pine every two (2) weeks during the growing period. In the summer, especially if grown outdoors, feed plants with an acid fertilizer such as rhododendron food as the high nitrogen concentration stimulates better foliage growth.

Is there a difference between a Norfolk Pine and a Norfolk Island pine?

When the trees are young it is nearly impossible to tell them apart. As they get older, though, the Norfolk Island pine tends to be wider and be more pyramid-shaped than rocket-shaped, its side branches being longer. Female cones are rounder and usually broader than they are long.

How cold can a Norfolk Pine tolerate?

First thing to keep in mind with the care of Norfolk pines is that they are not cold hardy. They are a tropical plant and cannot tolerate temperatures below 35 degrees F. (1 C.). For many parts of the country, the Norfolk Island pine tree cannot be planted outside year-round.

Do Norfolk pines like coffee grounds?

Norfolk Island Pine They will last for decades and longer with proper care. Norfolk Island pine (​Araucaria heterophylla​) grow best in bright light and well-draining acidic soil. That’s where coffee comes in, according to the Spruce, since a weekly cup will deliver enough acidity to keep the evergreen happy.

How long do Norfolk pines live?

Though not true pines, they’re part of a plant family that dates back to prehistoric times. In modern home landscapes, where frost-free climates or protected locations allow, Norfolks are known to live 150 years or more.

How do you know when a Norfolk pine needs water?

Container grown plants always need more frequent watering because they lose their moisture quickly. Even so, Norfolk pine watering should be limited – only water your tree when the top inch (2.5 cm.) of its soil is dry to the touch.

Can you overwater a Norfolk pine?

Overwatering and underwatering Too much soil moisture causes foliage to yellow and then brown, but severe dryness may brown your Norfolk quickly. Check the soil by hand, a few inches below the surface. Soil should be moist and cool–neither wet nor completely dry.

How fast do Norfolk pines grow indoors?

While this tree can grow quite large in its natural habitat, Norfolk Island pine is slow growing. After about a decade, it may eventually reach 5 to 8 feet tall as a houseplant, but this potted tree will not surprise you with explosive growth.