Kentia Palm
Howea forsteriana
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Water a touch more often and wipe or shower the fronds to keep them dust-free and mite-free.
🍂 Fall
Taper feeding to a stop and let the soil dry slightly deeper between waterings.
❄️ Winter
Water sparingly, keep it away from cold drafts and heat vents, and don't feed.
🌱 Spring
Resume monthly feeding and repot only if roots are pushing out of the drainage holes.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect preferred but genuinely tolerant of lower light; no harsh direct sun
- Ideal PPFD
- 100–300 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 18–24 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Top-water until it drains when the top 1–2 in dry; it forgives a missed watering far better than soggy soil.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer only.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Well-draining loamy mix with sand or perlite; pH 6.0–6.5
- Humidity
- Average (40–60%); more tolerant of dry air than most palms
- Temperature
- 60–80 °F (tolerates brief dips to ~55 °F)
- Mature size
- 5–10 ft indoors
- Repotting
- Every 3+ yrs, and only when clearly root-bound; it hates root disturbance
- Propagation
- Seed only, and slow to germinate; nurseries pot several seedlings together for fullness.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing fronds, blackened stem bases, wet soil that stays wet
- Underwatering signs
- Brown tips, drooping fronds, dry leaflets that fold lengthwise
- Common pests
- Spider mites, scale, mealybugs
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Kentia Palm looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Brown frond tips
Likely cause
Tap-water salts more often than humidity — kentias tolerate dry air better than most palms.
What to do
Switch to filtered water and flush the pot occasionally. Trim tips for looks.
Yellowing fronds
Likely cause
Overwatering. Kentias are slow and want far less water than people give them.
What to do
Let the top 2 inches dry out before watering again.
Webbing between fronds
Likely cause
Spider mites.
What to do
Rinse thoroughly and treat weekly with neem until no new stippling appears.
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