Indoor Travelers Palm Care

[Zach K]

Hello,

This summer I recently acquired a little Travelers Palm (Ravenala Madagascariensis) that was shipped from Claxton, GA all the way over to me in Portland, OR (8b). (I find Etsy to be a great website for ordering tropical plants) From July, up until now (December 24th) This plant has grown surprisingly well! I potted it in well draining soil and made sure to water carefully, also making sure to maintain a somewhat humid environment. At around mid to the end of September, I brought the plant to my office so it could stay there overwinter. The temperature in the office is constantly 70-72°F and with the luxury of a giant south facing window, the temperature in direct sunlight can heat up to about 80°F. I make sure to mist the plant daily and sometimes even twice if its REALLY dry in the office.  It's winter so i'm not fertilizing it however come summer time I plan to start slowly feeding it. To my surprise it is slowly growing, even in the office. I love these plants because it reminds me of my trips to Hawaii.

Summer time I plan to take it home, hopefully find a slightly larger pot and place it in the ground. I think it would be strange yet ultimately really cool to see a Live TP growing in the Pacific North West.

Is there anything I should be doing differently? Better? Suggestions?

If you have a TP that is growing indoors, post a picture or two and share how its flourishing in your home!

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

This is what it looked like^ in July 2019 on my backyard deck when I first received it. A little yellow but in no time it grew out a new leaf, and began to turn green.

Here is what it looks like^ as of today December 24, 2019 in my office. (Note the unfurling leaf - yay!)

If you were wondering why it is on the ground, its just for photos. It lives on my desk all day next to my other plants.

Diameter of the pot is 6.5 inches.

[Silas_Sancona]

52 minutes ago, Zach K said:

Hello,

This summer I recently acquired a little Travelers Palm (Ravenala Madagascariensis) that was shipped from Claxton, GA all the way over to me in Portland, OR (8b). (I find Etsy to be a great website for ordering tropical plants) From July, up until now (December 24th) This plant has grown surprisingly well! I potted it in well draining soil and made sure to water carefully, also making sure to maintain a somewhat humid environment. At around mid to the end of September, I brought the plant to my office so it could stay there overwinter. The temperature in the office is constantly 70-72°F and with the luxury of a giant south facing window, the temperature in direct sunlight can heat up to about 80°F. I make sure to mist the plant daily and sometimes even twice if its REALLY dry in the office.  It's winter so i'm not fertilizing it however come summer time I plan to start slowly feeding it. To my surprise it is slowly growing, even in the office. I love these plants because it reminds me of my trips to Hawaii.

Summer time I plan to take it home, hopefully find a slightly larger pot and place it in the ground. I think it would be strange yet ultimately really cool to see a Live TP growing in the Pacific North West.

Is there anything I should be doing differently? Better? Suggestions?

If you have a TP that is growing indoors, post a picture or two and share how its flourishing in your home!

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

This is what it looked like^ in July 2019 on my backyard deck when I first received it. A little yellow but in no time it grew out a new leaf, and began to turn green.

Here is what it looks like^ as of today December 24, 2019 in my office. (Note the unfurling leaf - yay!)

If you were wondering why it is on the ground, its just for photos. It lives on my desk all day next to my other plants.

Diameter of the pot is 6.5 inches.

Welcome to the forum! and Happy Holidays.

Looks like it is doing well thus far..  From your description, should be fine where you have it for the winter..  Watching how often it gets water would be the only thing i'd monitor closely.

Other members might have additional thoughts, if any..  but again, looks good.  When you start fertilizing, i might start out w/ something light.. organic based perhaps? to get it going.. If they behave like regular 'ol Bird Of Paradise, i'd lean a touch higher on the K ( Potassium ) over both Nitrogen and/or Phosphorus. ( say something like a  8-5-10 NPK ratio ) Just my own thoughts..

Good luck, and look forward to updates later..

[Mangosteen]

In the still, dry air of the office, you might get some insects on the plant. Mix 2.5 tablespoons of the Dawn dish soap and 2.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil with 1 gallon of warm soft water. Put mixture into a quart spray bottle. Apply this every other week or more often if you see bugs. Spray heavily both on top of and under leaves. A few drops of liquid seaweed fertilizer can be added to the mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zach K]

Thanks for the advice guys! This really helps! I’ll be sure to update periodically.

[Ezgi]

Hello everyone, I have a 1.30 meter indoor travelers palm, but I am not sure if it need direct sunlight or indirect sunlight? Should I put it in front of the window or a bit far from direct sunlight? And advise? Thanks a lot 

[Siddharth Nath]

Hi everyone, 

 

I have two travellers palms, bought from a nursery - around 1.5 m each. I transplanted both into a marginally larger pot, around 10 inches because I want to maintain a somewhat manageable size for indoors. At the beginning of spring, I gave regular vermicompost along with a nitrogen rich liquid fertiliser. One of them is looking fine, but despite having it for over 7 months including a full spring, one leaf has grown somewhat and that's it. Not a single new leaf has come out. 

The other one had a new leaf which emerged fully although was yet to unfurl. I put it in a different room with plenty of light but temperatures hitting upwards of 35 degrees, celcius. The new leaf has stopped growing and both the leaves are yellowing and are crisp. It's quite clearly burnt due to heat, but everywhere online I see that it does best in full sun. Being a tropical plant, I thought sun wouldn't be a problem and would thrive, in fact? 

Any suggestions for keeping these plants indoors? The environment isn't particularly humid (air conditioner often), although I do put them out whenever we get a bit of rain. Is it just that it needs to go through a monsoon and will be healthier after that?

