I hope someone can help. I bought a palm tree about 3 months ago and I think it is dying. I don't know the name of the tree, so I can't look up how to treat it. Description: single triangle shaped trunk, 5-6 stiff curled branches that are orange undernieth, leaves are stiff and upside down ( pointing upwards). It seems that the older branches should fall off by themselves, but they wont, and I cant pull off. The branches start off straight, then they curl sharply and turn stiff. Please help. Thanks in advance
Since there are countless species that fit that general description, a photo would be useful. In general, most people loose their palm plants by giving them inadequate light and water. These are tropical species and few will survive in a home. You did not specify how you were attempting to grow the plant, but that information would be useful as well. There is a small group of Central American palms commonly called "parlor palms" that do sometimes survive in low light conditions. But even those prefer brighter light. The vast majority grow in direct sunlight and receive large volumes of water. Several palms from Madagascar as sold as "house plants" and these grow directly on the sides of stream where they receive large volumes of water. Still, you can find them sold in grocery stores all the time as "house plants". They are sold this way due to the fact many species grow easily and rapidly from seed and commercial growers start hundreds of thousands of plants from seed, grow them in the sun, then send them to discount stores where they are instantly put in deep shade. The shock alone causes the majority to wither and eventually die. But you'll never have one of the discount sellers explain to you the plant is tropical and needs bright, often direct sun light and frequent water! Give more information and a photo and perhaps someone can offer good advice.
If you have access to an older camera, here is a simple method of determining if the palm is receiving adequate light. First, a short photography lesson. Light is measured by a professional photographer in f/stops. The higher the number, the brighter the light. So you are looking for a high number, not a low one. The meters in cameras are known as reflectance meters. They are designed to measure the amount of light reflected from a subject. As a result, you must use a card that is a medium gray color to gather a correct f/stop number. Very bright colors and/or very dark colors will give a false number. You'll need a camera that has a built in light meter. Some digital cameras can be used for this test, but you'll need to check your instruction book. Set the camera to ASA 100 (that is important so you may need to find the camera book to learn how to do that). It is also sometimes called ISO. Second, set the shutter speed of the camera to 1/60th of a second. Again, this is important so find that book. Third, get a piece of cardboard that is gray in color. The cardboard that comes from the laundry in a shirt is perfect. Have a friend hold the card directly adjacent to the palm. If it is near a window, don't cheat. Put the card on the room side of the palm. Then aim your camera (set as instructed) at that cardboard. Get as close as you can. If it is out of focus, do not worry. You are only measuring the light, not taking a photo. Just don't create a shadow on the card. Once you've done all of this note the f/stop indicated by the camera. If you are outside it will read f/32 or f/22 in direct sunlight. Most palms will love that. Indoors it will likely be a much lower number. If the number is not at least f/11 the palm is not likely to receive enough light to survive well. Anything lower than f/8 and the palm is almost certainly destined to die. At f/11 you can still see shadows on the ground. With f/8, there will be only a vague shadow. This is not terribly important if you aren't learning to take photos, but just as a reference, the sequence of full f/stops is f/32, f/22/ f/16/, f/11, f/8, f/5.6 and lower. An f/32 is very bright light but an f/22 is exactly 1/2 that amount of light. And each lower number is again a halfing of the intensity of the light. So an f/8 is only 1/5th the amount of light as f/32. Its a simple test, easily done, and will quickly prove if you do or do not have adequate light to keep the palm healthy. Different species require more or less light, so knowing what species you are growing is important. But this will help keep your palm alive and healthy.
