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Before You Buy
Receiving Your Plant
Medium LightDescription
If you want to make a tropical statement, with long-lasting and (nearly) care-free features, the Kentia Palm will deliver for you. Here are some helpful hints on keeping your Kentia in great shape for years to come:
Watering
Our Kentia Palms come from top growers in both Florida and Hawaii and the soils differ considerably in their water-holding capacity. Florida soils hold more water, while lava-rock Hawaiian soils drain more readily. Regardless, the plants share the same characteristic – they like an evenly moist rootzone. The Kentia should be watered thoroughly, around the entire soil surface, and not watered again until the soil feels dry – you’ll want a soil probe to help you determine relative soil moisture. The Hawaiian soils are a different, and sometimes hard to probe, but it’s the best soil for plant owners that tend to over-water because there’s so much air space between the small particles of lava rock (cinder). Please check out our watering guide for more information.
Light
While this palm has strong tolerance for lower light levels, much better than most palms, it will thrive in moderate and high light. So, good filtered natural light or bright fluorescent light will keep this palm growing strong.
Nutrition
Like other plants right out of nursery production, you won’t need to feed this palm for at least 6 months after you get it. That’s because there is residual nutrients in the soil from when the palm was being propagated. After 6 months, it can be fed quarterly with a complete fertilizer formulated for interior plants. Please refer to our plant nutrition guide for details.
Cleaning
An occasional wipe down with a damp cloth will keep your Kentia looking good. That’s it.
Pruning
The older leaves on the Kentia Palm may turn yellow and brown. So sweat…just prune off the leaf as close to the stem as possible.
Bugs
The biggest bug problem for this palm is scale. They’ll show up as little brown bumps on the underside of the leaves and can be wiped off. Because scale insects form a waxy proactive coating over their bodies, you will need to apply a little more pressure to dislodge the little boogers from their happy little spot on the underside of the leaves.
Trouble
Give it a little light and occasional water, and you should be in pretty good shape.
Low Light
Brian (verified owner) –
Four healthy palms that look full together but was surprisingly short. Great health but disappointed.
Sue Waltzer (store manager) –
Thanks for letting us know. The palms are larger earlier in the season and start to get shorter as we head into the cooler months as the growing slows down. The sizes are listed on the website and are accurate most of the year except during the summer months when they’re usually much larger and seem to grow overnight. Please send me a photo so I can see how it is doing as it should be the proper height and if it is not, we’ll need to know.
Thanks – Sue
John Peck (verified owner) –
Had really hoped the palm would be closer to 6’. Unfortunately despite being a very beautiful palm it was barely 5’ tall.
Sue Waltzer (store manager) –
Thanks for letting us know. We are at the end of the summer crop and during the year they range from 5-6′ tall. If you give it some nice light through a window, it will put out new growth and get taller in time.
Sue
donald (verified owner) –
Good service and plants but terrible website and online ordering.
Sue Waltzer (store manager) –
Thanks for letting us know. We’re making alterations on the site to make it easier to order and apologize for the issues you’ve had. If you need any help with your plant or ordering in the future, please email me directly and I can help.
Thanks – Sue
Anonymous (verified owner) –
The plant was slightly damaged during shipping and many of the leaves were bent, and one of the branches was bent but not completely broken. Pretty sure the box was turned upside down or at least sideways because much of the soil material had come out of the pot and was loose in the box. At least the first inch or so. The plant main stalks were bent to one side so the plant does not stand up straight. Hopefully this will correct itself over time.
Allen (verified owner) –