Majesty Palm – Is It a House Plant or Indoor plant?
There are a lot of great indoor houseplants available at your local nursery or garden center, I just do not think the Majesty Palm is one of them.
Most of them will do well in your house if you learn a little something about their care, water and light requirements. For example – Bamboo Palm Beats Majesty! The Majesty is unable to survive stress it faces indoors, plus you can discover better “palm” options.
That’s one of the reasons for this web site and its goal is to help you learn more about caring for your indoor houseplants, flowers, landscape, rocks, plants and design.
There just doesn’t seem to be much information available on indoor plant care.
Sometimes there is a clear theme or question that hits at certain times of the year. Such as “What to do with my Mandevilla for the winter?”
Other times there has been a question about a plant or plants that just keeps coming up. I’ve wanted to write about this for a while but have held off. So here it is…
As I said there are lots of plants that can be used indoors. But… every so often a plant is “introduced” to the market and quite frankly it is a mistake. The plant is a failure and no matter how hard you try, you never seem to get the plant to look good.
So what plant am I talking about?
Ravenea Rivularis – “The Majesty Palm”
Outdoors in south Florida the plant can do very well in the landscape. But it has a few requirements – lots of water, bright light or full sun and feed it heavy.
Any of our thousands of readers that have been following – Plant Care Tips – for any length of time will recognize right away that the “Majesty Palm” goes against general indoor plant practices.
Majesty Palm Wants LOTS of:
- Water
- Light
- Fertilizer
Inside the plant yellows easily, draws spider mites like a magnet, and its appearance declines very rapidly.
Why would growers introduce plants that don’t do well and why would nurseries or garden centers carry such a plant?
A few reasons:
Growers, your local garden center or nursery are always looking for something new to offer. In order to have a plant that can be sold inexpensively, growers need plants that grow fast. Garden centers need plants that fit certain price points.
Unfortunately, garden centers and nurseries are sometimes “stuck” with what the corporate office orders. The problems of the “majesty palm” being a good interior plant is not being laid at the feet of the garden centers and nurseries.
It’s just one that shouldn’t have been grown or sold to the interior market.
Although I’m not going to win any fans and certainly not any praise from growers for this “recommendation” I’ve got to call it as I see it.
DON’T BUY a Majesty Palm as an indoor plant unless you are looking for a challenge in plant care.
Now if you want an indoor palm, here are my recommendations:
- Chamaedorea elegans ‘Bella’ – Parlor Palm
- Chamaedorea Sefrizii – Bamboo Palm
- Chamaedorea Metallica
- Howea Fosteriana – Kentia Palm
- Rhapis excelsa – Lady Palm
Every week our mailbox is littered with questions and problems that people experience with the Majesty Palm. Don’t think you’re alone, even growers have problems making them look good.
Palms grown indoors can get
spider mites and mealy bug. Click Here for an easy, natural, safe solution…
Remember when buying a big plant that’s cheap like the majesty palm doesn’t mean you’re receiving good value, you may be buying problems.
Related Articles Of Interest:
- 5 Palms to Buy and 1 to Watch Out For!
- Reading Your Palms
- Chamaedorea Metallica – Metal Palm Tree – A Tough Small Palm
- Bamboo Palm – Chamaedorea Seifrizii Commonly Known as the Bamboo or Reed Palm
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4 Responses to “Majesty Palm – Is It a House Plant or Indoor plant?”
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What would you suggest for a palm on a covered screened patio that is shady until the strong 4 or 4:30 pm sun? Thank you,
I was very relieved reading the info you posted about majesty palms. I recently moved out on my own for the first time and decided to decorate my apartment with plants. A couple were given to me and a couple others I purchesed, the most recent being the majesty palm.
Now mind you, I’m not a gardener or a plant savy guy. However, I decided to procrastinate on the research for the care of my different plants because they seemed to be doing great, very green and growing. That was until the majesty palm that I started in my living room started yellowing fast.
Since then I have moved it to several locations in the house, transplanted into a bigger pot, and lastly moved it outside where it yellowed even more sadly.
After coming home today and getting tired of seeing it dying I got on the internet and clicked your link and quickly realized that I was caring for it like the others. Surely it wasn’t recieving enough water and sun! Thanks very much for sharing your information and time. I now know why it was so cheap the day I got suckered into buying it by my girlfriend and the clerk at the supermarket.
-Mariano-
What does it mean when my majestic palm has brown dead ends? I give it plenty of water and try to give it plenty of sunshine (not direct). Any advise will help. It’s kept indoors.
Thank you.
I bought some majestic palms this summer and planted them in my yard anad their doing great but they will not winter outside so what do I do to try to keep them alive indoors until next spring.thanks for any help you can give me.