Joey Palm (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons) as a houseplant

[piping plovers]

I am pleasantly surprised with the progress of my potted Joey palm (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons). The first picture is when I first purchased in April 2017.  The second picture is 18 months later - October 2018.  It really enjoys the summers outdoors in New England; it is a surprisingly low maintenance houseplant during the cold months.

My infatuation with internet photos of the Joey palm lead me to discover the Palm Talk forum in 2017.  Forum threads on the cultural needs and member photos of successful container culture etc encouraged me to attempt growing a Joey in my cold winter climate.  I have been growing Kentias indoors for over 20 years and I treat the Joey very similar to the Kentias. 

 

Some of the best pointers I gathered on Joey culture is that even though they are native to a wet climate, they grow on hillsides where rain falls abundantly but quickly runs away from the roots.  I wait to water until the top inch of soil is no longer damp.  For my Joey in a 6” pot, sometimes this can be 7-10 days.  I followed the fast-draining palm potting mix suggestions made by forum members.  I modified the components by what I could find locally: (1/3 orchid mix bark; 1/3 Leca clay pebbles; and 1/3 peat & perlite generic potting soil).  The Leca was hard to find but I did locate/order from W*Mart online; only small quantity needed as container is small.  Mix drains super fast; yet the peat and bark deeper in the pot retain enough moisture in-between waterings.  I fertilize with a weakened solution 20-20-20 every other watering.  Also, indoor winter conditions at my current residence were not ideal for humidity or temperature (dry radiator heat, night time temps reversed from what I would prefer as they registered 70 deg F at night and 60 deg F during the day) but the palm seemed not to mind as much as my orchids did.  The Joey was much more tolerant of these lousy indoor winter conditions than I expected it to be.  Seems to be a steady, slow-moderate grower indoors similar to the Kentia.  I kept the Joey in sunny window during cold months.  Container was set slightly above shallow tray holding water; pot bottom always above the water level so that drainage holes never sat in water.  During the frost-free months the Joey is outdoors with my Kentias and orchids under shade of large deciduous trees.

 

[Neil C]

Good job!

Regards Neil

[piping plovers]

Thanks Neil!

[Missi]

Beautifully grown!! Looks a lot better than mine that I keep outdoors in Florida most of the year! Mine has been having issues with the leaves not fully opening  It looks like poo but I'm hoping a recent repot will do the trick!

[piping plovers]

Thank you Missi for the reply.  And Naples, FL... such a nice location.  I visited the Botanical gardens there and noticed Joeys growing in those lush, protected entrance gardens.  Keep us posted on your plant's response to the recent repotting!

[CTho]

How’s the palm doing now?

[piping plovers]

10 hours ago, CTho said:

How’s the palm doing now? 

Well, I have repotted it twice since that 2018 posting.  I created a thread on my  2019 repotting project.  Here is the last photo, taken in October 2019.  It now is pushing another spear even in the gloomy, cool winter months indoors.  Thanks for asking! Are you growing one too?

[CTho]

14 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Are you growing one too?

I’d love to, but I don’t have available enough space indoors with good light (at least right now).  Yours looks great though - it’s nice to know indoor climates aren’t a deal breaker!

[realarch]

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve seen Joeys here in Hawaii that have been in pots for years and look absolutely perfect. The size that they can obtain is impressive as well. 

Joe, yours  looks pretty darn good! I’ll see if I can find a pic of a potted specimen.

Tim

[piping plovers]

9 hours ago, CTho said:

I’d love to, but I don’t have available enough space indoors with good light (at least right now).  Yours looks great though - it’s nice to know indoor climates aren’t a deal breaker! 

Thanks!  Yes, I think that is what is so helpful about this forum, if you see others are growing a palm species indoors it gives that boost of confidence to try it.

[piping plovers]

5 hours ago, realarch said:

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve seen Joeys here in Hawaii that have been in pots for years and look absolutely perfect. The size that they can obtain is impressive as well. 

Joe, yours  looks pretty darn good! I’ll see if I can find a pic of a potted specimen.

Tim

Thanks Tim!  Fantastic, would like to see a pic of a potted specimen growing in HI.  I like seeing examples of potted ones, as it is a more parallel comparison to my situation than is an in-ground specimen growing in warm regions.  A Hawaiian one would likely be the ideal to reach for.  Glad to hear they can remain in the same pot for years, I won't fret as much next time.

[realarch]

Boy, I couldn't find the photo I was thinking of,  but I have one in the garden that has probably been in a pot for 5-6 years. Here's a pic. with the quart

sprayer for scale. 

