Palm family. Homeland - Burma, India, China, Japan, Himalayas. This rather unpretentious fan palm includes only 6 species.
Plants have a straight trunk, in nature reaching 12-20 m in length (at home, these palms grow no more than 2.5 meters). The trunk is covered with dry brown fibers - the bases of dead leaves. The leaves are oblong-rounded in outline, about 60 cm in diameter, the segments are divided almost to the base, but in some species only half a leaf. The reverse side of the leaves has a bluish, easily erasable coating. Petioles are long and have small spines. The inflorescences are axillary, peduncle about 30-40 cm long, the flowers are white in the species Trachycarpus martiana and bright yellow, fragrant in the species Trachycarpus Fortune Trachycarpus fortunei. Berry fruit.
Trachycarpus is a palm that grows slowly at home. In "captivity" it will not bloom and, accordingly, bear fruit.
In addition to Trachycarpus Fortune, Trachycarpus Princess Trachycarpus princeps is popular in home floriculture - originally from China, it has a more sophisticated look. Its leaves are brightly medium green above, slightly with a bluish tint.
Trachycarpus - care and cultivation
Temperature: Ideal conditions for the growth of trachycarpus - in a greenhouse or conservatory, in other words, a cool, bright and well-ventilated room. It is perfect for decorating halls, foyers of offices and hotels, a wonderful plant for decorating a bright assembly hall in a kindergarten or school. Trachycarpus is quite tolerant of ordinary room temperatures if there is no battery and directed warm air flow nearby. Under natural conditions, palm trees have a dormant period in which the temperature does not rise above 16 ° C, sometimes there are frosts up to -10 ° C. However, tuberous plants should not be in a room where the temperature can drop below zero - in a small amount of land, limited by the size of the pot, the roots will become supercooled. If you do not have a suitable cool room at home (glazed and insulated balcony or loggia), the only option to save the palm tree in winter is to put it to the window on the landing.
Lighting: Bright light, with some direct sun, is only shaded during midday hours. The perfect spot next to the south window. Trachycarpus is from those plants that very quickly outgrow the size of the windowsill. While the palm tree is small, it can live and winter on the window, but when its trees begin to crawl out of the window sill (this is extremely harmful during the heating season), it's time to find another place for it. If you're putting a plant in a room, make sure there's enough light. There is no need to put the palm tree on the floor near the balcony door - it is not afraid of cold, but the leaves will be below the stream of light, the palm tree will begin to stretch and lose the color of the leaves due to lack of illumination. Trachycarpus can be illuminated with daylight lamps and LED lamps.
Watering and top dressing: In summer, watering is plentiful, in winter it is very moderate, depending on the temperature. From May to September, every three weeks, fertilization with fertilizer for palm trees or any other fertilizer for indoor plants, taken at a dose 2 times less than recommended.
What does heavy watering mean: the soil should not dry out completely, to a state of "dust." But she must have time to dry out to the next watering in the depths of the pot, and dry out in 3-4 days, no longer. If the soil dries for up to a week and there is a very high probability of rooting, you will simply destroy the palm tree. To prevent this, the palm must be planted in well-drained soil. In nature, it grows on sandy soils that do not retain moisture for a long time. We also need to add various components to the soil so that it does not cake and compact. In winter, the soil in the pot should dry out completely, especially if it is cold. For example, at a temperature of 10 ° C - this can be once every 3-4 weeks, if it is slightly warmer - about 12-14 ° C, then once every two weeks. To make no mistake, be sure to check the ground by touch, digging up the top layer, water only when you make sure it is dry.
Humidity: Trachycarpus loves moderately humid air - within 40%. If there are no hot batteries nearby, there is no need to spray. Humidity requirements increase in winter when kept in a warm heated room. In this case, it makes sense to spray the plant at least 1 time a day.
