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Misting palms?


Mohsen

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I have this habit for all our indoor plants to spray water whenever I have time ( up to 3 times a day) , it seems our non-palm plants are happy about them ( Ficus, peace lily ...)

I have been doing this also to my indoor palms ( Livistona chinensis, Rhapis excelsa, Howea forsteriana and Chamaedorea elegans ), my assumption was they like humidity and also this would prevent spider mites... now I am skeptical :(  is it really good for palms? could this cause fungal issue?

Anyone do this or have any idea about this?

Thanks

 

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Avoid misting palm leaves.  You will thank yourself for it.  

If you need to be rid of spider mites you can spray with soapy water or wipe the leaves with a damp rag.

Hydrogen peroxide poured in the crown after spraying water is a good idea.

But again, don't spray the leaves unless you have to.

Edited by Hammer
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Sorry but i totally disagree. I grow all my palms indoor and spraying them with water at least once a week is absolutely essential. Maybe this depends on the climate you are living in but if you have a heating period of about 5-6 months you better spray the leafs regularely. Otherwise spider mites and other pests are unavoidable. Using soapy water when it is to late is not a solution. I would suggest to spray at least once a weak and to use algae juice every now and then. If you have a longer heating period where humidity drops below 30% this is absolutely essential. 

 
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Sorry but i totally disagree. I grow all my palms indoor and spraying them with water at least once a week is absolutely essential. Maybe this depends on the climate you are living in but if you have a heating period of about 5-6 months you better spray the leafs regularely. Otherwise spider mites and other pests are unavoidable. Using soapy water when it is to late is not a solution. I would suggest to spray at least once a weak and to use algae juice every now and then. If you have a longer heating period where humidity drops below 30% this is absolutely essential. 

 

I totally agree, most of my palms are grown outdoors here but if I bring some inside for decoration I find misting them helps keep them healthy, even in my humid tropical climate the atmosphere inside can be fairly dry.

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Andrew,
Airlie Beach, Whitsundays

Tropical Queensland

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Thanks for the input

As I expected not everyone has the same idea about misting palms...The reason I thought it would be a good idea was:

1- Most of these palms are belong to tropical or rain forest so I thought humidity is good for them and also as they would have been in raining a lot in their own natural homes, misting wouldn't hurt ...

2- Most of nurseries and greenhouses are very humid so I wanted to provide similar environment ( too some extent)

3- Spider mites like dry dusty leaves ...wipe the leaves with a damp rag is not practical for every plant ( including some palms like Chamaedorea elegans ) so spray was the only practical option

But I thought there might be some palms that they don't like humidity and needs dry environment ? but I am not sure which palms are they ?

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I mist my indoor palm about once a week with collected rainwater. The same water they are watered with. I believe this is like heaven for them, LOL.

The only thing you should be aware of is palms that don't grow. When a palm gets stressed, for example after repotting and some root disturbance occurs, a palm can stop growing for a period. During that period I would advice not to mist the palm, especially not getting any water in the crown. With no growing movement rotting is almost a certainty when wet.

Healthy growing palms just love a shower!

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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Hello Mohsen, I think in all remarks above is something true. The problem is, palm is not palm, and indoors not indoors. At first you have to consider where your palms live in nature. There are also great differences between rain forests and cloud forests. It looks to me as if you treated all your indoor palms as if they would live in a cloud or at least foggy forest like a fern. This may be true for Chamaedorea elegans, but the other palms would more prefer a shower (or rain) than a moisty and mouldy atmosphere. And Sydney’s air is not as dry as the air of Alice Springs or a living room in Berlin during the heating season. Maybe 3 times a week may delight some of your palms, but a Howea would be more delighted by a real shower.

Even now (we have at present outdoors +2°C) my tender Lytocarym weddellianum (rain forest) palms get only once a month a shower and the Lytocaryum insigne (cloud forest) once a week a spray. And also my Licuala grandis (all people say that it needs high humidity) got only a similar treatment as the L. weddellianum, even during the heating period without any spraying.

