Good morning I am new here and wanted to ask for a little guidance. I live in Southern Ontario, I think we are 6b. I have tried to have a bottle palm, in a 5 gallon pot, for our by my pool and then bring it inside for the fall winter seasons. It does well for the summer but when I bring it inside I think I am killing it with kindness. I have read most things I can find as to how to take care for it indoors, it sort of goes dormant for the winter I guess? I make sure it drains well only small amount of water every 3 to 4 weeks and in a room with a fair amount of sun through the day. When I take it outside once the temp stays warm enough it starts to lean a fair amount and the base starts letting go at the soil and I notice it is rotting on the inside and letting go of the roots. This has happened to me with 2 different bottle palms. Just wondering if someone here could give me any kind of indoor winter care tips. Like I said I think I killed it with to much water?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Rojell

@Rojell welcome to PalmTalk! I'll start by saying I don't grow palms inside, because I'm in Zone 9b/9a borderline in Florida. From the description you may be having problems with the soil mix being too dense or organic. There's a whole section of Palmtalk's forum dedicated to pot growing, and you might find better answers there:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/forum/45-palms-in-pots/

There's a lot of discussions on palm soil mixes, but generally a "loose and chunky mix" of something like topsoil + perlite/turface MVP/lava rock with at least 50% inorganics seems to work for a lot of people. For example, this is a big thread on it:

Another possibility is incorrect planting depth. If you get the base too deep (i.e. soil too high) then the RIZ (Root Initiation Zone) has a higher chance of rot. The rule of thumb is if the palm is too high (soil too low) it might "girdle" or grow slower, but if it's too low (soil too high) it might rot. One of the PT Directors wrote this great article on it:

http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

Great thanks for the info Merlyn. The palms I have bought were already planted in pots. The next one, hopefully the last one I buy, lol I will check it over and maybe repot it if needed. Thanks for the links I will have a read. Appreciate the info.