Tim

[piping plovers]

Tim, Thanks for sending the photo (and with the sprayer for scale).  A beautiful specimen!  I can now know what to expect in the next several years if I can grow my potted Joey as well as you have grown yours.  And you're in Hilo, I understand that is the wetter side of the Big Island.

[KevinN]

Hello! I recently bought a Joey palm from a nursery here in Orlando, Fl. This is my first time caring for this palm so I decided to do some research and I don’t think the soil I bought it with is good for the palm. Seems too heavy. Any recommendations on what soil I can try with this palm? I really appreciate it! 

[BJames]

Kevin - I bought my Joey about 5 years ago from Steve with Exotic Palms, down in Homestead and he warned me about the fact that if you disturb their roots to much in transplanting or repotting, that you could kill the palm.  So, repotting and completely replacing the soil may not workout so well.  What Steve advised me to do was to buy a potting mixture,  the name I can't remember but was able to buy from Lowe's, and mix it with a lot of clay pebbles.   I think I add a good bit of perlite as well.   You then fill a larger pot with that mixture but dig out a spot the size of the current pot.   With the current pot sitting on it's bottom, use a sharp blade of some sort to cut all around the bottom of the pot but don't yet remove it.  Keep the pot sitting in place so that none of the soil is falling out.    You then cut the pot along it's side top to bottom, while still keeping the pot together.   Carefully pickup the pot trying to keep it together and place it into the hole you created in the soil in the new pot, and then pull the cut bottom out from under the old pot.   Pack the soil around the old pot and then pull and slide out the rest of the cut pot.  The trick is to disturb the soil as little as possible.    

I've attached a picture of mine.  I live in Sarasota and keep my joey outside year round and I've never had any issues with it.  They seem easy to grow to me.  It sits in a spot where it gets a bit of direct morning sun and I do feed it probably every other month during the growing season.    

Edited July 29, 2021 by BJames

[piping plovers]

 

9 hours ago, BJames said:

I've attached a picture of mine.  I live in Sarasota and keep my joey outside year round and I've never had any issues with it.  They seem easy to grow to me.  It sits in a spot where it gets a bit of direct morning sun and I do feed it probably every other month during the growing season. 

 

On 3/21/2021 at 4:59 PM, KevinN said:

Hello! I recently bought a Joey palm from a nursery here in Orlando, Fl. This is my first time caring for this palm so I decided to do some research and I don’t think the soil I bought it with is good for the palm. Seems too heavy. Any recommendations on what so

BJames, Sounds like a good plan to keep root disturbance as low as possible. Very healthy Joey there! 
 

The method I have been using is to keep stacking gallon pots on top of each other whenever depth is needed; so only the depth keeps increasing but not width.  I place an inch or two of soil in bottom of a new pot.  I then cut the bottom circle off the  base of the existing Joey pot and then carefully nest the pot over and into the bottom pot with fresh soil.  I posted a repot on here awhile back.

and Kevin, you may want to search on here for soil mixes for palms.  Forum member Pal Mier posts some real useful recommendations for mixes.  A variation on the mix: I use equal parts Leica clay pellets, orchid growing mix(bark), and generic potting soil with peat & perlite.

Photo below of my Joey,  growing indoors most of year in sunroom.  Summers outdoors in shade.

Edited July 30, 2021 by piping plovers
Photo

[fotodimatti]

Great thread here.
It made me try germinating Joeys. Here is the result after almost two years.
If I want to repot, I should probably cut off the old pot and carefully put the soil package into the new pot, right?

Thanks, Matti

 

[piping plovers]

Yes, that is how I’ve been doing the transplanting; others have mentioned the same. Avoid root disturbance as much as practicable.  Mine have always transplanted well; yet I always felt anxious like I was defusing a bomb or something while transferring over to a new pot.

Your seedling looks great btw .  Also, That seems like an ideal pot shape for them.  Keep us posted on their progress!

[happypalms]

Some very nice pictures of some great joeys I can imagine the love for one joey is a great feeling well imagine having 2000 joeys to love that’s how many I have oh what a feeling 🌱

[piping plovers]

Fantastic!  I’ve never seen so many altogether.

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Fantastic!  I’ve never seen so many altogether.

It’s certainly nice to look at if you tell a Joey Palm you’re going to repot them and they die of fright very tender roots the ones I have I will let known one pot them up except myself I don’t trust them with my babies 

[piping plovers]

19 hours ago, happypalms said:

imagine having 2000 joeys to love that’s how many I have oh what a feeling 🌱

Curious if you are growing this volume for reforestation of this species in their native habitat? With such numbers of seeds I wondered if you were part of a special project . Perhaps the seeds are more readily available than I thought. It’s good to see how available these are now to plant hobbyists all over.

