Jerod. You have real beautys. If I had to start over, 98% of my plants would be variegated. Last night I got tired and signed off, but I plan on browsing your entire website today.. Planto, wait! Did you get another variegated palm??? I'm lost.. What type of palm do you now have, if you got another? lol. You know..when I bought palms in the past, I'd pot similiar to other plants. But, after a few died, I thought, wait..something isn't right. Especially when I lost a variegated Rhapsis. I normally pot plants 1-2 sizes larger than rootball, but after my Rhapsis died, I decided to try a different approach. In 1994/5 I bought long, narrow tree pots for my citrus trees. So, after locating another Rhapsis, 'pic above,' I decided to pot directly in the tree pot, even though the palm/roots was/were on the small side. Guess what..It worked. Tree pots are the answer when it comes to growing palms in containers. Seedlings. I filled the bottom w/styrofoam peanuts, then placed medium and roots in the container. I have a second palm, bought as a seedling, Bottle Palm, Hyophorbe, in a tree pot, too. Both are in the upstairs, west, bathroom window. But, 'whenever' we have strong sunlight, that west window is a little too harsh for both palms, especially Hyophorobe. One thing about palms in the bathroom, while showering, fronds are showerd, too. Humidity increase. BTW, a seller on Ebay has Caryota Mitis variegata for 30.00. Oh, wish I was rich..lol. Think of it this way. Instead of third time is a charm, think, three strikes your out.. BUT, now it's a whole, new ball game. IMO, some palms love strong light, 'desert palms,' but tropical palms will burn. Ask my Bottle Palm. I had to cut several leaves because that west window was way too bright. I placed in the bath tub..it's doing much better. Good luck, Toni

Troy, Your Alexandra could have an infestation of palm dart butterfly larvae by the sounds of it. They are green catapillars that roll the leaflets over and chew them giving them a tattered look. Many of the commercial insecticides such as Maldison should work. As for palm leaves not dropping off, it depends very much on the species of palm. Some are notorious for this, such as the Queen (Cocos), Cotton, and most date palms. I steer away from these and go for only self cleaning types (most palms are self cleaning anyway) Hope this helps. Andrew.

HELP please! I bought a beautiful Majesty palm at Lowes 2 days ago and even though I've watered it the leaf tips are starting to turn yellow. It's over 5 feet all and I haven't repotted it yet although I suspect I will have to since I believe the roots are growing over the top. Nevertheless, I've watered it well and even stuck watering spikes and still I see the yellowing tips increasing. I need some help (PLEASE!); advice and/ or lessons as I'm really a novice - this IS MY 3rd palm and I'm getting really discouraged. I realize I don't have high lighting but where I found this palm was among a bunch of other palms, shades and In the indoor plant area. I believe i lost the other 2 because of my inexperience, I repotted them in a pot more than twice larger and they died....(I found out only later that too big a pot is only a death trap!) So, questions : should I leave this palm in its own pot and leave it where it is right now so as to give it time to acclimate itself to that area of my house or should I repot it tomorrow to a pot just a size larger? I am misting it every morning since I bought it 2 days ago (I just learned here I have to put a 50/50 alcohol water which I will start to do) but still the leaf tips are turning yellow FAST!! I really hate to lose another one....please help! Lastly, I Iive in Oyster Creek, Texas and I've always thought that Lowes or Home Depot carry plants that are for these neighborhoods, am I wrong? i really can't lug this plant to and from the shower simply because it's too tall, can't I just leave it where it is? although I could roll it out my back porch to spray it with a water hose but is all this moving around doing it any good? THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Hi palmbob, I got a reply back from a tree expert: "I have had a good look at the photos and actually relieved to see the tree was in relatively healthy. What I can say is it’s probably worth doing something to try and save this tree, things that you can do yourself could be apply a good layer forest mulch underneath the tree and as far out as you can manage. Secondly head down to the local nursery or hardware store and grab sea sol and water in. The other thing is definitely keep up the water to this palm over the next couple of months, unless you dig the soil and find completely saturated already then hold off on watering." He also suggested a soil injection package at $265 times 2. He didn't mention the wound, but according to a different forum: "if the dripping is coming from the trunks and not the leaves, that's more likely to be a bacterial infection." which may or may not help a bacterial infection, he didn't say. A different blog said "Palm trees do not drip sap so after asking a Tree Doctor he said it looks like "honey"" so it could literally be honey that I am seeing (we do have stingless bees elsewhere in the garden). Still a bit confused!