Older Chamaedorea Elegans needs help (air layering?)

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Hello everyone.  It's been a while since I have been here.  Glad to be back.  

I have an older C. Elegans that is in. Ed of some help.  I'm not sure if it's age but I'm guessing at least 10-12 years old if not older? I've had it since 2009.   I can't remember where I got it but I suspect it may have been through someone selling here.  Anyway it is about 2&1/2 to 3 feet tall.   It's been though, ans survived a lot including a few moves, very low light condition at one point, and having all of its leaves burnt off by being left outdoors in direct sun.  It's  recently had a severe newly bug infestation which took months to get rid of but now after applying a systemic they seem to be gone for 2 months.  

At present its in pretty good shape. Except for its roots. It only has two roots left that actually go into the soil mix in the pot. It sits upright fine with its bamboo stake but if that is removed it falls right over to one side.  It does have large inactive root nodes about 1/2 way up its trunk.   My question is should I attempt to air layer the bottom 2-3 inches and then repot it at that depth?   If so what are your list tried and true methods for doing this?  Thank you for any ans all help!  It is much appreciated!    Here are a few photos below. :  

[Pal Meir]

Plant it ca 10 cm deeper in the same pot and give it a lot of water, then let it get drier, and so on:

 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

10 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

Plant it ca 10 cm deeper in the same pot and give it a lot of water, then let it get drier, and so on:

 

Really?   So don't even bother with the traditional air layering method then eh? Just repot deeper and let it donuts thing.  

i guess it's the same exact thing really, but would that spur in the root growth even gayer than the traditional method?  

[Pal Meir]

Repot it at least as deep as shown in this pic; and give it at first lots of water. You may use the old soil or fresh one, but repot it now! Air layering would mean more lost time in this bad condition.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

2 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

Repot it at least as deep as shown in this pic; and give it at first lots of water. You may use the old soil or fresh one, but repot it now! Air layering would mean more lost time in this bad condition.

 

Ok. I will give that a try and repot this guy today.  I'm going to use new palm and cactus soil for the task.   Hopefully he will put out new roots and respond with some great new growth!    Thank you for the help.  Much appreciated!  :-)

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

8 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

Repot it at least as deep as shown in this pic; and give it at first lots of water. 

 

Project completed successfully.  It's actually buried slightly deeper than what you suggested by about an inch.b I used beans new Palm ans cactus mix (miracle gro)  and doused it good until wanted ran out of the bottom.  It is already much more stable and doesn't need staking.  However I added it back as it is outdoors on the balcony until it gets too cool.  It's breezy at times up here and I didn't want to wish it.   I really hope that this works ans I see lots of new roots and lush new growth!   I'd be thrilled for him to hang on to 3-5 more leaves on top of the  4-5 he usually keeps.  It just finished opening a new frond about a week ago and here is a new one coming already.   Look good?     Thank you again for all he help  I will update this thread as to its progress when I see results  

Photos below. 

[PalmTreeDude]

10 minutes ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

 

Project completed successfully.  It's actually buried slightly deeper than what you suggested by about an inch.b I used beans new Palm ans cactus mix (miracle gro)  and doused it good until wanted ran out of the bottom.  It is already much more stable and doesn't need staking.  However I added it back as it is outdoors on the balcony until it gets too cool.  It's breezy at times up here and I didn't want to wish it.   I really hope that this works ans I see lots of new roots and lush new growth!   I'd be thrilled for him to hang on to 3-5 more leaves on top of the  4-5 he usually keeps.  It just finished opening a new frond about a week ago and here is a new one coming already.   Look good?     Thank you again for all he help  I will update this thread as to its progress when I see results  

Photos below. 

[Pal Meir]

13 minutes ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

 

Project completed successfully.  It's actually buried slightly deeper than what you suggested by about an inch.b I used beans new Palm ans cactus mix (miracle gro)  and doused it good until wanted ran out of the bottom.  It is already much more stable and doesn't need staking.  However I added it back as it is outdoors on the balcony until it gets too cool.  It's breezy at times up here and I didn't want to wish it.   I really hope that this works ans I see lots of new roots and lush new growth!   I'd be thrilled for him to hang on to 3-5 more leaves on top of the  4-5 he usually keeps.  It just finished opening a new frond about a week ago and here is a new one coming already.   Look good?     Thank you again for all he help  I will update this thread as to its progress when I see results  

Photos below.

Very nice and good luck!

