New Kentia palm. When to repot and separate?

[Nick215]

Hi. I received a Kentia palm for Christmas and am very excited. It came as a cluster and is a bit bigger than anticipated. I prefer the look of single specimens, but don't to kill my new plant. Based upon what I read in other palm talk threads, my plan is to do the following:

1) Let it settle into it's new home for a few months by leaving it in the original nursery pot.

2) In a month of two, carefully separate the plants and repot them. I was thinking of putting each in 1 gallon nursery pots.

Does that seem like a reasonable approach? In addition, how much attrition might I likely see? There appear to be 7 plants in this cluster. If I lost one or two, it wouldn't be the end of the world. However, I don't want them all to die. My other thought would be to sacrifice a few of the plants by just cutting them off at the base. That way I wouldn't disturb the roots. However, that just seems like a waste of several plants.

I'm a relatively experienced gardener, but this is my first palm. I'm usually growing vegetables and California natives.

[JohnAndSancho]

I don't wanna be a downer, but 

 

My personal experience with separating Kentia is somewhat less than great. I've bought 3 4-packs, 12 plants total. I've got 2 sharing a large pot now and they're all that's left. I hope you have better luck than me. 

[PsyPalm]

Not a Kentia, looks like you probably have yourself a Chamaedorea cataractarum.  These are clustering palms, so those don't need to be separated as they are all the same plant.  

[Nick215]

@PsyPalm. It was supposed to be a kentia. I'm going to have to ask the nursery to confirm what they sent me. Here's a closer picture of a frond. The leaflets are about 12 inches long and 3/4 in. wide.

[PsyPalm]

@Nick215yeah that's almost certainly a cat palm, definitely not a howea.  That's concerning that a nursery sold this as a howea, not sure how much they charged you but there is a massive difference in the value of a cat vs. a kentia of this size. 

[Steve Mac]

I don't know what it is, I see psy's point, it does not look like my Kentia's. But It looks like a multi planted palm to me.

Pull it out of the pot shake off the stuff and have a look at the roots, see if it is multi or not, then you will know what to do.

 

[SeanK]

On 1/6/2023 at 7:38 PM, PsyPalm said:

@Nick215yeah that's almost certainly a cat palm, definitely not a howea.  That's concerning that a nursery sold this as a howea, not sure how much they charged you but there is a massive difference in the value of a cat vs. a kentia of this size. 

I agree. The crown doesn't hang like a Kentia and that is definitely a clumper.

[GoatLockerGuns]

For comparison...I believe this is a bunch of Howea forsteriana in a pot (I am no expert on the species though):

[wimmie]

On 1/6/2023 at 8:34 PM, Nick215 said:

Hi. I received a Kentia palm for Christmas and am very excited. It came as a cluster and is a bit bigger than anticipated. I prefer the look of single specimens, but don't to kill my new plant. Based upon what I read in other palm talk threads, my plan is to do the following:

 

1) Let it settle into it's new home for a few months by leaving it in the original nursery pot.

2) In a month of two, carefully separate the plants and repot them. I was thinking of putting each in 1 gallon nursery pots.

 

Does that seem like a reasonable approach? In addition, how much attrition might I likely see? There appear to be 7 plants in this cluster. If I lost one or two, it wouldn't be the end of the world. However, I don't want them all to die. My other thought would be to sacrifice a few of the plants by just cutting them off at the base. That way I wouldn't disturb the roots. However, that just seems like a waste of several plants.

 

I'm a relatively experienced gardener, but this is my first palm. I'm usually growing vegetables and California natives.

Whatever they are Nick, if you like the appearance of the palms, I would stick to your plan to carefully separate them in spring. Wash off the soil and look closely how to untangle the roots, repot them individually in a welldraining medium and put them in a shady position to recover.

[Nick215]

Thanks for the advice everyone. After contacting the nursery, they confirmed that accidentally sent me the wrong one and plan to replace it.  So now I'll have two palms!

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

This is 100% Chamaedorea Cataractum.  Don’t attempt to separate it as it’s a clumping palm.   
 

glad to see the nursery is correcting their mistake.   It’s also nice that you get to keep this palm.  They are beautiful palms and can be great indoor palms as long as you keep the humidity up  and keep a close eye for spider mites especially if you are in a northern climate.