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Rescued Majesty Palm

16 years ago

I rescued a palm in our garbage room that someone threw out when they moved. It looked like it might have endured the outside the fronds were completely toast but there was some green on some of them - there were four healthy green spears I removed all the fronds and cleaned it up gave it some warm water with some fertilizer and stuck it in a west window - I'm on the top floor of my apartment so it gets very warm where I am 80' on average. What are my chances of saving this thing. I don't know if this helps but I told the plant it wouldn't be abused anymore..lol

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Comments (4)

southern_il_boy
16 years ago
nyssaman, I have pretty good luck with my Majesty palms here in the midwest.

Winter: I keep them in front of a window that gives as much direct sunlight as possible and water thouroughly once a week.

Summer: They go outside as soon as the weather begins to stay above 40 at night. I water them daily and put them in a semi shady spot under a huge oak tree. They get strong diffused, not direct, sun light. I fertilize about twice a year in late spring and mid summer. They look beautiful and very healthy.

This picture is from spring of 07 and it has grown much taller and fuller. The other one is about the same size.

If you've trimmed them back to the remaining healthy spears it will take some time for them to look full and healthy again. Do you have a place to put them outside in warm weather? They love mild breezes and warm humid air.

Doug
islandbreeze
16 years ago
I think your chances of saving it depend on the low temps that the palm went through. If your temps have been as cold as ours,(you're probably even a little colder), and if the palm has been outside up until now, then I think it's already doomed. My next door neighbor has a majesty planted out in the yard, and it died just last week. We hit 14 F (-10C) last week, but it died after the first night we hit -8C. I went out to look at my own palms that morning, and saw that all of the fronds on the majesty had fallen overnight. They're only supposed to be hardy to somewhere in the upper 20s F, but this one was green and alive until we hit about 20F. It's planted under a huge oak tree, I don't know if that helped to create a microclimate?
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Thanks a lot for the compliment Bananafan! I appreciate it! I definitely try to make the best of my climate. Luckily there is a lot of moisture year round by me so that does give me the opportunity to grow a lot of vegetation. Every year I get more and more species of plants, it's hard to keep up with them all after a while, but so far I've managed pretty well. Not sure what purple sedum you are referring to (is it the purple heat vine?), but that, the arborvitae and the passion vine are all cold hardy here so they are one of the easier plants for me to grow! Arborvitaes are a little bit overused here so I'd rather have something else in my yard other than them, but they look nice and are expensive (and just as expensive to dig up and replace) so I'll be probably be keeping them for many more years! The passion vine is probably my favorite bloom. Not only is it cold tolerant, but it's a fast grower too. I got it as a small plant for 2 dollars at a local nursery in July 2010. Now they cover a huge portion of my pool fence and there are seedlings popping up around my yard (they dont seem too invasive though). I know that the Pacific Northwest has some of the best gardening in the country and it is definitely cool year round so I would agree that cool climates are actually great for a lot of flowering plants! It gets pretty hot by me in the summer so that does limit the number of flowers I can grow a little bit.
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I have never noticed a larger pot size allowed a palm go grow faster.. if anything, they usually grow slower in pots too large. But you should not be concerned about a Majesty growing to your ceiling height... rarely if ever happens no matter how well you care for it. They are not that fast a palm... they may grow leaves at a fairly good rate, but even in perfect climates in the ground it takes them many many years to grow that tall. In a pot, probably never. In fact, in indoor situation, most people's palms don't last even more than 2-5 years. But if you keep it outdoors as much as possible and water it well, you might beat the odds. These palms like a LOT of water (live in nature with roots or and sometimes stems in the water). Fertilizer needs of potted palms are WAY under a palm in the ground, so be VERY EASY on the fertilizer (maybe once a year at the most). If you can keep your palm alive long enough for it even for develop a trunk, you have done better than 99.9% of the others who try to make this an indoor palm. If you can keep it alive in a pot once it trunks, I suspect at best, 10-15 years before it is tall enough your ceiling will be a concern. Pot size would only have to get towards 25gal once it has a pretty good trunk on it. It could survive in a pot that size for a long time (I have seen people's fairly outdoor healthy palms in 15 gal pots that have 10' of trunk on them)
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Hi Justin Stevens! I'm afraid I have some bad news about the palm. The white spots are pests, spider mites I think, and they are very difficult to deal with. Also, majesty palms are notoriously difficult to grow indoors and are hard to keep alive. The yucca doesn't seem to be in good shape either, and needs a lot of light to truly thrive. They are grown outdoors in full sun here in California. I'm not sure if you paid for the plants or not, but if they were free I would recommend tossing them and starting over. It would probably take more time and money to rehabilitate these two then it would take to get two, healthy, new plants. Plants that look similar but are much easier to care for are parlor palms, in place of the majesty palm, and a dracaena in place of the yucca. If you would like to rehabilitate these plants, I would recommend purchasing some neem oil. Dilute it in water in whatever ratio is recommended on the bottle, and spray it all over the leaves and stems of your plants, then wipe down the leaves and stems with a paper towel or cloth. Do this once every week until the pests are gone. Trim off the dead trunk on the yucca, and trim away all the dead leaves on the palm. When you re-pot them, check if they are root-bound. If they are, move them into pots one size up from their current pot. If they are not root-bound, you can re-use the pots, but make sure to disinfect them with some rubbing alcohol. I like to use MiraceGro African violet soil or MiracleGro Housplant soil mixed with 30 to 50% perlite. The majesty palm likes lots of humidity, so you can place it on a humidity tray or purchase a humidifier. Water them when the top inch of soil is dry. I hope this helps and good luck! damask_rose : )
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nyssaman
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm not sure if it had been outside at all - All I know is it looked like sh*t but the spears were healthy looking. I emptied one of my wifes body mister bottles..LMAO ,it makes a great mister put a little dish soap in it and gave the the palm a good spray. Well at least I know if my wife sprays herself down with it she won't mites or mealy bugs..ROFLMAO

Jeff
bearstate
16 years ago
It's good to see that I'm not the only one who rescues orphans from tragic fate.

Good luck reviving your new palm.

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