Lady Palm problems & how to fix them
Rhapis excelsa
Drooping, yellowing, brown tips, or a plant that just won’t thrive? Here are the most common Lady Palm problems, what usually causes them, and how to turn things around.
Common problems
Crispy tips (low humidity)
Fluoride and salts in tap water blacken the blunt leaflet tips over time. Brown, dry leaf tips caused by air that is too dry for the plant, common in heated or air-conditioned rooms. Existing crispy tips never turn green again, but with higher humidity new growth should come in clean within a few weeks.
Overwatering
Standing water around the rhizomatous clump rots canes from the base. The soil is staying wet longer than the plant can handle, starving roots of oxygen. If caught before roots start rotting, the fix is simple - let the soil dry out and adjust the routine - and most plants bounce back within 2-3 weeks.
a yellowing lower leaf on a potted Chinese evergreen
Photo: Saurav9656 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Spider mites
Occasional in dry air, dulling the glossy fans. Tiny sap-sucking mites that thrive in warm, dry air and leave fine webbing and speckled leaves. Caught early they are very treatable; most plants recover fully within 3-4 weeks of consistent treatment.
a two-spotted spider mite among its silk threads
Photo: Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Scale insects
The fibrous cane wrappings give scale insects good cover. Sap-sucking insects that hide under hard, shell-like bumps stuck to stems and leaves, making them resistant to sprays. Treatment is mostly manual and takes patience, but most plants recover well over 4-6 weeks of consistent removal.
armoured scale insects dotting a cycad frond
Photo: Plant pests and diseases · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The mistakes that most often kill it
- Leaving it in a waterlogged cachepot until the canes rot.
- Full sun placement that bleaches and burns the fans.
- Heavy fertilizing — its roots burn easily.
Not sure what’s wrong?
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