Decorate Your Apartment Patio
The Cat Palm is smaller than other palms and is ideal for small spaces such as apartments in the summer. They grow just 3-6 feet tall, Cat Palms are Best Plants for Apartment Living. Native to Southern Mexico and Central America, cat palms make lush additions on outdoor patios as well.
Cat Palms do best in bright light and moist but not wet, soil. Their botanical name is Chamaedorea cataractarum and they don’t like to be dry so be sure to keep it hydrated. Cat Palms offer fronds of tropical foliage to decorate your apartment patio or any room indoors. They give you that tropical feel, improving your mood, and your creativity while reducing stress. You can decorate you appartment patio with cat palm for a tropical feel.
The Cat Palms are the Best Plant for Apartment Living because they are easier for indoor care, they are less prone to spider mites and other pests and lower, more manageable to grow. Cat Palms are widely used in interior design settings and considered a top air purification plant for indoor environments.
Cat Palm Description and Care Instruction
Sun Exposure: Sun or Shade, they’re adaptable to your lighting when shipped.
Description:
The cat palm is a clustering palm with no trunk, but rather a dense clump of stems covered with feathery fronds. This palm grows 6 -8 feet in a rounded form. The cat palm is a slow growing plant that can tolerate sun or shade locations, but prefers shadier locations. Cat palms are often used in landscaping to create privacy in front of windows, hedges along fences/property lines, and as a tropical backdrop for smaller plants.
Maintenance & Care:
The cat palm needs regular watering and prefer to be planted with a good amount of top soil to help the roots retain moisture. Cat palms need to be fertilized at least three times a year (spring, summer, and fall) or up to once a month if the palm is planted in a sunny location. Cat palms also require frequent watering, especially if planted in direct sunlight.
Costa Farms Cat Palm:
If you’re thinking about getting one and don’t know how to plant it, good news, The Cat Palm comes planted in a 9.25 inch growers pot. This healthy plant ships at a minimum of 32 inches tall, measured from the bottom of the pot to the top of the plant itself.
It ships fast, direct from the farm to your home. Place in a room with medium to bright light for the best results and avoid direct sunlight, they prefer half shaded areas.
Costa Farms 9-1/4 inch cat palms are attractive dense clusters of trunk less plants with soft, dark green leaves. Cat palms are the perfect decoration for filling an empty corner on your patio, in your living room, if it has a lot of natural light coming in, or you can even place it in your master bath room area. Cat Palm is sure to please your eye palette.
It’s bushy yet airy fronds distinhuish the cat palm, also known as cataract or cascade palm from its species family members. This stylish and low maintemance beauty is planted in large containers and used for dividing entryways or large living areas as well as softening empty corners.
Caring For Your Cat Palm
Keep it’s soil moist but not soggy by watering once every 5-7 days. Use slightly acidic and organic rich soil for potting. Grow it in warm temperatures between 55 degree F (12.5 C) and 80 degree F (26.6 C) and humidity. Provide a bright light but not direct sunlight.
The Cat Palm is hardy and will thrive in a wide range of environments based on the conditions you provide it.
Watering:
Keep the soil moist at all times but not soggy. When the fronds begin yellowing at the tip, that usually means the soil is too dry, damaging the aesthetics of your plant. Water your palm at least once a week or within a 10 day period.
The frequency and amount of water you need to give it will depend on the surrounding temperature, humidity and drainage of the potting container. Check the soil with your finger up to 2″ below the soil to determine it’s moisture level before watering. Water when the top of the soil is dehydrated.
The best way to avoid over or under watering is to buy a self watering Lechuza and place black stones in the pot for mulch. You’ll need a bigger Pot later when your palm gets bigger (up to 6 feet), they run from $20.00 up to $581.00 on Amazon, shop around.
Cat Palms love a good soak once in a while
Run plenty of water through the soil until it drips through the drainage holes. Such soaking also helps to remove chemicals that buildup from the use of fertilizers and fluoridated water. Use distilled, rain, or aged water to prevent chemical buildup. The chemical buildup affects nutrient absorption by the roots, resulting in the eventual death of the plant.
Cat Palms planted outdoors require more water due to wind and a higher rate of evaporation. The best tip to guarantee sufficient water is to drench the large pot using a hosepipe. Always remember that soaking works if your soil has excellent drainage.
Humidity
The Cat Palms thrive on humidity and will produce gloriously green leaves when the moisture is right. Such an environment mimics what is found along the streams of tropical forests, where the plant is native. Humidity is one of the most important aspects that you must get right for the palm to become plush and leafy.
A pebble tray (or humidity tray that the bonsai tree must have) would be the most effective humidifying tricks for Cat Palm. It will maintain high humidity through evaporation. Since you can see when the dish has dried up, replenish the water, guaranteeing the plant has the perfect moisture.
Place the Cat Palm in the bathroom, it is the most ideal spot for humidifying or get an electronic humidifier. It is especially important in enclosed spaces where air conditioning results in loss of moisture. In low humidity, the Cat Palm develops brown tips and leaf spots. If high moisture is not balanced with proper aeration, the chances of fungal diseases will increase.
Soil
Cat Palm loves slightly acidic and organic-rich loamy soil. The soil must also drain sufficiently to prevent chemical buildup. If it holds too many chemicals in the soil, the plants will eventually die.
Repotting is only necessary if the soil is damaged by chemical buildup or root rot. It can be done two to three years after planting or when other factors damage the soil.
Pest Prevention
The plant is quite resistant to pests and diseases when you provide the right conditions. Depending on temperature and humidity levels, you will have to deal with spider mites, mealybug, and scales. Ants are also a common problem for Cat Palms.
Is Epsom good for Palm trees?
Epsom salt enhances the beauty of palm fronds because it provides the nutrients necessary to produce lush leaves. It turns the plant into a spectacle because the palms take two to three years to replace old leaves. You, therefore, need the salt to keep the leaves green and beautiful.
Why is My Cat Palm leaves turning yellow?
Check the amount of light to ensure that it is not too much. The soil could have been damaged by salt buildup or is soggy. Check the soil also to ensure that it is not too dry.
Should I cut off brown palm leaves?
It will depend on the extent of browning. If only the tips are affected, do not cut the entire leave. Cut the brown part to improve on the aesthetics of your plant. However, you must address the cause of browning so that it does not extend to other leaves or affect the entire leaf.
You can also propagate by division, cutting the younger shoots using a sharp knife to inflict minimal damage to the roots. Plant them in nutrient-rich soil in spring and summer when the weather is warm to promote tranquil root development.
With adequate water, heat and light, it will take 3-4 weeks for the new plant to establish.
Check out these Cold Hardy Plants for outdoors.