QuestionQUESTION: I moved in to a place with palm trees in it. I told the landlord that i would take care of them. When winter came I moved them indoors. Put them in sunny spot and watered them once a week. But for some reason the leaves have been dying towards the bottom and slowly moving up the tree.I also tried trimming the dead part of the leaves off hoping to save the rest of the leave. That has not worked. I have no clue what kind of palm trees these are. If you have any ideas or tips that would be great help to me. I live in Minnesota but I keep my place heated to about 75 at all times. If you need more information please let me know. I would feel very bad to have to give 3 dead trees back to my landlord. Thank you so much for your time and help.
Chantelle Nelson
ANSWER: Hi Chantelle,Most Palms are tropical by nature, and that means they need humidity, your temp in the house at 75 and more then likely, very dry! The Palm is more then likely suffering from the lack of air moisture and it is manifesting itself with the browning fronds. Start misting it everyday and try to keep the fronds as moist as possible, not the soil!! the Palm should be watered when the soil is dry halfway down, but those fronds need misting. You didn't mention where it was placed, Sunny, partial Sun etc. let me know...Nick
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QUESTION: Hi Nick, two of my plants are in a partially sunny spot and one is in a very sunny spot. I also wanted to know if i should cut off the partially dead fronds or if I should leave them. How do I know when the soil is dry have way down? Do the plants need fertilizer? Forgive my ignorance, this is the first time I have had house plants. Again thank you so much for your help! Chantelle Nelson
Answer...Hi again, ok, it probably would be a good idea to repot them, I don't (and you probably don't either...) know how long they have been in the present containers, so it is a good hunch that they may be "pot bound"; you need to get them out of the container to check, and if they are, then they need to be put in larger containers and have new soil added. Its an easy fix Chantelle, get your new container and line the bottom with about any inch of gravel, for drainage and then fill it up to a level where when you place the root ball in, the top of the root ball will be about 2 inches below the rim. Before you place it in though, be sure to loosen up the root ball and free up the roots, they will probably be compacted; center the root ball in the new container and then backfill around it with the rest of the new soil (and be sure to use a quality potting soil, not topsoil..).Place them in a spot where they get indirect light and then do as I said before, mist them and water them when needed, and that is when you can dig a stick down halfway into the pot and it comes up dry, another good indicator is when the drainage holes begin to dry out. When you water, water real well, until water shows at the drainage holes, then not again until needed. Leave the fronds that have any green at all left, for they are still functioning, but if they are totally brown, then snip them off..any other questions concerning them, let me know...Nick
