I don't know about the death sentence but I do know that a 13W light will be pretty much useless, it will not provide anything near the needs of a large palm tree.

if you can, put the palm next to a sunny window on the southside of your home - this will do the job. return the light to Home Depot.

here's a nice link on light requirements:
http://www.homestead.com/PALM_Doctor/palm14.html

best regards

Thanks for the insight you two....and Mark....that light table is quite interesting. Those two $50 lights are going back to Home Depot today.

Now Ive got another question for you. Do you think those Majesty Palms will be alright if I were to simply put them out during the day and bring them in at night. Most of our days here have highs that will reach into the 50s and 60s ALL throughout winter. Obviously the nighttime lows would be what would kill those palms off. Do any of you forsee any problems with this?

Thanks again!!

I would stick to that sunny window inside your home. You want to get this palm acclimated to growing indoors. Going back and forth will not help this process.

best regards

I would guess, if you don't have those sunny south windows or like here, you get so many cloudy gloomy days during the winter , that south windows aren't always very bright, just a couple of cheap shop lites with two forty watt fluorescent tubes in each would provide more consistent and dependable light, though hardly the very bright light they'd get in full sun, and they are supposed to be demanding of bright light compared to most "house" palms perhaps. As for the potting I'd repot frequently, so they don't get rootbound, and try to acheive a grittier mix by adding lots of grit or coarse sand to your mix. Ohterwise I have grown mine mostly in Miracle Gro mix , and they do ok, but it's not the best. Not to discourage you , but I did read an opinion somewhere questioning why the past few years, so many garden centers are offering the Majesty Palms for houseplants, since they are difficult according to the author. Conseqently I have avoided the temptation to buy even one , though I do have two other mostly sun loving palms in my collection that have survived for years now, thuogh not at their best perhaps.

birdinthepalm - good advice. I agree. Home Depot's majesty palms are difficult to grow indoors. I've lost one before. In an article written by palm expert Alan Meerow, he said if palms are grown in a greenhouse then it won't stand a chance of surviving indoors. He said palms grown for the indoors retail market should be acclimated in a shaded house for a year or so. This has to do with light intensity.

The best palms for indoors are the parlor palm and the kentia palm. These palm will thrive under indoor light conditions. No one has ever failed with either of these palms.

best regards

I must say I'm sometimes amazed when seeing pictures of my big palms growing in midsummer in full sun in a Florida yard, I'm surprised mine have survived and even grown over the years, considering my somewhat low light levels in the winter months. However, though I do try some that may be listed as requiring lots of light, and do read other folks comments about difficulty growing some kinds, I'm still tempted to try some of my "failures" once again, since I love the ones I've seen in those tropical pictures etc. I guess one reader of a post wasn't surprised to hear my Licuala grandis died after a few years of struggling to make any new healthy growth , and short of having a very humid , and almost hot greenhouse for those, I think some are destined for failure in the avarage indoor growing conditions most homes provide. Never the less, I'm still considering perhaps trying a different species of Licuala , which may prove much easier to grow, since I like them all in general.

I have a 6 foot double Majesty from Home Depot, it was repotted and placed outdoors in full sun since the late spring, and has been indoors since mid-October in a Western exposure...I have had no problems at all with the plant: no transplant shock, no leaf burn, no spider mites; it still putting out new spears. I spray daily with soap water to help prevent critters. So far, so good. I can definitely say that so far, Majesty palms are quite adaptable to container/ winter indoors situations.

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