[happypalms]

17 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Curious if you are growing this volume for reforestation of this species in their native habitat? With such numbers of seeds I wondered if you were part of a special project . Perhaps the seeds are more readily available than I thought. It’s good to see how available these are now to plant hobbyists all over.

It is a commercial love of this palm I went through some life changes and my two joeys I had in containers had lived for twenty years and still survived so i thought why not grow them I loved them that much then the opportunity came along to get two thousand seeds so I went for it i though go big why not by the time they all grow to be sold it will take 5 to 10 years I have a thousand Kerriodoxa elegans as well for the same reason I love them that much plus I always have a economy to scale problem grow big I say 

[piping plovers]

 

7 minutes ago, happypalms said:

then the opportunity came along to get two thousand seeds so I went for it i

Ah, good for you!  Must be rewarding to have taken on this endeavor. 2 years ago I had 120 Howea forsteriana seeds and when they furiously started germinating I wished I was prepared with a commercial space to grow them on.  I can’t imagine having to accommodate 2000+. !

 

…and NSW AUS? Any thylacine sightings or would you rather not say? 😁

I’ve watched many documentaries on the thylacine and NSW is a place they mention often.

 

[happypalms]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:17 AM, piping plovers said:

 

Ah, good for you!  Must be rewarding to have taken on this endeavor. 2 years ago I had 120 Howea forsteriana seeds and when they furiously started germinating I wished I was prepared with a commercial space to grow them on.  I can’t imagine having to accommodate 2000+. !

 

…and NSW AUS? Any thylacine sightings or would you rather not say? 😁

I’ve watched many documentaries on the thylacine and NSW is a place they mention often.

 

Love the kentia one of my first palms to grow and as for the Tasmanian Tiger if I see one I will let only you know not the authorities only you 🤣iam pretty sure it was a landlocked species when Tasmania drifted away from Australia but iam sure it must have roamed around before continental drift 

[JohnAndSancho]

Is there a cheap US source for these? Strap leaf seedlings on Etsy are $100-150 😬

[piping plovers]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Is there a cheap US source for these? Strap leaf seedlings on Etsy are $100-150 😬

John,I hear ya. If I had an extra seedling I’d help you out but I killed off 2 of my 3 recent seedlings in past year.  I recommend putting out a request for one on the palms wanted section of the forum if you haven’t already.

I did a few years ago and 2 members helped me out with generous offers for the sizes I purchased.  And IPS people definitely know how to ship joeys.
 

I also got germinated seeds in pots from FLORIBUNDA PALMS & EXOTICS for reasonable prices. Or you may want to reach out to Happypalms above to see about possibilities.

I was looking to replace mine a few years ago and there’s alotta scammy sites saying they have joeys but don’t really have them. Also, Etsy, Ebay etc (I like them and use them a lot) but their sellers were not reliable listings for joey listings.  Gotta be careful with people who don’t know plants but are just cashing in on the plant craze.  Like Asking $600-$800 for a $250 Joey and would only ship it bare root.  I don’t know any knowledgeable joey growers that would ship them bareroot.  

I realized the reliable people who know and have Joeys are the serious palm people; the type of people with IPS and on in this forum.

Happy hunting and hope you find a good one!

 

[Hurricanepalms]

Here is one of two I bought as much smaller 3 gallons about 3 years ago. I have never fertilized. I just water them with rain water or RO water. Basically 0 maintenance. 

[piping plovers]

1 hour ago, Hurricanepalms said:

Here is one of two I bought as much smaller 3 gallons about 3 years ago. I have never fertilized. I just water them with rain water or RO water. Basically 0 maintenance. 

Beautifully grown specimen.  No browned edges at all. Nice job. I should start using rain water in mine too.

 

yeh, I noticed with my larger ones that they are easy to maintain and I water them infrequently, almost as infrequent as I would water a  large potted succulent.  The seedlings with one or two leaves, however, I’ve found much more challenging to gauge their watering needs.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by piping plovers
Edit

[happypalms]

On 12/10/2023 at 5:08 AM, piping plovers said:

Beautifully grown specimen.  No browned edges at all. Nice job. I should start using rain water in mine too.

 

yeh, I noticed with my larger ones that they are easy to maintain and I water them infrequently, almost as infrequent as I would water a  large potted succulent.  The seedlings with one or two leaves, however, I’ve found much more challenging to gauge their watering needs.

 

 

The seedlings I have I water daily skipping a day or two mid week depending on the temperature winter watering is once a week again weather depending  knowing the weather conditions plays a big role in seedling development when to water or not to water in my climate