Palm tree rescue
August 12, 2015 2:22 PM Subscribe
My palm tree seems to be dying. Help!
It recently got very hot in our apartment (sustained at 35 degrees for a week) and the humidity was not high (40% I think). The three leaves on our palm tree kind of closed up like fingers on a hand, and are mixed green and yellow in colour. They feel crunchy.
The central new leaf coming up is also crunchy and there are fruit fries.
This is a nice palm which I would like to save. Is it possible?
It recently got very hot in our apartment (sustained at 35 degrees for a week) and the humidity was not high (40% I think). The three leaves on our palm tree kind of closed up like fingers on a hand, and are mixed green and yellow in colour. They feel crunchy.
The central new leaf coming up is also crunchy and there are fruit fries.
This is a nice palm which I would like to save. Is it possible?
Response by poster: Well that sounds quite promising, I thought it was dead! Thanks @vergartanipla. I have uploaded a photo if you have any more advice I will gladly take it :)
posted by gorcha at 11:30 AM on August 13, 2015
posted by gorcha at 11:30 AM on August 13, 2015
Best answer: Oof, yeah, it doesn't look too happy though it's not dead yet. I'm going to be frank - palms are not good indoor plants unless your indoors happen to have as much sunlight and humidity as palms' native outdoor environments. They pretty much are always in a slow-to-moderate decline towards eventual death indoors.
Make sure there isn't a vent blowing on it - that's worse than just overall environmental heat.
Yours seems to want more light, more humidity in the air, less water in its pot (the fungus gnats are telling us that), and possibly just a little more fertilizer (not a case of if a little is good a lot is better) because sometimes yellowed/brittle leaves are a sign of nutrient deficiency. Also, if you're watering with chlorinated tap water you should leave the water standing out for 24-48 hours before use so the chlorine can evaporate out as that can stress plants and yours is already stressed. You may want to pot it down aka pot it into a smaller pot so the soil doesn't retain so much water (less soil means less that can hold water). You should only water it when the top three inches of soil are dry (stick your finger into the soil to check). You can leave trays/bowls of water around it and mist its leaves occasionally to up the humidity nearby.
But again, the main issue is more the plant species itself. I'd recommend an Aglaonema, they are much happier indoors than palms but seem to have a tropical atmosphere nonetheless.
Best of luck!
posted by vegartanipla at 7:06 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Make sure there isn't a vent blowing on it - that's worse than just overall environmental heat.
Yours seems to want more light, more humidity in the air, less water in its pot (the fungus gnats are telling us that), and possibly just a little more fertilizer (not a case of if a little is good a lot is better) because sometimes yellowed/brittle leaves are a sign of nutrient deficiency. Also, if you're watering with chlorinated tap water you should leave the water standing out for 24-48 hours before use so the chlorine can evaporate out as that can stress plants and yours is already stressed. You may want to pot it down aka pot it into a smaller pot so the soil doesn't retain so much water (less soil means less that can hold water). You should only water it when the top three inches of soil are dry (stick your finger into the soil to check). You can leave trays/bowls of water around it and mist its leaves occasionally to up the humidity nearby.
But again, the main issue is more the plant species itself. I'd recommend an Aglaonema, they are much happier indoors than palms but seem to have a tropical atmosphere nonetheless.
Best of luck!
posted by vegartanipla at 7:06 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The "fruit flies" are fungus gnats, and they tend to live in overly wet soil. So you're probably overwatering it right now - let it dry out a little bit. You can also sprinkle cinnamon on the surface of the soil which is a natural anti-fungal and may help with the gnats. The plant itself may have a rot/fungus problem, and if so the cinnamon may help with that, too.
Typically indoor palms don't get enough light. Slowly increasing its light either through getting it closer to sunlight or through daylight spectrum CFL bulbs will probably help if it isn't currently getting much. Don't immediately put it in sunlight, though, as it will get sunburnt if not acclimated slowly.
If it hasn't been repotted in a while, it may have used up all the nutrients in the soil (and the soil may have accumulated detrimental salts from the water). You may want to change the soil out. Decent store-bought soils will be labelled as cactus/citrus/palm potting mixes.
posted by vegartanipla at 4:42 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]