Free Parlor Palm Plants

The parlor palm also known botanically as Chamaedorea elegans is a popular household plant belonging to the palm family. It is commonly visible in the tropical and sub-tropical environment. This plant is also known as Neanthe bella. You will see this plant at home, office, restraurants, malls etc. It is the most preferred plant for almost all the plant lovers. Also it is good to know that this is the cheapest palm you can ever buy from the market.

Welcoming this plant at home for a beginners is a good suggestion because of its less fussy nature when it comes to taking care of this plant. It does not have much needs and will take time growing on its own. This palm will come attractive with light green fronds having dainty texture.

This plant can be commonly called as Neanthe bella, chamaedorea elegans, collinia elegans and parlor palm.

Foliage : The parlor palm is greatly known by its leaves. It gives rise to elegant, slender shaped green leaves. The foliage is shaped in feather or canopy and is parallel veined.

At times, the tip of the leaf will turn brown particularly because of the direct tap water containing fluorine or excess dry air. You can prevent brown tip in a leaf by using distilled water or even using the rain water will prove useful.

Bloom : Bloom in a parlor palm is uncommon. It is only when you allow this plant to grow in a well lighted environment that it will give rise to bloom. This bloom will be tiny and is yellow colored. This bloom when matured will turn brown and will produce seeds.

Care : The parlor palm is not that big a fussy plant. Thus, it should not be difficult for you when it comes to taking care of this plant. This plant enjoys a healthy growth when it is given a little attention by its owner. It will grow well and serve you best when you take good care of it.

Light: Light is one of the basic necessities to a parlor plant. When it comes to taking care of the parlor palm, light is prime thing to pay attention to. This plant grows both indoor and outdoor. You need to understand that this plant prefers to grow in a well lighted location even when left to grow inside a room. If you are letting your plant to grow indoors, make sure that the plant is kept near the window where it receives enough amount of indirect light. It can tolerate direct sunlight to some extend but it will turn yellowish green to brown upon over.

It is good to let this plant enjoy some sunlight in the afternoon or in the morning but always avoid letting it in the sun for a long time. If you cannot follow this ritual everyday then just make sure that this plant that you keep it close to a window where indirect light is at reach.

Humidity : Your parlor palm is a tropical plant and is a big lover of humid air. Thus, even when planted in a dry indoor air, you can maintain humidity by misting the leaves with water. This will not just maintain humidity but will clean the leaf surface and prevent further attacks by insects and bacterial attacks.

Water : Parlor palm needs water to thrive healthy as a plant. It prefers staying humid and moist. All you need to do is to provide occasional watering to the plant when you find the top soil dry just water the plant. It will be the best thing you are doing for this plant. just to let you know, this plant will grow much better when under watered than over watered. You can limit the amount of watering when you see the outside temperature low. It won’t need much water during the winter months compared to the summer months.

Temperature : The parlor palm prefers to grow in a warm and humid environment. It can survive between the temperature of 18-27C.

Soil : Loamy to sandy soil rich in humus and compost manure is best for a parlor palm. It will survive well, hard and strong if such conditions are maintained in the soil.

Fertilizer : Fertilizing your parlor palm will serve best for your plants healthy growth. It is good to fertilize this plant four to five times a year. The best time to fertilize your parlor palm is during the summer and spring months. These are the active growing months for this plant. Water soluble fertilizer will do best for this plants right growth.

Pruning : You don’t have to prune a parlor palm because pruning this plant will not encourage growth but will stop growth as this plant grows from a terminal bud. However, as the older foliage and bloom gets old and turn brown, you can trim off the unwanted parts by cutting them off using a sharp sterilized scissors.

Repotting : You will choose to repot your parlor palm only when you see the roots filling up the pot as they turn mature. The perfect time to repot is during the spring months. This is the time when the plant is in its active growing stage. Also make sure your new pot is larger than the old pot, it has good drainage holes and is filled with humus and compost manure rich soil. If you mistakenly plant it in a pot without drainage holes, the plant will rot away from the roots eventually dying away.

Sometimes you will notice the leaves of parlor palm turning pale and weak. This could be due to iron deficiency in the plant body. In order to make this plant come to life with a fresher growth, you will need to use foliar fertilizer. This fertilizer contains iron.

Propagation : The division method of propagation is very common in a parlor palm. The plant will produce much outcome through this method. It will easily increase in number and will give rise to new parlor palm within sometime of good care. The seeding method of propagation is followed but this method is not very common in a parlor palm as the seed is not very strong most of the time to turn into a best growth. It will turn out into a good growth very occasionally but not always.

Uses : Parlor palm is the elegance of your room if you have it in your room, if you have it on your work desk, it is the beauty and elegance of your office desk. All you need to have is parlor palm wherever you go. This plant has the essence to beautify your environment and make you turn to the beauty of the nature around you. It will beautify your indoor environment if you plant it at home and its impact is no less when left to grow in an outdoor environment. You will love it wherever you find it.

This plant has really effective use reacting with chemical toxins whenever you let it react to it. It helps remove toxins such as ammonia and formaldehyde, purifying the indoor air naturally.

This plant has slow growing ability and will take years to grow into a truly big plant. As it matures, it will grow up to 4 feet. It originated from Mexico and is currently seen to be growing in almost all the tropical climatic zones.

Parlor palm has weak root and prefers not get disturbed by some outside forces. Thus, they prefer not to be repotted unless very necessary. They don’t like their roots getting disturbed.