Help save my Majesty palm

[Kavish]

Hello guys I have been struggling quite a bit to keep my indoor palm healthy but its not doing well.

I will try and go in as much detail as possible so I appreciate your patience. I am also attaching pics of the plant when i got it and its placement near the window and some recent pics i took.

pics can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/187508046@N05/8G2s8X

I bought an 8 feet tall majesty palm in a very healthy condition. it was potted in a 12 inch pot. i did not repot it since it looked very healthy(no browning on the leaf/lush green tall leaves). Over the period of next few months a leaf here and there started browning and i trimmed it away. i thought that was natural as i took the plant which was kept outside in a nursery(under a shade) put it next to an eastwards facing window. That window gets plenty of light. Over the next few months the leaves started turning brown and dying a bit faster and the density of healthy leaves became 1/2 of what i originally got.

I took the plant out of the pot and saw that it was crazy under potted. and all the roots were circling around the pot and were mostly dead. so i bought a bigger 18 inch pot and some miracle grow potting mix(the one that is specially made for palms and succulents). I trimmed the dead roots from all around the root ball and under it.. trimmed about 1-2 inch from each side and potted the plant, watered it heavily, and then placed it near the same window. 

Its been 2 weeks now and i have not seen any improvement. The plant has lost about 70% of its leaves and the remaining ones dont look healthy at all. it almost feels like that the plant is slowly dying and i dont know what i can do to save it!

My apartment temperature usually stays about 72 degrees and i water the palm every week about 1/2 - 1 litre

Please help me with what i can do? I would really appreciate your guy's input!

 

Thanks,

Kavish

 

[Dartolution]

@Kavish Hi, unfortunately this is an all-to-common occurrence with Majesty's being grown indoors. Majesty's tend to brown indoors due to several reasons; one of the largest and most common reasons being a lack of proper humidity. These palms love 3 things in particular: WATER, FOOD, HEAT. 

The leaf browning you are referring to is most likely caused by a lack of humidity. Indoors Majesty palms tend to look ragged (for most people). 

Keeping the humidity up around the palm with good air circulation is a very important factor in their health. Dry heat from furnaces or AC units usually expedites the browning/crispy dead look in my experience. 

Majesty Palms, in particular for me, tend to be especially prone to spider mites. They just love the leaves... Having them indoors in most homes means battling these pests at some point. 

 

3 key factors in providing a Majesty Palm with optimal growing conditions when young are:

1) Keep humidity levels above 65% with proper airflow, and DO NOT allow the palm to dry out completely. 

2) Monthly, or every 2 Month feedings with high quality palm fertilizer

3) Keep temperatures above 75F (some might say 80F). 

 

As a note, younger Majesty Palms tend to prefer dappled, softer lighting conditions, but as they age require more direct sunlight. 

Since most people do not have warm, moist, brightly lit homes... you can see why this is usually a problem. 

 

Also, check out as much information about the Majesty Palm's culture as possible. The species is Ravanea rivularis. Its name literally means "of the rivers."

 

 

Now, all that being said, the picture you provided in the link does not appear to be Ravanea rivularis... 

The palm in the link appears to be some species of Chamaedorea. *shrug*

 

 

[Steve Mac]

Hi Kavish, welcome to the forum.

I really can't help you more than the last post. The young musketeer covered the only two points that I thought would help you.

One, (the bad news) if it is a Majesty Palm, you chose the wrong palm to grow indoors and 

Two, (the good news) it probably isn't a Majesty palm anyway. Your pics show what looks like a group of about a dozen separate seeds all sprouted and clumped together.

There are clumping palms and there are solitary palms, R. rivularis is solitary.  It could be a group of R. rivularis that you bought, but it is not likely. 

A quick google search found this...

https://www.houseplant411.com/houseplant/majesty-palm-how-to-grow-care-guide-ravenea-rivularis

"RAVENEA RIVULARIS

I have to admit that majesty palms are not my favorite indoor plants. They are a challenge to take care of and are not very forgiving. Majesty palms, native to Madagascar, do extremely well in rain forests, swamps, or outdoors in places like Florida. Indoors majesty palms often struggle to survive and rarely do as well as a bamboo palms, neanthebella palms, kentia palms, or rhaphis palms. Majesty palms, or Ravenea Rivularis, are large inexpensive plants that look good when first purchased but often quickly decline. If you’re not easily frustrated and really want to test your plant skills, you might want to give a majesty palm a try. "

Also Kavish, It would also help people, who want to help you, if you include in your details actually where you live, at least the country and probably the city, it does help people to give you advice, especially if a local is reading. This is a very friendly site, they even tolerate Australians here. 

Also just one more thing Kavish, when posting about a palm try to include the Latin name, the scientific name, because common names are not common - internationally.  They even vary within countries.  That was why, I believe, was the idea behind Latin names, so that people in different countries all knew exactly that they were all talking about the same plant.  

So in answer to your question, Kavish, 'Help save my majesty palm",  is, 1. plant it outside if you can, 2.  Depending on where you live, we probably can't help you. I hope that I have been helpful. 

[Kavish]

Thank you very much guys! I really appreciate your responses. I live in Greensboro, NC. I am not sure if it is actually a majesty palm but that was my best guess after researching online.  

Since the last time i posted the original question the palm has further degraded in health. I am really not sure what to do and kinda sad that i cant help it.  The window it is sitting against gets plenty of sunlight. its really bright from early morning to about 2-3 pm. I make sure the soil is never dry and regularly water it. I thought the trimming of roots and replanting in a much bigger pot with fresh potting soil would help but its proving to be a failure :/

it seems like theres really no way to save it :(

[Allen]

I have a bunch of these potted.  I learned they love water.  In fact all winter I have them sitting in drip pans so the bottom 1-2" of roots are always in water.  I have had them 3 or so years and the first year I thought it would be good to let them dry out a bit between watering and they almost died.  I think I have 9 or so.  Can't overwater.

 

 

[Sr. Califas]

3 hours ago, Kavish said:

I am not sure if it is actually a majesty palm but that was my best guess after researching online.  

The palm you have on that flicker account is a Dypsis lutescens.  They are a much better house plant, though not perfect as they can get infested with palm leaf scale. They look to have some cold damage. And not sure how much trimming of the roots you did, but that could be what's setting the plant back. 

[Dartolution]

@Allen that is a great look you've got there. Love the pergola with the majesty's around it!

What do you use for fertilizer?

[Allen]

12 hours ago, Dartolution said:

@Allen that is a great look you've got there. Love the pergola with the majesty's around it!

What do you use for fertilizer?

'Osmocote outdoor' every 3 months on all potted plants.  Palmgain or Osmocote on in ground stuff.