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Siddharth Nath said:

Hi everyone, 

 

I have two travellers palms, bought from a nursery - around 1.5 m each. I transplanted both into a marginally larger pot, around 10 inches because I want to maintain a somewhat manageable size for indoors. At the beginning of spring, I gave regular vermicompost along with a nitrogen rich liquid fertiliser. One of them is looking fine, but despite having it for over 7 months including a full spring, one leaf has grown somewhat and that's it. Not a single new leaf has come out. 

The other one had a new leaf which emerged fully although was yet to unfurl. I put it in a different room with plenty of light but temperatures hitting upwards of 35 degrees, celcius. The new leaf has stopped growing and both the leaves are yellowing and are crisp. It's quite clearly burnt due to heat, but everywhere online I see that it does best in full sun. Being a tropical plant, I thought sun wouldn't be a problem and would thrive, in fact? 

Any suggestions for keeping these plants indoors? The environment isn't particularly humid (air conditioner often), although I do put them out whenever we get a bit of rain. Is it just that it needs to go through a monsoon and will be healthier after that?

Welcome to the forum..  Would be helpful to include some pictures, as well as sharing your location.

[Zach K]

3 years later and wow Etsy is getting REALLY expensive for plants. Maybe I just got lucky back then

Ok Anyways, here's an update on my rare tropical plant office experiment. (I say rare because I don't find this to be a common plant in many indoor settings. The White Bird of Paradise seems to have all of the spotlight) My Travelers Palm (Ravenala Madagascariensis) is growing at a steady pace. 

I haven't really changed how I care for the plant much since I initially posted here, however a few things have happened since.

Of all of the plants I've ever grown this is my favorite. So naturally I give it the most attention. Each year, When our minimum temperatures in Portland, OR started warming up around June, I would take this guy from work and leave him in our south facing backyard. Then when temps started to drop I brought him back into the office. He did great! Rinse and repeat.

However after this previous winter 2021 - 2022, I notice he was struggling a bit while laying mostly dormant in my 74°F office. The leaves were turning brown at the edges despite (what I thought was care) me caring for it. Turns out I wasn't giving him enough water. (which in winter.....not sure how that's a problem but here we are) So instead of my usual regime of carefully bagging up the giant pot and laying it down gently in my car and driving it home (Now Vancouver, WA) to be left in its pot out back, I decided to plant him in the ground instead. 

That's right, the one and only Ravenala Madagascariensis ever planted in ground in the Pacific Northwest. Ok I cant actually verify that claim but feel free to challenge me.

Needless to say, not only did he recover from that winter scare, he actually pumped out a healthy leaf (see the picture of the individual leaf - that is a Washington State grown TP leaf).

Summer is now ending and back into the pot he goes. When I dug him out of the ground I was shocked at how large the root structure grew. It REALLY liked where it was at. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it in ground. Maybe next year.

All in all, its nice to know that he's still alive and growing. As long as he doesn't grow TOO big and I can fit it into my car and take it home for the summer, he will have a solid change at life in the Pacific Northwest.

Hopefully someone else has a story about their indoor Ravenala Madagascariensis.

Cheers

There he is in all his glory

^that little growth is coming after dug it out of the ground. We'll wait and see if there was any root stress shown on that leaf

Classic fan shape starting to form at the base

^ There's the leaf that it grew over the summer.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Zach K

[Fishinsteeg234]

Looks good @Zach K, keep up the good work. Don’t be afraid to keep upsizing the pot to account for the large and fast rootball growth. Eventually you will probably need a dolly to move it around. I hope it keeps growing good for you, and eventually into the monster it wants to be. Keep us posted!
 

[Learner_PNW]

Zack, thanks for sharing your experience here! I came across this while considering trying to grow a Travelers Palm indoors up here in NW Washington. Sounds like I can give it a go. I have a nice sunny room that really cooks in summer with windows all around and skylights. In winter I have to keep the heat on to keep a steady temp above 60 degrees, and I already do that for other plants. 

Does anyone have a suggestion of the best place to purchase a large potted Travelers Palm that I could get shipped?

[Zach K]

Absolutely. 

I read in another forum that these plants are actually more cold-tolerant than we might think. Not 8b hardy (Obviously) but it probably doesn't need a substantial amount of heat to keep it going. In fact, I kinda like how it grows much slower indoors (if at all) in the winter to maintain a more manageable size. I keep it in my office where it fluctuates around 70-73 and I might get a leaf before I set it out in the spring. Your setup should do just fine. Just try to keep it humid.

I don't know about finding a large one, as they probably don't ship well (not like a palm or a bush where you can tie it up) due to easily breakable stems. Also if you DO find one, they're probably insanely expensive as they are rare in the houseplant world (I think - at least).

 

Your best bet would either be to drive down to southern Cali and pray someone has one and bring it back up or try these links

Theres this 4" pot which is an average price: Kens Philodendrons

Or this 3gal pot: Walmart

Or: Ebay

[Than]

I find them to be surprisingly easy. I had 4 baby ravenalas last winter. I kept 3 indoors and they grew fine in front of a north facing window, so not much sunlight, with the help of a 20W grow light. The one I left outdoors survived the winter with substantial damage. Still, it survived. The lowest temperature it saw was about 35 F (2 C). They are now growing fast and they are always thirsty despite the temperatures not being that high anymore. I am planning to leave 2 outdoors this winter and one indoors and see what happens. They are older now so they should be hardier. I may put them indoors if we have a bad cold spell.

Edited October 14, 2023 by ego