Flight connections
Like all palm trees, trachycarpus does not like frequent transplants, so they are transplanted only when the roots fill the entire pot or tub and begin to crawl out of the container. But if a salt coating appeared on the surface of the earth - gray-red deposits on the ground and at the walls of the pot, this is an alarming bell, either you have too hard water, or the soil dries out for too long. In any case, soil salinization leads to an imbalance of nutrients, some elements are absorbed, others are not. From nutritional deficiency, the leaves will turn yellow and dry. Therefore, saline soil must be removed, replaced with fresh soil. And after abundant watering, loosen the soil. Transplanted in spring - in March. Young plants, up to 1-1.5 m tall - annually, larger in 2-3 years, change the upper layer of the earth to a depth of about 5-7 cm annually.
What to plant a palm tree in
Young plants are planted in pots, plastic or ceramic does not matter, as long as there are large holes for water runoff at the bottom. Drainage is not necessary into the clay pot, but usually there is one hole, and you need to make sure that it is not clogged with earth. In a plastic pot, drainage of about 2 cm is needed. Larger plants can be planted in a bucket, flowerpot or wooden tub. In wooden tubs, it is advisable to drill holes on the bottom, and before pouring the earth, pick up a plastic bag inside (a 120-liter garbage bag will work).
- Traditional soil mixture: 2 parts of light turf, 2 parts of sheet (peat), 1 part of humus (well rotted manure), 1 part of sand (or vermiculite) and some charcoal.
- Another option for palm soil: 2 parts of universal store soil (for example, Terra Vita), 1 part of humus soil, 1 part of sand (or vermiculite).
Garden land can be used as humus land, from the beds where cucumbers were grown (manure is usually applied under them). But any soil must be sterilized before planting (kept in the oven on baking sheets for an hour). If the volume of land is very large (for transplanting large palm trees), then instead of sterilization, you can spill the earth with a solution of insecticide and fungicide.
Trachycarpus reproduction
The trachycarpus palm is propagated by seeds and only fresh. The seeds are soaked for several days, while it is important to change the water every 24 hours. If you have an aquarium compressor, it's great to use bubbling - palm seeds are very responsive to oxygenating water. It is advisable to soak zircon in a solution a day before planting, then plant it, deepening it by about 1.5 cm. It is better to plant it in a mixture of universal earth (or seedling soil) and vermiculite in equal parts. Landing in pure vermiculite showed good results. In any case, it is important to sow into a sterilized substrate. Seedlings appear after about 4 months, sometimes you have to wait up to 8 months. It is very important to maintain moderate humidity all the time before the emergence of seedlings and after germination - the seeds easily rot from excess moisture.
Trachycarpus fortune from seeds, says Marina Kunitskaya: At first I soaked the seeds in water for three days. Then I took a food container with a transparent lid and holes (for the microwave), put cotton pads on the bottom. For each cotton pad, a trachycarpus seed was covered with another cotton pad on top. I put it to germinate at a temperature somewhere between 20 ° and 25 ° C. The holes on the lid were opened, checked the container weekly, lifting the upper cotton pads and after three weeks found the first germinated seeds. It is important that the discs do not dry out, only boiled from a syringe adds water. When the root appeared, she waited another two days, then carefully removed the seeds with tweezers and put them in the ground (in half Terra Vita and vermiculite, steamed in the oven). Sprinkled about 5 mm on the ground, put it to the light. Palm trees grow quickly at first, then slow down. In caring for trachycarpus grown from seeds, it is important not to moisten the soil. Be sure to top up - once a week with fertilizer for orchids. His concentration is low, dilute according to the instructions, seedlings no longer need.
Growing problems
Yellowing of leaves - due to lack of watering, lack of nutrients in the soil, excess calcium in the soil, i.e. watering with too hard water, but first of all the leaves turn yellow and dry if in winter the plant is kept in too warm conditions.
Brown leaf tips are the most likely cause - dry air, just as possible due to insufficient watering.
Brown spots on the leaves - when the soil is waterlogged, air humidity is too high, especially at low temperatures. The root system of the trachycarpus is fibrous, so the pot is not too deep, and excessive watering can be detrimental to the plant.
Brown lower leaves - in many palms, the lower leaves darken and die with age, they are periodically cut off with a sharp knife.
Pests - palm trees are subject to attack by a scale, spider mite and mealybug (see pests).