Grow and Care for Parlor Palm

Grow parlor palm in bright indirect light, and water when the top of the mix is dry. Parlor palm is Chamaedorea elegans, also called neanthe bella. An areca palm is a different plant.

Give it bright indirect light, and water when the top of the mix is dry

Parlor palm is a rainforest understory palm. Give it bright indirect light and a mix that dries slightly on top between waterings. It grows when the room stays above about 60°F, and a cold night near 45°F can scorch the fronds. After you water, empty the saucer so the roots are not sitting in water. [1] [2] parlor palm and bamboo palm want that same light and a draining pot. Cat palm wants the mix more evenly moist — pick the kind on Types of Chamaedorea.

Use a pot that drains, and bring it in before a cold night

Start parlor palm in a pot with a drainage hole and a mix that holds some moisture but still drains. Repot only when the roots fill the pot, usually every two or three years, and handle the roots gently. After frost, you can set the pot in shade outdoors for the summer. Bring it back inside before nights drop into the mid-to-low 50s, and keep it out of a cold draft. In a frost-free garden, plant it in shade, not in hot afternoon sun. [3]

1. Use a pot with a drainage hole and a humus-rich mix that still drains.
2. Water until it runs out, then dump the saucer. Do not leave the pot in a tray of water outdoors either.
3. After frost, move the pot into shade for the summer. Ease it into brighter light over a week so the fronds do not scorch.
4. Bring it inside before nights drop into the mid-to-low 50s. In a frost-free garden, set it in shade with room for the mature clump.

Cut only fully brown fronds

New growth comes from the crown at the top of each stem, so you cannot shorten a parlor palm by cutting the cane. Cut only fronds that have gone fully brown, and leave green or yellow-green fronds in place so they can still feed the plant. Wipe dusty leaflets with a damp cloth so light can reach them. [4]

1. Cut fully brown fronds at the base, close to the stem, with clean scissors.
2. Leave green and mostly yellow fronds until they finish browning. Do not strip a live crown to make the plant look neater.
3. Do not cut a green stem in half to reduce height. That cut does not grow a new crown below it.
4. Wipe dusty leaflets with a damp cloth. Do not use a leaf-shine product on the fronds.

Split a crowded pot in spring

Shops often pot three parlor-palm plants together, and those stems are separate plants, not a true clump. If you want a second pot, slide the root ball out in spring and tease off a stem that already has roots. Pot it in a snug pot with a drainage hole. Seed is slow, and male and female flowers grow on separate plants, so indoor plants rarely set fruit.

1. Water the pot the day before so the mix holds together.
2. Slide the root ball out and find a stem that already has its own roots.
3. Pot that stem in a small pot with a drainage hole and the same humus-rich mix.
4. Keep the new pot warm and in bright indirect light while it settles. Do not start from a leafless cane cutting — it will not root.

Not an areca palm — and not a clump of garden bamboo

An areca palm is Dypsis lutescens, a clumping indoor palm with yellow-orange canes that wants a brighter window. Majesty palm is Ravenea, and kentia is Howea. A bamboo palm in this genus has cane-like stems, but garden bamboo is a grass — see How to Grow Bambusa and How to Grow Fargesia. A pygmy date palm is Phoenix — see How to Grow Date Palm. Read the tag for Chamaedorea.

If the fronds brown at the tips, check that the mix is not sitting in a saucer of water and that the pot is out of a heating vent.