Palm leaves turning color

13 years ago

I have an indoor palm who's leaves are slowing dying away. I have already cut several off at the stem because of the problem in the attached picture.

I have a water meter in the plant that indicates the top layer of dirt is "dry", in the middle "moist" and at the very bottom of the pot "wet". I would think this is normal, and since this is a tropical, I would think "moist" in the middle is where I want the water level to be.

Can someone tell me what is causing this? I repotted the plant from the store into a larger pot with fresh dirt preprepared with fertilizer.

I would like to get it turned around so it will start growing new shoots. As it stands it is dying.

Regarding sunlight, the plant sits in my office which is dim, but on a regular basis I put it in front of our front door which is glass and a lot of light shines through (not direct sun though). The past couple of days I have kept it on a shady porch to give it more sun.

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Comments (2)

tropicalzone7
13 years ago
It looks like a cat palm and they aren't the best palms around. They don't do great indoors and are probably the worst of the Chamadorea family of palms for indoor use so that could be why you are having problems with it. They love water when outside and almost can't get enough when it's hot out, but it should be getting proper drainage so make sure there are holes in the bottom of the pot that let water through.
How often do you water it?
Good luck!
-Alex
jeljeljel
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the response. Interesting because I bought this plant at Ikea (I know, strange, but they have a whole section of houseplants), and they advertise it as a houseplant. They look great in the store, but seem to deteriorate over time. My backyard is on the southern side of the house and in Dallas it gets to be 100 degrees this time of year. Maybe this would do better if I planted in a part sunny part of the yard (side yard)?

Is there another palm with similar leaves that prefers dim light and does well indoors?
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