But why do you put it on the balcony?  It doesn’t like direct sun and wind. It is an ideal indoor palm which you can keep for decades in your living room. The only problem could occur when it bumps the ceiling (we had this problem with two Ch elegans of over 2.5 m hight.)

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

57 minutes ago, Pal Meir said:

Very nice and good luck!

But why do you put it on the balcony?  It doesn’t like direct sun and wind. It is an ideal indoor palm which you can keep for decades in your living room. The only problem could occur when it bumps the ceiling (we had this problem with two Ch elegans of over 2.5 m hight.)

 I stick it out there every year. It loves the heat and humidity. The balcony faces east and gets 2-6 hours of sun per day. 6 in high summer, and 2 in dead of winter.  In mid summer the sun leaves the balcony Aronund 12:30-1 pm.  In winter it's about 9 am.   

It doesn't get much direct sun.  It's about 1-4 hours per day early morning, and it's under A service berry tree (5-6 feet tall)  and a large cat Palm on a tall plant stand. It gets good sun but it's dappled light through those much larger plants. I would imagine it gets dappled light a bit in its natural habitat.   It really seems to love not being in the controlled and dry interior.    Early morning sun is good and it's not harsh / hot.  It always responds amazingly when it's out there. It's growth rate increases as does its color and size of fronds.   The cat Palm loves it out there too.   All of the indoor plants out there will come in when night lows dip 50 or Lower.  It slows it's growth rate when it's been inside for about a month.  I'm in a climate that is very hot and humid during summer. 

   Now if my balcony faced south or west then I would need to shade it from that much sun.  It's always done its best growth in the heat and humity of the outdoors in a mostly shade / part sun location.   Except for that one time I had to move it to work on the house I used to live in.  I put it under the shade of a large sugar maple.  Problem was I forgot to move it back to its mostly shaded when I finished.  The earth spun and the shadow is the maple moved exposing it to several hours of intense mid afternoon high summer sun. That was when it has all of its leaves burnt off.   

It will be coming in soon enough.    Thanks for all of the great feedback. Much appreciated!    I will def update this list as things progress.  Cheers!  

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Here are a few more photos to show the kind of sun they get. Times are added in this order from top to bottom :  close up of C Elegans  10:30 am (yesterday), 10:30 am (yesterday), close up of C Elegans 8:30 am (today),  Pano- 8:30 am (today), last- 8:30 am (today)  We don't start getting sun until about 7:45am or so  due to high tree line across the harbor of the lake we live on.  (Usually shoot an hour after actual sunrise)    This time of year it disappears around 11:15 am from the balcony except for the conifer in the far corner built in planter.  So the palms get limited sun and it's early morning sun. The rest of the day from about 10:30- 11:30am in they are in full shade as the sun leave the balcony from right to left, (see full balcony photo) and from inner area (doors) to outter railing. They seem to love it out there in the heat and usually very high humidity of our tropical summers.  When it gets too windy it gets moved to the corner where it's protected.   :-)

 

 

[Pal Meir]

Yeah, it’s looking well protected (against sun) and happy now.

[DoomsDave]

KJ:

That species will root very easily on its stems. I've had them get to a certain height (about 6') then fall over and root near the crown, and grow up again. I've seen them do that more than once.

Your palm has many miles left on it yet.

[PalmTreeDude]

6 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

KJ:

That species will root very easily on its stems. I've had them get to a certain height (about 6') then fall over and root near the crown, and grow up again. I've seen them do that more than once.

Your palm has many miles left on it yet.

Reminds me of a big rhizome. 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

1 hour ago, DoomsDave said:

KJ:

That species will root very easily on its stems. I've had them get to a certain height (about 6') then fall over and root near the crown, and grow up again. I've seen them do that more than once.

Your palm has many miles left on it yet.

Hey Dave. Thank you. And yeah, I've seen many put out even Ariel stilt like roots.  This one did that for a time. I was a little surprised that it rooted into air, but perhaps it's because it was in a very warm and humid room in winter, south facing.  

When I repotted it lower this time, it only had two roots going into the soil as stated.  To my surprise those two roots produced a pretty sizable mass of smaller fibrous roots at the bottom of the pot, many with healthy white new growth.   For all of its trims this little guy has been tough as nails and Wally hasn't missed a beat. Even after having all of his fronds burnt off due to my stupid forgetful mistake a couple years back.   My hope is that he will root out good and out out lots of lush new growth, and ratin about double the amount of fronds he currently does now (usually 6 at most).   He's far and away my oldest chammy, and now my oldest Palm period.  I hope to have him for many many years and even decades to come. He and my fairly large cat Palm, and my small raphis excelsa are my faves, but his one is probably tops them all.     Appreciate all the help from everyone  immensly.  :-).  I'll update this hread when I have some good progress.    He's been a very reliably steady, if not somewhat of a fast (for C Elegans) grower so hopefully it won't take too long.  

