*bumping to front page*

Where should I situate the palm plant? Right now it's placed in front of a west facing window and because it's early spring, the sky is cloudy so I have the window completely open. I think when it gets sunnier, I'll close the blinds. I have white honeycomb blinds that let soft light in. I'm just hoping it's enough light to keep the palm happy. Do you think I should move the plant back 8 feet from the window and just keep the window open?

Most likely from overcrowding. It's very common for nurseries to put a handful of seeds in a pot. Weaker plants tend to die off, especially if conditions aren't ideal. They need to have fast draining soil and to be kept moist all the time.

Interesting user name, but it sort of weirds me out. You should water when the plant needs it. Watering on a schedule, unless you're using a grow medium specifically formulated to allow you to do that, almost always leads to episodes of over or under-watering. Burned leaf tips and/or leaf margins are most often a symptom of a problem in the rootzone. You can determine appropriate watering intervals by using a "tell". More on that below. Your plant looks very chlorotic. When did you last fertilize? what did you use? Does the pot have a drain hole? Does it have a collection saucer? Do you allow the plant to reabsorb the water that makes it into the collection saucer? Do you know your home's range of relative humidity? Your plant is sensitive to fluoride and fluoride is accumulative in plant tissues. Low humidity increases transpiration (water loss through the leaves), which speeds up the nutrient stream (water and what's dissolved in that water), which means more fluoride accumulates in leaves under low humidity conditions. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips in order to avoid over-watering - leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions - which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips, rather than resolving a dilemma, simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al