Help me spend my bonus

[JohnAndSancho]

I feel like buying a couple/few more palms. 

After a talk with Phil, I think I should relegate my C. Benezeii to Office Squad after repotting. It's trunking and perpetually flowering, but it's basically a turnstile into my apartment and any other spot on my patio will cook it. I'd like to replace it with something shade loving that'll go more vertical and less horizontal. 

Also looking for anything that will grow in super low light, and please don't say Kentia because I've killed tons of them. 

I'm guessing some kind of chamaedorea, and my YouTube channel shows what I've already got growing. Looking to add something that will grow outdoors in mostly shade, and stuff that will grow in stupid low light - palms or edibles. And before anyone beats me to the joke, yes, everything is edible if you're brave enough. For indoor recommendations I'd like something pet friendly, even though the only time my dog cares about my plants is when I fertilize with Jobes organic chicken doodoo mix. 

[Collectorpalms]

Sorry, I have no indoor palms. Only indoor palm I tried, my cat in high school knocked it on the floor. I think it was a Parlor Palm. I think my Aunt has kept one alive for 40 years.

Why/How what is going on with your Kentia juts curious. Its probably the best indoor palm, well most expensive anyhow. They kept them alive in the Victorian age. I guess Majesty palms are the new Kentia, but those are not suited for indoor. They just make a super quick profit.

[JohnAndSancho]

21 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

Why/How what is going on with your Kentia juts curious. Its probably the best indoor palm, well most expensive anyhow. They kept them alive in the Victorian age. I guess Majesty palms are the new Kentia, but those are not suited for indoor. They just make a super quick profit.

Def most expensive. Other than that, I have no answers. My first batch, I split up 4 into individual pots. 1 stayed alive for a year, 2 died PDQ, one I gave to an employee and her neighbor kid went on a rant and cut every plant she saw with scissors. My 2nd batch, I reached out to Phil and he suggested that separating them could have killed them, so I let them be. 3/4 died quick, 1/4 lived for a year. Bought another pot of 4, 2 are still going. The 2 survivors get basically my dog's leftover water once a week consistently, and have their own grow light. Basically they get special treatment. 

 

My dog won't drink water out of a bowl, he only drinks out of big Taco Cabana cups. So I can only assume that they're divas and want special treatment. Either way I don't want to spend more money on shit that's gonna end up in the dumpster. 

[oasis371]

Kentia (Howea) are essentially solitary palm, not clumping, so they may resent the root competition.  As far as separating palms, that is always tricky.  I have only bought them as solitary specimens (purchased small, so cost was manageable).  And at the risk of jinxing my current success with the Majesty, gotta say my current one is my finest specimen, that one too, is a solitary palm, put this specimen IS a twin. Just really, really important to keep the Majesties on the WET side.  In fact, when I was reading the above, I was reminded that my Majesty was outside sitting in a bucket and was underwater due to the current rainstorm; it will be fine. Majesty is just one palm that loves constant moisture.  Howea is moderate water-loving, wants to dry only slightly between watering but also has relatively weak drought tolerance. Howea can also be sensitive to excessive WINTER watering, in the Summer, water is not a factor.

[JohnAndSancho]

On 5/7/2022 at 6:32 PM, oasis371 said:

Kentia (Howea) are essentially solitary palm, not clumping, so they may resent the root competition.  As far as separating palms, that is always tricky.  I have only bought them as solitary specimens (purchased small, so cost was manageable).  And at the risk of jinxing my current success with the Majesty, gotta say my current one is my finest specimen, that one too, is a solitary palm, put this specimen IS a twin. Just really, really important to keep the Majesties on the WET side.  In fact, when I was reading the above, I was reminded that my Majesty was outside sitting in a bucket and was underwater due to the current rainstorm; it will be fine. Majesty is just one palm that loves constant moisture.  Howea is moderate water-loving, wants to dry only slightly between watering but also has relatively weak drought tolerance. Howea can also be sensitive to excessive WINTER watering, in the Summer, water is not a factor.

I've got 2 left inside in a large pot. I keep my apartment pretty cool, around 68F or so. They get regular light watering, and they have their own dedicated grow light, get misted regularly, etc. 

 

Their watering is by no means scientific - I dunno if you've looked at my other threads, but I have a Chihuahua mix dog that won't drink out of bowls, he only drinks out of 44oz Taco Cabana cups. Whatever is left in his cup when he struggles to drink goes to the Kentias and very quickly ends up in their saucer, so my soil obviously drains like gangbusters. I'm def not buying any more Kentias though. I've bought 3 4-packs in 1 and 2 gallon sized pots from 2 different growers at a cost of close to $300 after shipping and I'm left with 2 3-4 foot tall plants. The last 2 are happy for now. Fingers crossed. 

 

As far as Majesties go, my first palm was a Majesty and it hated indoor life. It eventually died but my 2nd is on my patio and just got repotted into a 5g pot - it's crooked because it's rootball lifted it up out of a 2g and the new pot wasn't deep enough to get it centered. I've turned it in a way to try and get it to grow back into the sun, it should end up with a really cool curve to it. Or just repot it again. 

I've got vids in the patio squad thread or youtube.com/dbljzzl 

[PalmsandLiszt]

There are a number of small, understorey Ptychosperma species you might like to consider trying, which should grow in relatively low light. Some also have colourful emergent leaves. Not quite sure how much light we're talking here. And, of course, plenty of Chamaedoreas which ought to do well if C. cataractarum does. C. metallica is quite attractive, compact and vertically-oriented and not hard to obtain.

Turning from palms for a second, I also want to proselytise Bowenia spp. as houseplants. They tolerate pretty low light, have no spines or unpleasant protuberances, have underground caudices and beautiful multipinnate leaves. The leaflets are very thin and almost plastic-like, so I don't think a dog would view them as being edible; I'm not sure that anything eats them, actually. Despite coming from the Queensland rainforest, they don't seem particularly bothered about humidity, either; I don't think mine has ever had a brown tip. Just food for thought. B. spectabilis is the smaller one.