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Kentia Palm: brown/yellow leaves and mushrooms

8 years ago

Dear Forum members,

I have had a Kentia palm for a year now - it looked perfect on arrival, but has been gradually losing shape ever since. I never had a plant before, so I'm sure I am doing something wrong, but I cant seem to find out what!

First, some leaves started browning, then others started yellowing too. Apparently, it doesnt like much water, but I couldnt find a resource which says exactly how much is "not much"...So I started with watering every 3 weeks during winter, as top 1 inch of soil seemed to stay hydrated for this long. In summer I watered weekly, which felt to be just right as the top 1-1.5 inch had become dry by end of the week. Past 2 months I am also using a Palm Focus fertilizer weekly (dosed per instruction), but it doesnt seem to be doing anything.

I am using filtered water. The pot has holes, so I always ensure its drained well.

Over the past 2 weeks 2 mushrooms appeared in the soil. Leaves continue getting brown (both at the tips and in centre) and yellow. Could you share your thoughts on what should be done differently?

Any advice would be highly appreciated!

Allie

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Comment (1)

lzrddr
8 years ago
What sort of soil? sounds like it's too moist if mushrooms are growing in itÃ¢ÂÂ¦ needs to be really well drainingÃ¢ÂÂ¦ but you also need to water the heck out of it every month or so (allow water to pour through it, and out into your tub or better yet, outside)Ã¢ÂÂ¦ flushing out the built up salts in your soils which all house plants hate. I would NOT fertilize your Howea if its indoors more than once every 1-2 yearsÃ¢ÂÂ¦ fertilizers have lots of salts in them and can really do a palm inÃ¢ÂÂ¦ most potting soils have plenty of nutrients in them for a few years of use I find. You want to water it well, but let the soil dry out well, too (you can let it dry out to nearly the bottom of the pot.. this palm should handle that OK). What sort of 'filtered' water are you using? Hope it's not the same filtered water you use for showering and washing the dishes (those sorts of filters that take out all the calcium, making 'hard' water into 'soft' water?)Ã¢ÂÂ¦ cause that soft water is usually super hard on palm roots. However, reverse osmosis water is great for watering plants withÃ¢ÂÂ¦
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