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

1 hour ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Reminds me of a big rhizome. 

Haha.  Yeah. It kind of does!   Now if only you could cut the stem up like a drafena ans get new plants!  

[PalmTreeDude]

1 hour ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

Haha.  Yeah. It kind of does!   Now if only you could cut the stem up like a drafena ans get new plants!  

I would cut one up and throw the pieces around my yard! 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

On 9/14/2016, 8:57:42, PalmTreeDude said:

I would cut one up and throw the pieces around my yard! 

 Haha.  Yeah.  Would be nice if they were that easy.   

 

So this is OT, but it's still about this Palm.  I found an old photo of it on here from 2010.   So the top photo is that pic from 8/2010.   I got the Palm in 2009.   The bottom 2 pics are it 9/11 & 9/12/16 respectively. This is 6 years of growth : 

 

 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Update on this palm:  Here it is, one year and 5 months later, living happy on my one of my 4 patios overlooking Tampa Bay.  It is doing amazingly well. Putting out new leaves and blooming like crazy!  

 

[AshNYC]

Hi there- 

I don't know much about palms-  I think I have a Chamaedorea elegans (or is it an Areca palm or something else?)

I think I got her 11+ years ago at Ikea and it lived in a small pot on my dining table - now it's a bit over 3feet tall and super lanky.

She's seen better days,  last year there were two stalks coming up and the other died and dried off - could have been root rot, under watering, pests.

Over the last few months, I've been trying to give her more love, get on weekly watering schedule, minding overwatering, and in the last few weeks have been using some neem oil all over it.

I also planted some philodendron cuttings around the base to try to fill in the very sad looking base, and hopefully give her a friend to grow with. Please let me know if this was not wise.

I am happy to report that there's a new leaf coming out - My hope is that it's because of all of this and that she's happy, but it could also just be because it's spring. 

 

Anyway, Is there a way to "propagate" or try and give it new life by cutting the top and replanting?

Or any other advice to make it healthier and give it a better look? Or is she destined to look like a Dr. Seuss character, which I guess ain't so bad.

 

Thanks for your advice. 

I just wrote this- but I can't figure out how to paste images- so any advice on that would be appreciated too. Going to submit it and see if it gives me the option later.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

On 5/20/2020 at 5:05 PM, AshNYC said:

Hi there- 

I don't know much about palms-  I think I have a Chamaedorea elegans (or is it an Areca palm or something else?)

I think I got her 11+ years ago at Ikea and it lived in a small pot on my dining table - now it's a bit over 3feet tall and super lanky.

She's seen better days,  last year there were two stalks coming up and the other died and dried off - could have been root rot, under watering, pests.

Over the last few months, I've been trying to give her more love, get on weekly watering schedule, minding overwatering, and in the last few weeks have been using some neem oil all over it.

I also planted some philodendron cuttings around the base to try to fill in the very sad looking base, and hopefully give her a friend to grow with. Please let me know if this was not wise.

I am happy to report that there's a new leaf coming out - My hope is that it's because of all of this and that she's happy, but it could also just be because it's spring. 

 

Anyway, Is there a way to "propagate" or try and give it new life by cutting the top and replanting?

Or any other advice to make it healthier and give it a better look? Or is she destined to look like a Dr. Seuss character, which I guess ain't so bad.

 

Thanks for your advice. 

I just wrote this- but I can't figure out how to paste images- so any advice on that would be appreciated too. Going to submit it and see if it gives me the option later.

Hey there.   I would do exactly what Pal Mier told me to do with mine.   Plant it a few inches deeper in the pot.  3-5 inches.  It will cause it to grow new roots from the root initials on the bottom of the trunk.     As for planting other things in the pot with it, I think that that is fine, so long as they are not aggressive rooters.     If you are able to post a pic please do.  We would love to see it!  I think you can just attach a file and upload it using the the link at the bottom that says "choose files" 

[Frond-friend42]

Cool to see this palm as a single. I tried to make a single from a cluster and it died. So now I have two clumps. One of them looks good. The other is all ratty and half-dead.