Chamaedorea fragrans

[MattyB]

I met a local guy, Eric, by just pulling up to his house while admiring his palms in the front yard. Since then, we've kept in touch and he finally made it over to my house to see the new garden. He gets out of his truck and what does he hand me? A Chamaedorea fragrans as a gift! Good size too! What a score! Thanks Eric! I potted it up from it's little 1 gallon container and set it up in the house. Here's the problem: Every C. fragrans I've seen has brown tipping on the leaflets. How do you prevent this? All other Chamaedoreas love my house. We don't run the heater or a/c but only a couple days each year so it's generally a nice place to grow house plants. It's in a nice light mix and I water it pretty infrequently so as not to rot it. Normally I'd suspect root rot when I see this sort of browning, but it had this ailment when I got it and when I repotted it the roots were abundant and very healthy looking. Any ideas?

[MattyB]

Here it is sitting next to my C. alternans in the corner.

[Jeff Searle]

Matt,

Based on everything you said, my guess would be a lack of humidity maybe. This palm is found in low growing, wet, very humid forest in Peru. Some palms can adapt completely out of their natural enviroment, but others will never grow pefectly. This could be the one reason for this species.

Jeff

[LJG]

Good luck Matt. I have the same issue with mine. Mine is growing in my greenhouse too. It brown tips and mites love it. I am going to plant it out in a very dense area of my garden this year to see what happens.

[MattyB]

Ditto Len. I think burying it amongst lots of other plants under a nice canopy is our best chance at raised humidity levels. I've gotta get a mister system going someday. The ability to spritz an area every 30 minutes on warm or dry days might be nice.

[DoomsDave]

I think they're happier outside, provided they're kept shaded.

Louis Hoopers' specimens always look good, except when they get too much sun, and they sunburn.

Your plant might be having a problem with salts, perhaps try leaching it?

That is a nice gifty, by the way . . . . . .

[Joe palma]

A REALLY nice gift!!!!!

I'm jealous man.

Sounds like both humidity and salt build up could be the issue.

Glad to hear the roots looked good and healthy when you transplanted.

[MattyB]

Salt is not the issue. All of my smaller house plants, including this one, are in plastic pots set into decorative pots. I either water outside or water in the sink, leaching the soil everytime I water. The larger C. alternans I take outside every few months and drench it.

By the way, that C. alternans was getting wobbly in the pot and seemed to be having some root rot (although the leaves looked good). So I took it out of the pot, cut the bottom 1/4 of the rootball off with a knife, and lowered it down, raising the soil level around the adventitous root bumps. It lost one leaf only and has put out new adventituous roots and locked it stable. Tough plant.

[joe_OC]

Matt,

The C. Fragrans I got from Mr. Hooper has been planted in the ground in deep shade and is doing fine. I think Dave is right about saying they like to be outside.

[MattyB]

OK, thanks Joe. I'll do that too in Spring.

[PalmGuyWC]

I've had trouble growing C fragrans in N. Calif. It is one of the more cold sensitive Chams, and likes a hot humid climate.

Dick

[Peter]

I've got a couple of little 1g's that I planted out this summer under heavy canopy looking pretty good.

[BS Man about Palms]

I actually have a small one from Palmazon that looks pretty good because I've ignored it for the most part. Its in a slightly damp, shady area and I rarely water it.

[Phil]

MattyB,

Len might be right that it's a humidity thing. In our greenhouses, they always look near perfect. Ourdoors, average cold is not a problem. Ed Moore's gets a fair amount of sun and always looks yellow and a little "bleached" to me. I'd recommend shade and good soil moisture/air humidity. Remember that they can get at least 8 or 10 feet tall as a clump.

Phil

[paulgila]

mine is not doing that but its outside.

planted.

in the ground.

if yer gonna keep it indoors put it in the shower.

[Moose]

There are three different clumps in the Moose Land that came from Searle Bros. Been in the ground since 2006, look happy but have never bloomed.

[Pando]

Holy thread necromancy, Moose.

Matty how's that C. fragrans doing?

[Moose]

I Bump - therefore, I am

[MattyB]

5 years later and the C. fragrans is still here in the same pot. The tipping issue was from letting it dry out too much. I just make sure it's watered once a week if it's warm and it does fine. The C. alternans has been switched out for a C. klotschiana.

[MattyB]

Dag nabbit

[Pando]

Nice! You must really like giraffes...

[LJG]

Matt do you ever get spider mites?

[MattyB]

Len,

I've never had spider mites or any other pest on my indoor plants. Not sure why because in my greenhouse it's a constant battle. All of my mom's indoor palms get mealy bug. Maybe if they're clean when I bring them in the pests can never get there in the first place. Not sure. We almost always have our windows open and rarely use the A/C or heating so maybe that helps too.

Here's the proper rotated view.

[dalmatiansoap]

Secret soil mixture formula?

[MattyB]

I just use a palm/cactus mix (supersoil brand) and for my house plants I mix in a lot of perlite. When I water I put them in the sink, with the stopper, and fill up the sink so the water level is above the drain holes. Then I let them soak for the day, kinda like you'd do for an orchid. I think the water wicks up into the mix and saturates the organic matter real well as opposed to just watering from the top. Then I wait at least a week before watering again, several weeks when it's not hot.