Every spring, the arrival of discounted palm trees invariably marks the true return of the summer season! It’s time to open the pool and above all to decorate it with these magnificent palm trees offered at a very good price!
In general, this popular palm is the Majesty Palm (Ravenea rivularis). It’s a beautiful large palm with well-cut leaves and the base often has a bulge. This palm is widely sold as a decorative annual, at least in North America. However, it can be grown indoors in the winter. Interestingly, this plant, in its natural environment is actually a huge palm tree that can reach up to 85 feet (30 meters) in height! So, we actually are growing baby plants!
Deliver It From Torture!
The best advice I can give to ensure that Majesty Palms have a wonderful summer is to take them out of their narrow growing pots and repot them in a larger one. It seems obvious, but many people simply place the black plastic pot in a decorative planter. The plant, packed in its pot, has little room to develop, which limits its growth. In addition, the production pot is often so full of roots that the soil dries out in record time. It doesn’t take much for the plant to fall into water stress. And finally, the substrate used for the mass production of Majesty Palms isn’t of very good quality. In this type of production, the mixture of soil is just good enough to make the plant sellable. After the sale…
So, if you choose, repot the Majesty Palm in a larger plastic pot, equipped with drainage holes. It is this pot that we will place in the decorative planter. Should we remember that we never plant directly in a decorative planter? The other option is to have beautiful decorative containers with drainage holes or to use pots equipped with a water reserve. In the case of pots equipped with water reserves, you must carefully monitor long periods of rain, because the pot can become a veritable pool of mud! I know many gardeners who have had to drill drainage holes on the sides to let the excess water drain away!
As for soil, Majesty Palms like fairly acidic soils, so a mixture enriched with peat moss is favorable for them. Personally, I like to make my own mix by adding a generous portion of orchid potting soil to regular potting soil. The bark and fibers in orchid potting soil make the substrate lighter and airier.
Water Regularly
The Majesty Palm has a certain tolerance to drought, but lack of water has its share of consequences! The leaves will turn brown and above all, they will stop developing.
To have well-furnished palms, watering is therefore essential. The soil must be kept fairly moist at all times, without being constantly damp. Too much water can also cause the yellowing of leaves. Ideally, the soil should be allowed to dry slightly on the surface before watering again.
Fertilize Generously!
So that the Majesty Palm retains its beautiful foliage and above all develops new leaves throughout the summer, the secret is in the fertilizer. In the spring, a slow-release fertilizer can be added to the potting mix when transplanting. A second dose will be added approximately 8 weeks later. You can also opt for liquid fertilization. Use a 3-1-3 ratio fertilizer, therefore with a lot of nitrogen, and apply it according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Even if this palm benefits from good fertilization, an overdose can be fatal!
Mist… if Possible!
The Majesty Palm is a plant native to Madagascar, where the climate is tropical. It is therefore obvious that this palm appreciates high humidity levels. Even if it adapts easily to several growing conditions (this is the reason why it is so widely marketed), it will be grateful for an occasional misting, which reminds it of its native land! You can also take advantage of watering to give the foliage a splash of water.
Cut the Dried Tips
In general, the appearance of dried tips indicates a lack of water. Once they appear, they will not return to green! To improve the look of palm trees, you can cut off its dried tips with a pair of scissors. But most important of all, correct the watering to avoid the appearance of other dried shoots!
All in all, having beautiful palm trees around the pool is not that difficult! Everything often depends on regular watering. Note that the Majesty Palm is also very interesting for the windy balconies of condominium towers. In short, the popularity of the Majesty Palm cannot be questioned!
ANNUAL?! That is all sorts of wrong. They are not much to look at until they grow a few feet high, but by that time, they are too expensive to be disposable. I do not grow them because they do not perform well here. They survive winter, but get shabby from even mild frost, and then barely begin to recover before the following winter. Also, they dislike the aridity here during summer. Even in Southern California, they prefer more humid climates. There are too many other better species to grow in climates where these palms can not survive winter, including Mediterranean fan palm and windmill palm. They nothing like this palm, but at least they are sustainable.
On two occasions we brought the palms indoors at the end of summer but both times the plans also were inhabited with some kind of small insect which then went on to infest other plants in the house. We don’t like using chemicals to control infestations so now we leave the palms outside to die and buy new ones each year.
Russ