newbie here - need help in restoring life to plant

Hi,
I'm subletting this house and the owner wants me to care for her plants, and I have no experience. She said to water the plants every Sunday with a medium amount of water. Whatever that means. She's out of the country and I can't ask her for advice.

After a couple weeks the plants downstairs seemed to always have wet dirt, so I figuring I was overdoing it and gave them a couple weeks off. They are doing okay now. They are different than the one upstairs, which is the one I am worried about. This one upstairs is growing increasingly brown, and I do not know if I'm overwatering or underwatering, as its hotter upstairs in this house and it could be its too dry. Anyway here is a picture of it.

I'm hoping for any watering advice, and would it help if I moved the plant outside for a couple months?

Overwatering is more likely than underwatering given what you've said about the other plants. Try sticking your finger down a ways into the pot--often the surface of the soil can look dry but down a few inches where the plant's roots are it can still be sopping wet. Also when you water, make sure that you don't leave water standing in the tray that's underneath the plant--remove that and empty the water after watering.

I wouldn't move it outside at this point, that won't help the situation if it's a watering issue and could cause further stress for a plant that's already under stress.

Also make sure it's not right in the path of hot air from a vent--that won't be good for it either.

First thing I would suggest is moving the plant to a place where it gets more light--it can't be getting much back in that corner. If you're temps aren't too cool, a palm tree should love it outside as long as it isn't in direct sun--it won't be used to direct sun since it's been inside so would likely get sunburned. One last bit of advice is to prune off the dead fronds. It will neaten up the appearance and make room for new ones to grow. After it begins to recover, try just a light application of liquid fertilizer (Miracle Grow for house plants would be fine). There will be instructions for how much fertilizer to use on the bottle.

Too, the plant's natural tendency is the continual shedding of the oldest leaves, so it may be natural senescence (aging) is the player. Check for insect infestations, too. Mealybug would be pretty obvious, but mites and scale, the others most likely, wouldn't be as conspicuous.

Try using wood skewers stuck deep into the pot as 'tells' to determine when to water. DON'T, until the skewer comes out clean and dry.

About moving it outside ..... I hate to disagree with Ecrane because he always gives such good advice, but I think if nights are reliably above 55*, moving it outdoors into full or open shade (better) would be a BIG help.

As mentioned - watch that 'over-watering'.

Al

thanks for the input. Can someone tell me what is a frond, is that the "stalks" (there are about 6-8 of them) with 40 leaves per frond? Also, how dead is dead? The center stalk of the plant is pretty much green, but every other stalk has some amount of brown on the leaves.

Nights around here aren't reliably over 55 unfortunately :) Mostly mid 30's to low 40's

I don't think I'd take on the responsibility of fertilizing someone else's plant, especially in view of the fact that it could be a high level of solubles in the soil that is causing the problem, that is unless you're talking about a long term sublet. If that's the case, I suggest you read the sticky thread at the top of this forum for help ..... and if that's the case you might want to approach this from a different angle. Will the owner return before May?

In this case, it looks like the fronds are already completely brown. If not, I'd leave them on the plant until they are. The reason is, plants reclaim and translocate all the mobile nutrients and biocompounds they can before they shed parts. Also, growth originates from a region called the apical meristem, which is a group of 'stem' cells at the growing tip of the trunk, hidden by the cluster of newly emerging leaves, so removing the leaves being shed won't provide room for new growth.

Miracle-Gro houseplant fertilizer has 8-7-6 as its NPK %s, which is very close to a 1:1:1 ratio. Palms prefer something closer to a 3:1:2 or 3:1:3 ratio. Using the proper ratio of fertilizer allows you to supply nutrients at the lowest level possible w/o nutritional deficiencies, which is a big plus when it comes to the plants ability to take up water and the nutrients dissolved in water, AND reducing the effects of any salt build-up in the soil.

If you have the plant long term, I have some other suggestions, but if it's just a short term thing, you might want to consider just flushing the soil and calling it good. I'll watch to see if you reply and whether or not you'd like additional help.

Al

A frond is the entire leaf & stem of a palm. You have 2 brown or browning ones conspicuous in the pic provided.

Al

The owner returns in April. What does "flushing the soil" mean?

Sometimes, when you don't water properly (so you flush the soil each time you water), salts from fertilizer and tap water build up in the soil. The accumulation of salts makes it harder and harder for plants to take up water. If it gets bad enough, the salt accumulation can be so bad it literally PULLS water from plant cells, like curing salt pulls water from bacon or ham. The technical term for this is 'plasmolysis', because when the water is pulled from the cells and cells collapse, plasma is torn from cell walls, but we commonly refer to it as fertilizer burn.

Flushing the soil involves pouring large volumes of water through the soil to dissolve and remove the accumulating salts. A volume of room temp water equal to at least the volume of the container is poured through the soil 10 or more times. The soil is then left to dry down if it drains well enough, and the plant is fertilized the next time it needs water. If there is danger of root rot because the soil might remain saturated for too long after the procedure, there are ways you can help the soil to give up the excess water to eliminate the danger.

Al