Caryota is a whole group of palms that belong to the Arekov family and are found in Australia and many Asian countries, the Philippine Islands and New Guinea. These peculiar palms are distinguished by their unusual leaf shape and original flowering. An ornamental evergreen plant includes palms of various shapes and sizes in its family. They can be in the form of tall trees, with a single trunk that reaches up to 25 meters in height. There are also palms in the form of small shrubs that grow tightly to each other and look like a hedge.
Cariota blooms only once, but for a fairly long period. Usually this period begins at the age of ten and can last for more than five years in a row. The palm tree blooms in large inflorescences, consisting of hanging branches with small flowers. When flowering continues in the lower part of the palm, the fruits are already ripening in the upper part. After all the fruits are ripe, the trunk of the plant dies.
Cariot palm care at home
Location and lighting
The caryote palm does not like shade and direct sunlight. A lack of light will slow down the growth of the plant, and an overly active sun affects the state of the leaf mass (it can dry out the leaves) and its root part. The karyote feels most favorable in diffused lighting. Therefore, when growing the plant near south-facing windows, it is recommended to create a slight shade.
Temperature
The temperature regime for growing karyote in the spring and summer months should be in the range of 22-24 degrees Celsius, and the rest of the time - 18-20 degrees, but not less.
Air humidity
Air humidity and room temperature are related. The higher the temperature of the content, the higher the humidity should be. In the autumn-summer period, for karyota, constant spraying and daily wiping of the leaves with a damp cloth or soft sponge is necessary. The palm tree prefers high humidity. Water for spraying and leaf care should be used only purified or settled.
Watering
The same settled water must be used for watering the karyota palm. Its temperature should be close to 25 degrees. In the warm season, the soil should always be moderately moist, it should not be allowed to dry out. But in the cold season, on the contrary, the soil mixture should dry out by about 3-4 centimeters before watering. Irrigation volumes in winter and autumn are significantly reduced, but they are carried out regularly.
The soil
The composition of the soil mixture for growing karyote palm should include the following components in equal proportions: sand, compost, humus and turf soil in equal proportions.
Top dressing and fertilizers
It is recommended to apply fertilizers for karyota only from March to September, no more than three times a month, using fertilizing specially designed for palm trees.
Transfer
Cariota is transplanted every year in the first 5-7 years, and in adulthood, one transplant in three years will be enough. To preserve the root part, it is better to transplant the palm using the transfer method. The flower container for the karyote needs a deep one with an obligatory drainage layer at the bottom of the pot
Reproduction of the caryote palm
Reproduction by offspring
Reproduction by offspring is possible when several young roots appear on them. Then they can be separated from the adult plant and the offspring will quickly take root. Young plants need to be hidden from sunlight for some time before rooting and several abundant spraying should be carried out. After such preparation, they will quickly take root in a new place. For rooting, a container with sand and greenhouse conditions are needed.
Seed propagation
Seed propagation will take a lot of patience and perseverance. Seeds can germinate within one to three months, it all depends on their freshness and storage conditions. Before planting the seeds, the soil must be shed with a fungicidal preparation, and the seeds must be pre-soaked for a day in a solution with a biostimulator.
The depth of planting seeds is no more than 2 centimeters, the height of the planting container is no more than 15 centimeters. The container is immediately covered with a transparent film or glass and left in a warm darkened room with an air temperature of 25-30 degrees Celsius. The glass must be removed every day for inspection of the landing site and for airing.
As soon as most of the seeds sprout, immediately remove the cover and move the container to a room with diffused lighting. The dive is carried out after the appearance of the first full-fledged leaf in small pots (no more than 5 centimeters in diameter).
Diseases and pests
Among the pests, the most dangerous for the palm are scale insects, worms, mushroom mosquitoes and spider mites. Among the diseases, the most common are fungal diseases (for example, leaf spot), root rot.
Withering, drying out, stunted growth and other plant problems are often caused by improper care or insufficient amounts of certain nutrients in the soil.
Common growing problems
- With an insufficient amount of water or the frequency of watering, the leaves wither and fall down.
- With low humidity and dry indoor air, the leaves dry out at the very tips.
- At low indoor temperatures and poor lighting, plant growth slows down, first yellow, and then dry spots appear on the leaves.
- In the presence of cold drafts and low air temperatures, the leaves wilt and change their bright green color to a darker one.
- With a lack of dressings and individual nutrients in the soil, young leaves turn yellow.
- With a lack of magnesium, the leaves turn yellow from the edges to the middle.
- If the soil is too saturated with fluorine, the leaves at the tips turn brown and then die off.
- With frequent use of fungicides containing copper, black spots appear on the leaves, which gradually dry out.
- With an excess of boron in irrigation water, brown spots appear on the foliage.
- With prolonged direct sunlight, when direct sunlight hits the plant - in the summer, the leaves can become covered with spots of yellow or brown color, and during the rest of the year, spots of a light yellow hue appear on the foliage, and the leaf itself begins to curl.
- With an excess of moisture, with increased volumes of irrigation water, the leafy part begins to darken, then turn black and begin to rot.
- With insufficient amounts of water during irrigation and irregular watering, the tips of the leaves dry out in the upper part of the plant, and in the lower part the leaves become completely yellow.
- With a lack of nitrogen in the soil, the growth of the plant slows down, and the leafy part becomes a lighter green hue.
- With a lack of potassium in the soil, the leaves are first covered with spots of a light yellow hue or orange, then light brown, then the leaves begin to dry out at the edges and curl.
- With a lack of manganese in the soil, the growth of the leafy part slows down, spots and stripes of a yellow-brown hue appear.
- With a lack of zinc in the soil, the leaves are covered with dry spots of small size, but in large quantities.
Karyota palm species
In nature, palm trees easily interbreed and form new species, so it is difficult to accurately determine which species a given plant belongs to. Most often, there are two types of caryote palm.
Soft caryota (Caryota mitis) - these palms have several tall trunks (about 10 meters in height and an average of 10 centimeters in diameter). The leaves of this evergreen tree reach 2.5 meters in length, and the inflorescences are on a stem-stem, about 50 centimeters in length. Karyota soft has small red fruits, about 1 centimeter in diameter. When the trunk of a palm tree dies off, the tree continues to grow for a long time, as young shoots appear on it.
Caryota burning, or Wine palm (Caryota urens) Are single-stemmed palms with huge leaves. They are 6 meters long and 5 meters wide. Hanging inflorescences have a huge number of small flowers and are located on a three-meter long axis. The plant blooms for 5-7 years, starting from the age of 12-15 years. At the end of the ripening of the fruit, the plant completely dies.
