The light is very important but also humidity. I would not put them near a vent that blows warm air in the winter. If you spray the fronds everyday with water that can help and about once a week put it in the tub and give it a shower and leave it there for a while to soak in the humid air.These things can help. By the way you leave it in the pot when you plant it outside correct ? if not I would.I would fertilize it if you have enough warm days left also. Not sure what area you live in that always helps to know.

I live in Southeast Missouri. I planted them in the ground. Putting them in the tub once a week will be a little awkward but not impossible since once a week I put my orchids in there, too. I spray my lucky bamboo pretty often, again not a problem. Why would it be better to plant them in pots outside? Transplant shock? They really liked being in the ground.

I suggest you pot-plant them each spring. If you're going to dig them out of the ground each autumn, they'll be happier not having their roots torn.

i overwintered 2 last year indoors by a sunny window, just make sure you continue to fertilize, and spray the undersides of the leaves daily with soapy water to keep away mites and mealies...it worked for me.

Alex- Ahhhhh, yes. That hadn't really occured to me. Wonder why not? It may have been because when I bought them they didn't look too good and so I thought I'd give them a try in the ground. They seemed to like-grew like weeds, continuing to, also. But that is a tremendously good point!
x- When you say sunny, how sunny? What do I fertilize them with once they are in containers? To tell the truth, I didn't fertilize much, they just kept growing. In my mind I didn't think I should fert very much knowing they were coming inside in the fall. Oops. What is the ratio for soap to water in this soapy water you speak of?

kelly

All the advice in the world won't matter if you cannot get beyond the most difficult obstacle by far...successfully transplanting this palm from the ground into a pot.

But if you did...

sunny = a wall of SW windows 7 feet tall
fertilizer = a diluted slow release fertilizer with micronutrients, i.e. Dynamite from Home Depot. Majesty palms are micronutrient (Mg, Mn, etc.) hogs, otherwise leaves will yellow prematurely
soap spray = 1-2 tbs liquid ivory soap per quart water

The roots on these guys, do they grow more down or out?

They grow all directions. I would dig it up before it gets cold if you haven't already.

I've been growing these guys indoors (in the winter) for a few years now and I would definately agree with Alex_7b. These palms are really not happy with being transplanted, especially if you do so right before bringing them indoors where they are also not incredibly happy. So once they are in pots I would leave them in the pots even during the summer. Once indoors make sure they sit by a fairly sunny window and make sure to keep it watered well and fertilized. Also you might want to get some NEEM oil spray. I have used the misting technique and found that my palms still tend to get scale and mites during the winter months indoors. Apparently Neem oil is a good weapon to have against this.

Kelly6780 this is a good alternative to majesty palms. This is a Ptychosperma sp. It grows very well indoors and stays dark green.They also have suckers so you can start little ones to take its place when its to big for the house.

Would one appreciably improve the coldhardiness of a Majesty by growing it to 6 or 8 feet in the green house before planting out? my gut tells me not much, but hope springs eternal! merrill

Ok, Ok. Today is the day. I am going to transplant the palms from the ground back into pots. I will then, as per y'all's advice, leave them outside as long as possible before bringng them in. I probably would have done that anyway. The plan is to dig around the bases as wide as possible to do as little damage to the roots as I can manage. Question: Do they like to be root bound? I was going to purchase pretty big pots. I still have the pots that I bought them in...but they have grown considerably since that time. They just look so happy and healthy right now. I guess I hate my zone, just up to a 7 on the new Arbor Day map, all my tropicals love to grow in my soil and look so happy. But, the cold comes. And then everything is sad. I think I'll go ahead and take before and after pics to post and show you guys. I hold out a lot of hope for these guys, but I probably need to mention I bought them because I felt sorry for them due to their mostly-dead-loking state when I bought them. I like to rescue. (And they were only $2 a piece.) So if they don't make it, at least I gave them a happy home for a few more months. I really do have hope for them. Will post pics later!

I would put in bigger pots since they are bigger now. Good luck.

I just purchased a majesty palm and have had it my home for several weeks now. I just noticed how the leaves are leaning down toward the floor. Are they supposed to do that? It seems as if they are leaning more than usual. Please help!

The best thing to do with a majesty palm in my opinion is to buy one in very late winter when they're still 10 bucks for a huge plant from Lowes or HD. Keep them in on cold days and put them out when its above 55f. Plant them in the ground after last frost. Watch them grow like crazy. Then when it gets cold again watch them die. Then throw them away and start over. Its not like these are hard to find. You'd be surprised how long they can look good after quite a few freezes. Here in PA mine looked fine until the third week of November.

Veejay
They just don't do good inside I swear i will never know why everyone sells them as inside plants. Do you have it near a vent ? The fronds are so big after a while they
will droop anyways .Just keep it misted and moist till you can move it outside.

I just purchased a majesty palm from path mark yes path mark. Now I live in an apartment in the New York area so I would like to know any hints or just some advise on this plant. Can I buy dirt from HD like I did for the others and re pot it? I do have other palms not sure what kind but they are doing really well. I have really good light in my apt.

Ok, maybe I just lucked out, but I have over wintered my majesty indoors for 2 years now and it does just fine! In fact it pushed two new fronds while indoors last winter! I have it in the NE corner of my living room. It gets good full to partial sunlight from the east facing window for most of the morning and early afternoon. All I do is water it about twice a week. These palms seem to love all the water you can throw at them, so I soak them good. Especially with all the dry air from the furnace.