This is how you take care of your palm – Birds of Paradise Magazine

Do you want to bring in a tropical atmosphere and you don’t know which plant gives this atmosphere? The palm plant is the right plant to give your home a tropical atmosphere. The care of a palm plant does require some attention and we are happy to tell you how to approach this.

Origin of the palm plant

The palm is native to the island of Madagascar. Here the palm only grew in a dune area where the soil was very moist. The palm plant has disappeared from Madagascar because the plants were taken to brighten up living rooms with their tropical atmosphere that they radiate.

Giving the right place for your palm tree

Before we talk about the care of a palm tree, choosing the right place is the most important thing. Because where do you put that beautiful plant in your house? In the kitchen or in the living room? Or did you choose a spot in the bedroom? The most important thing to pay attention to when choosing a place for your palm plant is that there is sunlight in that place. No direct and long sunlight, but it is important that there is a lot of light during the day. If the palm gets too much sunlight, the leaves will turn yellow faster and the water requirement will increase. In the summer, a palm plant can also be placed outside, but you have to make sure that the temperature does not fall below 5 degrees at night. Because then you better put the palm back inside.

Watering your palm plant

Now that you have given the palm a nice spot, we can continue with the care of the palm. Watering is not entirely unimportant, otherwise your plant will die within 1 week. The palm plant is used to a tropical climate, which means that the plant always needs moist soil. In winter, the palm plant needs water once a week and in summer twice. It is advisable not to pour a large amount of water into the pot at once, but divide it into small amounts so that the water can absorb into the soil. Preferably, you give the palm plant lukewarm water instead of ice-cold water.

You can easily check whether the soil is well moistened by sticking a finger in the soil and feel whether it feels moist or not. Because if only the top is moistened, it does not mean that the entire ground is provided with water. Therefore, always check with a finger when you have watered the palm plant.

Nutrition for your palm

In addition to the fact that a plant needs sufficient water, nutrition for a palm plant is also important. During the growing season, a plant should be well grouted. Use special palm fertilizer and mix regular fertilizer (NPK 3-1-2) through it. Make sure that the fertilizer is only applied to the soil and not to the plant itself. This can cause the palm to get ‘burn marks’. In the fall you can sprinkle a little potassium around the trunk, so that you prepare the palm for the winter

Repot your palm

If you have watered the plant correctly in the past 2 to 3 years, it is time to repot. The roots of the palm tree have grown further and the nutrition is out of the ground. We advise you to place the palm plant in a larger pot that is about 20% wider than the plant itself, because a small pot will prevent your plant from growing further and give the plant negative health. This way you can enjoy your palm plant for another 2 to 3 years.

Prune palm

As already mentioned, the leaves of the palm can turn yellow if the plant gets too much sunlight. If this happens, you can move the palm a meter from the window. The leaves at the bottom of the palm in particular turn yellow or brown the fastest. You can cut these leaves off at the trunk. It is also possible that brown dots appear on the leaves, but unfortunately there is nothing to do about this.

Taking care of a palm requires some energy. It is important to give your plant the right place where there is a lot of light, but not directly. In addition, we have given you tips on how many times you should water your palm in winter and summer. And how to check whether the soil is well moistened. If you have applied all these tips and your plant is still in good condition, you can repot your palm plant in a larger pot. And finally to make your plant look nice, you can cut off the discolored leaves at the trunk. Do you want to take care of even more plants? Then also read the blogs about The bird of paradise plant: this is how you care for it, The Calathea – How do you care for this plant? or pruning and caring for Begonias.