Areca Palm plant basically grown as an ornamental plant in gardens in tropical and subtropical regions, It is best indoor plant .It has common name “butterfly palm”, refers to the leaves which curve upwards in multiple stems to create a butterfly look or it also known as golden cane palm , yellow palm.
How to Identify the Areca Palm
- Its feathery leaves or fronds that arch in an upward direction.
- Each frond consists of about 40 to 60 leaves
- It can be planted indoors and outdoors, where it can exceed its 8 feet size and grow up to 25 feet.
Important Tips for Areca Palm
- Keep it away from direct sunlight. Bright yet indirect sunlight is perfect for it.
- Mealy bugs and spider mites can cause problems and to get rid of them, a mild soapy spray is recommended.
- Well-drained and evenly moist soil with high acidic ratio is ideal for the Areca Palm plant.
- Areca Palm is proved to be an air-purifying plant and can eliminate formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene from the surrounding.
How to Care Areca Palm
Areca Palm need bright filtered sunlight it also tolerate the full sun light. Indoors. Areca palms do best with bright light exposure from a south- or west-facing window. For indoor a well-draining ,peat-based potting mix is perfect for Areca Palm Plant . Amending with sand and peat moss might be necessary to improve porousness and lower the pH of the soil.
Areca Palm are very sensitive it very effective overwatering and cannot tolerate being waterlogged or sitting in a water-saturated potting mix. So make the soil or potting mix dry. Areca palms also are sensitive to fluoridated water, so use distilled water or collected rainwater its keep your palm healthy and fit.
Areca Palm doesn’t need specific temperature for grow it’s just need average temperature of 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. For outdoor planting it keep well in 50 degrees Fahrenheit. When you try to grown as an indoor plant keep the leaves away from cold windows, air conditioners, and heat sources.
Note :- if you placed plant outside in a pot during the summer the temperature must be dip below 50 degrees
If we talk about is fertilizing process it’s is not much easy as look like. Areca Palm is heavy feeder. It requires fertilizing from spring to early fall with a liquid fertilizer, following label instructions. Please Do not feed during the late fall and winter when the plant is dormant.
How to Propagate Areca Palm
Propagating Areca Palm is not much difficult task .It can be done by root division which will give you a lush plant faster than from seed. It can be done at any time during the year but the best time of propagating is in the spring .There is some key points that you have to know before start propagating Areca Palm.
- Choose a mature plant with multiple stems.
- Water well the day before dividing to loosen up the roots from the soil.
- Remove the palm from its pot by patting the sides of the container to loosen the root ball.
- Shake soil from the roots. Rinse soil from roots so you can see which roots go to which stems.
- Choose four to five stems and, with a sharp knife, cut them away from the parent.
- Gently place divided stems together in a pot with a 2-to-1 mixture of regular potting soil and coarse sand.
- Place the pot in bright and indirect light (not direct sun) and water normally.
Benefits of Areca Palm
- It is natural air purifier according to NASA Clean Air Study, areca palm can help in the reduction of indoor pollution because it eliminate the acetone, xylene, toluene , formaldehyde compounds in air.
- It is not toxic to cats, dogs, and horses.
- It also help the remove the stress.
- It also use to decor the house.
