Palm trees: types and care

Palm trees are the best representatives of ornamental deciduous plants for growing indoors. Most palm trees are native to the tropics and subtropics. In their natural environment, palm trees grow very large, the leaves can reach up to 15 m in length and 2 m in width.

Many palm trees are quite unpretentious in care, and their very slow growth allows you to successfully grow palm trees indoors.

Types of palm trees that can be grown indoors

Fan-shaped : Chamerops, Trachycarlus Fortuna, Chinese Livistona, Washingtonia, Rapis;
Pinnate: Coconut, Hovea Foster, Hovea Belmore, Neanta , Date;
Reeds: Chamedorea, Chrysalidocarpus;

How to care for palm trees

When buying palm trees , you need to remember: most of them grow wide and tall, which means that palm trees need a fairly spacious place in the room.

Palm trees, plants are unpretentious, easy to care for, it is enough to water them regularly, periodically feed and wash their leaves from dust.

Light brightness for palm trees

Choose a place for a palm tree that is bright, but out of direct sunlight. Although some palm trees will not be harmed by very bright light. Hovea and Neanta are unpretentious to light and grow well in easily darkened places. The palm tree stretches towards the light, once a year turn it with the other side to the window so that the plant grows symmetrically.

Air temperature for palm trees

The air temperature for palm trees should be moderate and slightly warmer (+18-+24° C). Palm trees come from subtropical forests and in winter they need a lower air temperature (+12-+16° C). For Neanta and Hovea, the night temperature should not be higher than +16 ° C. All types of palm trees do not tolerate drafts. The roots of palm trees are very sensitive to cold, so place palm pots away from windows and doors, do not put them on cold floors, especially during the cold seasons. To prevent the root system from overcooling, a pot with a palm tree is placed in a wider pot, the bottom of which is filled with expanded clay, moss .

Palm trees that love warm rooms and high humidity: areca, coconut, karyota, chamedorea, phoenix
Palm trees that like moderate indoor temperatures: hovea (Belmora, Forster), coconut , chamerops, rapis
Palm trees that do well in cool rooms: chameropes, washingtonia, trachycarlus, etc.

How to water palm trees

All palm trees love fairly moist soil, but do not tolerate stagnant water. Watering in summer should be plentiful (1 time in 2 days), and moderate in winter. At the next watering, the top layer of the earthen coma should dry out. In a very cool room in winter, the plant is watered very rarely. Caring for palm trees also consists in periodically loosening the topsoil after watering.

Air humidity for palm trees

Пальми ростуть у тропічних і субтропічних лісах, тому для пальм потрібно забезпечити досить високу вологість повітря. Обприскуйте пальми двічі на день, особливо в літню спеку і в опалювальний сезон. Через сухе повітря пальми сильно страждають (сохнуть кінці листя) і втрачають свій декоративний вигляд. Потрібно зауважити, що перелив коріння не забезпечить більшої вологості рослині, а навпаки, буде згубним для рослини. Як збільшити вологість повітря?

Fertilizer for palm trees

It is necessary to feed the palm tree in the spring-summer period 1 time in 16 days with a complex mineral fertilizer for palm trees, or for deciduous plants. Do not feed palm trees during the dormant period (autumn, winter), as well as immediately after transplanting.

How to transplant a palm tree

Palm trees are transplanted very rarely, only if necessary, because palm trees do not like transplants, it is better to replace the topsoil with a new one, or add new soil. If you have an urgent need to transplant a palm tree, then you need to choose the right period for transplanting and potting. You need to transplant palm trees in the spring, very carefully so as not to damage the root system. When choosing a pot, you need to take into account the direction where the roots grow: wide or deep, and choose a wide or deep pot, respectively. The soil for palm trees should consist of sod, leafy soil, peat, humus, sand and charcoal (2:2:1:1:1:0.5).

Before planting a plant in a new pot, it is imperative to make good drainage with a three-centimeter layer of expanded clay. After transplanting a palm tree, do not place it in direct sunlight. Watering for the first two weeks after transplantation is moderate.

Reproduction of palm trees

It is almost impossible to propagate palm trees vegetatively indoors. It is easier to buy seeds and sow them. But the care of the sprouts is very difficult, few palm trees survive. The easiest way to grow a date palm is from seeds.

From my own experience: after buying dried dates, my children wanted to experiment and planted date seeds in a flowerpot with schefflera and ficus, they took care of the seeds of course, like a flowerpot with schefflera and ficus. Seedlings had to wait quite a long time (up to 3 months), but, in fact, they had already forgotten about the planted seeds. And in the spring, sprouts appear, they were looked after, of course, like flowerpots in which they were planted, but palm trees grow very slowly, within 2 years we have grown 3 leaves.

Pests and diseases

To prevent the attack of thrips, aphids and other pests, it is necessary to periodically wipe the leaves of palm trees with a damp cloth, or take a warm shower in the warm season.

Diseases appear with improper care.

Brown and dry leaf tips – dry air, insufficient watering, hypothermia of the plant.

Brown spots on the leaves – overflow, sudden change in temperature.

The leaves turn yellow – insufficient watering, in summer the earthen clod should not dry out.