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My photos at flickr: flickr.com/photos/palmeir/albums

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Hello Mohsen, I think in all remarks above is something true. The problem is, palm is not palm, and indoors not indoors. At first you have to consider where your palms live in nature. There are also great differences between rain forests and cloud forests. It looks to me as if you treated all your indoor palms as if they would live in a cloud or at least foggy forest like a fern. This may be true for Chamaedorea elegans, but the other palms would more prefer a shower (or rain) than a moisty and mouldy atmosphere. And Sydney’s air is not as dry as the air of Alice Springs or a living room in Berlin during the heating season. Maybe 3 times a week may delight some of your palms, but a Howea would be more delighted by a real shower.

Even now (we have at present outdoors +2°C) my tender Lytocarym weddellianum (rain forest) palms get only once a month a shower and the Lytocaryum insigne (cloud forest) once a week a spray. And also my Licuala grandis (all people say that it needs high humidity) got only a similar treatment as the L. weddellianum, even during the heating period without any spraying.

Thanks Pal for useful info

Whats is the best reliable reference to find out which palm has which nature ? rain forest or cloudy ?

and do we have any palms in dry regions ...if I am not mistaken some Phoenix dactylifera grows in dry area like Bam in Iran ...

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Desert palms like Brahea, Washingtonia, many Butia sp., Livistona sp., Phoenix sp., etc. don’t like having water a longer time in their growth centre. But even palms that are growing in rain and cloud forests like Chamaedorea can thrive very healthily without spraying. E.g. the over 40 years old Ch. elegans which I gave away to friends is very lucky indoors without a single spray or shower at least for the last 5 years.

Reliable references for the habitat of palms you often can find only in special works like Hodel’s Chamaedorea monography or Dransfield & Beentje’s book an Madagascan palms. But also more general books as Henderson’s field guides are quite reliable.

Much more important than humidity is imo the adequate soil mix with also adequate watering. The first time I noticed this very clearly was that when I had problems with my Licuala grandis although I did all the recommended things like spraying etc. I replaced all the old soil (sold as "Palmenerde") with a mix of ⅔ Seramis (burnt clay) & ⅓ pine bark, watered the palm regularly, gave it a shower sometimes, and stopped spraying. After one year (from 2002 to 2003) the appearance of this palm changed totally as the pics below may demontrate. And the following 5 years this palm was thriving very happily indoors in a dry German living room, even during winter with heating periods.

2002-08-11:

Licuala_grandis_2002-08-11.thumb.jpg.a43

2003-08-17:

Licuala_grandis_2003-08-17.thumb.jpg.a05

2008-06-17:

Licuala_grandis_2008-06-17.thumb.jpg.175

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My photos at flickr: flickr.com/photos/palmeir/albums

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What I forgot to add is, that is of course a quite different matter e.g. if palms have been placed on a window sill and below this sill is a radiator or another heating system, like in many German buildings (cf. Alcibiades’ comment above). In this case it would really be helpful to moisten the palms more regularly. I on my side place my palms only on such sills which don’t have a radiator below (but this is the exception here):

Syagrus_insignis_2015-10-15.thumb.jpg.70

My photos at flickr: flickr.com/photos/palmeir/albums

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You might also consider putting a humidifier in the room where you keep your (tropical) rain forest palms. If the humidity indoors is high enough, dryness and mites won't be as much of a problem. Most homes are much too dry even for humans during winter.

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Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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I'm convinced that misting some of my palms that stay indoors led to their demise. I only used rain water, bottled water or distilled water too.

The exception would be a Joey and potato chip palm that I have but those two are also already in the master bathroom where it's more humid anyway. If I see spider mites and depending on how big the palm is, I either take it to the shower and rise it off(during the winter) or will drench the palm in home insecticide spray which really seems to do the trick.

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