Well i bought my cat palm a fw months ago and it was doing well. Then it started to decline..... It did have scaly bugs but it looked bad before that. It was placed in a windo where it gets good sun fer about 4 hours a day. I give it LOTS of water once a week. Im assuming it is one of two things. Underwater or too much light. Yes i do have a pic..
Top of potting medium does look quite dry. Learn how to judge moisture and water often enough to keep evenly moist. Possibly top has a problem with mites, these are almost universal on indoor palms here.
the potting medium is well draining, and concidering this palm LOVES water, it is very hard to juge how much to give it. Some of my plants did have mitex but that is over with. Some of my plants to have mealy bug, this one included. It started to delcine before it got infected. I believe it was to dry.
It is definately way too dry. You need to check your plants every few days to make sure that they stay moist, the old belief of give it water once a week is the worst information out there. Considering your palm is getting 4 hours of direct sunlight everyday, it will probably need water every 3 days, give it enough that the soil is moist when you are finished watering it, and make sure it doesn't sit in water for too long. You should also try irradicating the mealy bug and scale, that is also stressing out your palm.
just used a whole bottle of safers soap on them all a few weeks ago, im now spraying with a very very light dishsoap solution about 3 times a week. Im waiting for warmer weather so i can take all my plants out and spray the hell out of them with a good insectcide, then spray em down with the hose a few times, and then leave em out for a bit. Im used to humid weather ( im from ontario). Out here its way to damn dry. All my other plants arent fairing as bad as this one was. It is now in a north east facing bedroom, it gets bright light only in the morning. Im watering it with my aquatium water exclusivly. Ive read that bad water ( hard, salty, low oxygen) is really bad for these palms. I use no meds in my fish tank, and there are live plants ( that means lots of O2, nitrites, phosphates and othier minerals are present that arent in tap water. There is also no cholrine.
well, it seems to be doing alright in my bedroom. The soapy water spray seems to be working with the infestation so far as well. Some of the leaves are opening up again. THanks so far. I will keep you guys posted on it.
