Indoor Fan Palm Help!

[PalmJourney]

Hello! I’m new to this forum and fairly new to indoor palm care. I recently acquired a fan palm in desperate need of help and in the interest of learning more about palms, took it in. I’m noticing some new spears coming in full crispy and brown (will attach picture), with one potentially being healthy. I guess my questions would be: are they lost causes? Will they fully emerge? What do you think the issue could be? What would next steps be to help save it? 
 

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! 

 

I have it getting some mid indirect lighting, with a grow light to supplement the rest. I also have a humidifier on it and I try to give it a thorough water when the top couple of inches dry out. It’s also in a pot with drainage. 

[happypalms]

Whooo she’s in trouble that one. Most likely overpotted and then overwatering. If it was my palm it would be placed outdoors in quite corner of the greenhouse and left alone. But my experience tells me it’s not looking too good . And if the little palm survives it will take years for it to fully recover. Most likely going into decline and the dying eventually. Time to head of to the garden store and see if you can get another palm, try a phoenix robellenii or a rhapis excelsia perhaps a Howea fosteriana, chameadorea elegans all those ones are much better suited for indoor growing. And try not to repeat the mistakes you made with this palm overwatering it, don’t fertilise your palms until you learn the basics of indoor palm growing, let the top inch of soil dry out indoors before watering. Place your palm outside when it’s raining to rest it up, and if possible every month at least rest your palm in a shaded place outdoors for a couple of weeks but only in spring and summer not in winter. Good luck remember less is best! 

[JohnAndSancho]

Is that a Washie? Oof. I'd start by repotting with fresh soil and _very very very carefully and slowly_ separating them and leaving the good one outside and tbh probably cutting my losses with the other one. I'm not saying it's impossible to grow those indoors but it'll never be happy, they can take cold and they love heat.

 

Also, check the bottom of the pot - just because the pot has drainage doesn't mean the water is actually draining. Sometimes soil has big chunks of crap in it that block the holes - that's happened to me a few times and I think everything is cool and next thing I know my palm is dying and the pot is still full of water. I've also added sand to my soil once and it all sank to the bottom and turned to concrete. Cheap soil also compacts really bad. There's hundreds of possibilities, but in all honesty I'd _very slowly, carefully, and surgically_ separate them, get all the soil off of the roots, put the green one in some fresh well draining soil in a smaller pot with tons of drainage, and in all honesty yeet the other one into the dumpster.

 

Put the good one outside in the sun and watch it grow. The current fronds will scorch, but when these are healthy they grow so fast you'll hardly notice. And like the grand master Happy said, there's tons of palms better suited for indoors. My vote goes for cat palms. I had a $20 Home Depot plant turn into a 6 foot monster that got so big, I had to keep trimming it because it was blocking my TV and my apartment door. 

[PalmJourney]

Thank you both for your insight! Yes, this is a washie 😅
 

I work in a plant shop and this was brought in. I took it home instead of tossing it, because I want to better understand and learn about palms! Definitely was a long shot to rehab it, but I think I’ll take your advice and try to save the living one, while getting it into some better soil and a smaller pot. 
 

I’ll look into a couple of the suggested palms, so far I’ve only took in ones that need help, but it might be nice to actually have a healthier one from the start! 

[JohnAndSancho]

Yeah homey, detangle them and stick the green one in a smaller pot with some fresh soil. You typically want a pot that's about 2" more than the rootball but when these get sun and water they grow fast! If you see any black or stinky roots, cut them off with ***sterile*** scissors or whatever. I bet that brown one has some nasty looking roots. Honestly it's probably beyond saving, and I don't know where you live but in lots of places these are considered weeds and literally grow anywhere a bird poops the seed out. 

[SeanK]

7 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Is that a Washie? Oof. I'd start by repotting with fresh soil and _very very very carefully and slowly_ separating them and leaving the good one outside and tbh probably cutting my losses with the other one. I'm not saying it's impossible to grow those indoors but it'll never be happy, they can take cold and they love heat.

 

Also, check the bottom of the pot - just because the pot has drainage doesn't mean the water is actually draining. Sometimes soil has big chunks of crap in it that block the holes - that's happened to me a few times and I think everything is cool and next thing I know my palm is dying and the pot is still full of water. I've also added sand to my soil once and it all sank to the bottom and turned to concrete. Cheap soil also compacts really bad. There's hundreds of possibilities, but in all honesty I'd _very slowly, carefully, and surgically_ separate them, get all the soil off of the roots, put the green one in some fresh well draining soil in a smaller pot with tons of drainage, and in all honesty yeet the other one into the dumpster.

 

Put the good one outside in the sun and watch it grow. The current fronds will scorch, but when these are healthy they grow so fast you'll hardly notice. And like the grand master Happy said, there's tons of palms better suited for indoors. My vote goes for cat palms. I had a $20 Home Depot plant turn into a 6 foot monster that got so big, I had to keep trimming it because it was blocking my TV and my apartment door. 

I think it may be Livistona.

[SeanK]

I would not separate. Perhaps check the roots and be sure there is space and good drainage. Put outside in the shade and flood it every 3 days. It should dry out in-between.

[TropicsEnjoyer]

That is not a washy, it is Livistona chinensis.🚨

Repotting would definitely be smart but as mentioned by SeanK do not separate them because that could cause additional damage that may push them over the edge. Pretty unfortunate that you got these to rot because from what I’ve seen chinensis is fairly tolerant of wet soil. 
 

Also it might be a good idea to pour some peroxide in the crown just in case, probably not anything going on up there but it doesn’t hurt to be safe. 

 

 

[PalmJourney]

Thank you everyone for your advice and corrections! I think I’ll repot it for now, check out the roots, and let it be to see what comes from it. 
 

I’m already learning so much 😊