Sounds like spider mite. These plants are extremely susceptible to them. Look at the leaves near the stem and hold them up to a window to back light the leaves. See very tiny spider webs between the leave where they sprout from the frond stem? I have around 8 of these plants. Some came with the house and are now seven years old... Since they came to my care. I love them. Our home is plantation style... But up north! These palms add to the plantation feel in the summer outdoors. They do fine all summer. Then I need to bring them indoors for the Michigan hard winter. It is a real trick to keep one alive for 6mo indoors. Especially if bringing in from outdoors. I have nearly lost everyone of them and I don't typically spray until I see signs and then the damage is clear.... Still my treatment has saved them all so far. To solve the problem... Spider mite and or scale. Majesty palms are very susceptible to both. Bring it outside or to the garge if you can. Take a ounce of malathion and add to a quart of water. Mix and add to a sprayer. Now bathe, soak... tops and bottoms of the plant fronds. If indoors, you should do this at least lightly every two months. I soak them good in the fall with the mixture. Then I mist them while in the house every 2 months or so. I still will get mites and yellow leaves because I often don't treat until I see yellowing, it's hard to over or underwater them. They're hardy to both, though they prefer moist... Not soggy soill. So water lightly more often than a soaking every three days. They also like a mulchy soil. Add shredded back or even saw dust! The bugs love them! Keep the malathion handy if you own this plant. They originate from river banks in Madagascar, so they are use to damp, but not soaked soil. These are the only plants that I bring indoors over the winter, because up here big ones run 80... To 150.00 each. I've been forced to become a bit of an expert on this one plant type.

If you make a swamp cooler it will lower the temp and increase the humidity. Now, this is easier said than done, but it can be done. A poor one could be made by *carefully* positioning a fan above a shallow dish of water. I got a small 10 gallon tub. It is supposed to fit into a whiskey barrel, I think. Anyway, I also got a $10 pond pump and some appropriate tubing. Finally I procured some metal lathe. These were thin sheets of metal grating to go on top of gutters. I attached 5 of them into a pentagonal column with zip ties as well as zip tying the tube from the pump up to the top of my column. Water runs down the grate and there is a fan behind it blowing through it. I think In real swamp coolers the fan and water are reversed, but I don't want to start a fire. In the end it only lasted one day because it was too loud at night and had a tendency to splash on the carpet. It was pretty sweet though. Bob

I wonder if it's normal that one will change their focus, many times, in the life time. For me, I began when I was 13 with Cactus then Fern-African Violet-Epicia-Begonia-Bromeliad- when I was 20 I imported Tillandsia-Bromeliad again, especially Crytanthus that I order 40 varieties from Southern Exprosure and some from Pine Apple Place. It was around ten years ago, Mr Ted Green, a Hoya specialist, of Green Plant Reserch from Hawaii visited my house. I had ordered from him and Michael Miyashiro a hundred of Hoya to Thailand (Most of them you can find in our market today) In reverse, I also introduced many new species to the trade in USA, such as Hoya curtisii, H. mitrata, H. lobbii, H. 'Wee' bella, etc. via Mrs Christine M Burton of Hoya Society International (The Hoyan). Due to my job, a nature history publication, I had to be in a jungle, months a year, then I change my interest to study our native Orchid species, especially Bulbophyllum. From my expeditions in Thailand's tropical rainforests, I had discovered 3 new species of edemic orchid and many new records for our country. One of them I and Prof. Gunnar Seidenfaden named it, Bulbophyllum smitinadii, for dedicating our botanist. I had many times visited interesting places, Madagascar, Borneo, Tibet, India, South Africa etc. I've seen many native floras that ispirate my interest again. One day, I found that all the neglect things in my house should be restored. Then I started to collect some more succulents, especially caudiciform that I imported from EXOTICA in Germany. In the mean time, one of my good friend who always visit USA, he brought me some Dyckia and xeric brom from his friends in CA and FL : Dutch Vandervort, Bill Baker and Denis of Tropiflora...so this is my story. Some of my succulents & caudiciforms collection today. Me & Pachypodium gacilius in its habitat, Isalo National Park, S Madagascar, 2004.

It seems to me that now and then I do see very rude posts here, and they don't all come from the same poster. I understand how people sometimes can feel left out and that there are cliques on forums, but often it's a subjective impression; when people post for a long time on forums and know one another by first names and have an idea of everybody else's preferences, it's easy to perceive that as an exclusive group. I don't belong to any group anywhere and don't want to - I enjoy all the posts and appreciate when there is good humour and tolerance of others, coming from a society where that was often quite lacking at times with more serious outcomes than a bit of a huff on a forum. How about we all wipe the slate clean, forget the past and enjoy all our wonderful plants in the present. And I don't apologise if that sounds like a lecture, I love y'all.