Kentia Howea palms are drying up

[leiling.ng@outlook.com]

Hi all,

plant newbie here who got this beautiful Kentia Howea gifted to my birthday. The gardener advised to water every 10 days with 700ml of water, which I closely followed. Over time, I noticed a that the leaves were drying out, so I increased the rate of watering after consulting with my neighbor (who is also well-versed in plantcare).

This went on for 1 month until I left my apartment over the Christmas break. When I returned 1 week later, I noticed that some of the palms had started drying out - they lose their color, turn yellow/grey and crisp. Some of the leaves also develop spots. I tried googling for overwatering symptoms or root rot, but to no avail. When inspecting the roots, the palm seems fine. Couldn't spot any spider mites or other insects either.

I also made sure to water at a more careful pace now and add fertilizer to my water (not sure if this helps). In terms of location, I have moved her around - closer to the window, where she is currently placed, and further out in the corner with less light. Didn't seem to do much of a difference. 

Does anyone of you happen to know what might be going on? It has spread to all the lower palms (i.e. the ones closer to the soil) but now a large palm is affected and I'm really worried it might spread further.

I appreciate any insights.

Thank you,

Lei-Ling 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, leiling.ng@outlook.com said:

plant newbie here who got this beautiful Kentia Howea gifted to my birthday

Hi Lei-Ling, welcome to Palmtalk!   I'm afraid that I can't offer much advice for this particular palm, but there is a recent thread in the "Palms In Pots" forum that addresses difficulties growing this palm indoors.  What I can say is that it looks like you have 4 individual Howea forsteriana palms planted together in the container which is pretty common.   Have you already cut off some of the dead fronds or are the photos showing the only ones with issues?  The dying fronds look to be older fronds - like you said "closer to the soil" - and that is normal for palms to lose those fronds and replace them with new ones from the center.  If the roots look good and the plant is producing new growth it should be OK.  There might be something going wrong or it might be just experiencing a shock of adjusting to different growing conditions.  Maybe someone else can offer more specific analysis of this condition.  I hope it grows well for you - best of luck! 

Jon

[lzorrito]

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

The dying fronds look to be older fronds - like you said "closer to the soil" - and that is normal for palms to lose those fronds and replace them with new ones from the center.  If the roots look good and the plant is producing new growth it should be OK.  There might be something going wrong or it might be just experiencing a shock of adjusting to different growing conditions.

I agree. It looks like those are just old fronds. Cut the old brown fronds, and those only.

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

there is a recent thread in the "Palms In Pots" forum that addresses difficulties growing this palm indoors.