If you are searching for areca palm florida whether they grow in your state or not but before that let me tell you these plants are fast growing and trunk based, and can handle hot summer as well. These hedge trees are also in the list of air purifying plants that can remove formaldehyde, toluene and xylene. Do Areca palms grow in Florida?
Areca Palm Florida : Areca palm can easily grow in Florida as they can tolerate 40 degree F and are hardy to zone 8a to 11. They have green fronds with lots of pointed leaves and thick trunks. There are many stems where the leaves grow, each stem has a 2-3 inches thickness if grown outdoors and they get mature. Florida and most other US states can easily plant areca palm as it is compatible for the environment. If the plant is mature enough the noticeable length of each leaflet is about 1.5 to 2 feet long.
Areca palm hedges are fast growers that’s why they can reach 10-15 feet tall in a few years. Generally they can also grow over 25-35 feet in height & can spread over 10-18 feet and even more if cared properly.
Areca Palm Disease
According to Penn state, Most palm tree can be infected with the following diseases:
A disease called Helminthosporium Leaf spot occurs due to Drechslera setariae and other pathogens which lead to egg shaped spots on leaves that are brownish or red.
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Excess Fertilizing Can lead to leaf burn and can result in browning of leaves that drop down once die. You can solve it by using fertilizer in limits and reading instructions of the palm tree. These fungal infections are caused due to overwatering or irregular pouring. It can be fixed by using fungicide.
Iron and copper toxicity can lead to tiny brown spots and sometimes people get confused with Helminthosporium Leaf spot that happens due to fungus, but this is related to iron or copper overdose that is used in different fungicides. Lower the use of fungicide or any iron boosting fertilizer.
Leaves may turn red if the outdoors cold is heavy, life threatening to palm trees. Some fronds may die off in 4-5 days and drop if temperature is below 30 degree F. You can grow them in an area which has over 50 degree F temperature. This is called frost injury that can happen to any plant so just make sure to use a frost blanket in the cold for your palm tree.
Quick Facts
| Scientific Name | Dypsis lutescens |
| Family | Arecaceae |
| Native | Madagascar |
| Common Names | Butterfly Palm, Yellow bamboo palm, golden cane palm, Madagascar palm, areca palm |
| Height | 25-35 feet tall |
| Spread | About 15-20 feet |
| Light Requirement | Full Sun or Partial Shade |
| Benefits | Tropical Greener Look, Screen as hedges |
| Fertilizer | Natural Liquid based |
| Soil | Moist, Not soggy |
| Water | Frequent in Sun, Less in Shade |
| USDA Hardiness Zone | 10a – 11 |
| Growth Rate | Moderate |
| Temperature Supported | Over 35-40 degree F |
| Propagation | Seeds, baby palms |
Do Areca palms grow in Florida?
Yes, Areca palms can grow in Florida outdoors, as they can tolerate the temperature over 35-40 degree F. Florida is state that is best for areca palms that needs full sun. Once established the trees will grow for many years with minimal requirement. I have 4 of these trees and 2 areca palms in pots. All are perfect growing without much need. Only need is to timely give water to them and they are good to grow.
Care : Areca Palm is actually an indoor plant or an outdoor tree. They need indirect light but can also handle direct sun. If they get a lot of sunlight then palm fronds need more water and moisture to protect themselves from the transpiration, in that case it will get sunburnt. Mostly I give it bright light from the south facing window and it doesn’t get leaf burns because I only receive 3-4 hours direct sun and most of the time my areca palm is getting indirect light. If by any chance your fronds may turn yellow it can be due to overwatering, excess sunlight, or any pesticide then remove the whole frond or part of it that is infected. Once a leaf turns yellow or brown it won’t change back and only uses the soil nutrients to stay.
These palm trees need a good amount of water that needs to be poured in the soil so that if it is in a pot then the bottom of the pot may leak out some water to see if the plant roots are getting water properly.
Areca palm soil should be moist but not soggy. This palm doesn’t like excessive flooded water so if it happens then try to dry the soil by putting it in sunlight. Under Watering causes too many problems that you don’t want to deal with -like fungal infections, root rot, yellowing leaves and much more.
Fertilizer in areas can be given in the month of spring to fall, use good slow release fertilizer which can work for months by slowly releasing the nutrients into the soil.
Sometimes if the palm fronds are old they will turn to brown, that is normal so you don’t need to find a solution for it. Basically just cut off all the dead leaves and your areca palm is good to grow.
Is the areca palm Florida friendly?
Yes, areca palm are friendly plants in Florida State. You can easily grow areca palm in any of the florida city where it receives partial light, & best would be balcony, south facing windows, under the canopy. These plants are also in the list of NASA air purifying plants so it does remove toxins from the air.
You can even grow it inside the house where it does get indirect light. I have grown them inside and they don’t even see the sign of a problem. I see the leaves keep growing new ones and old leaves get brown and die back. I was only watering it every 3 days. Indoors they don’t expect too much water.
All over the United States you can expect the areca palm to be grown as landscape plants. It’s not just Florida that has it, because they are highly tolerable and friendly to the climate of the USA.
They are one of the popular houseplants that have been grown indoors and outdoors. The scientific name of these plants are Dypsis lutescens, and they are hardy to zone 8 to 11.
Palm trees like areca need good fertile soil that is well maintained with water. It should be moist whenever it feels dry, if your plant doesn’t get water for a few weeks then the leaves turn brown easily. But the good part is your area would revive itself once you give it water once every 3-4 days.
Before watering you also need to check its soil, if it feels moist then do not give it water. Only at the time when the soil is dried can it be watered.
How fast do areca palms grow in Florida?
Areca palms are popular houseplants that can grow 4-9 inches every year. The growth rate depends not only on locations like Florida, areca palms need good fertilizer, soil space, & other growing conditions like good humidity etc. You can expect it to grow 18-20 inches in 2 year and so on.
I already told you once the plant starts to become big, it needs more space. You cannot grow a 4-8 feet plant in a small pot, it requires larger pot sizes and sometimes the ground space.
It is also seen that if your purpose is just like me to grow it indoors, then your plant can be limited to its growth for about 6-8 feet because of pruning and low maintenance. I myself when growing it inside my house I do know that it can grow faster in a good amount of sunlight so I only give indirect light all day and partial sunlight once in 2 weeks. It is still growing with a height of 7-9 inches, not more than that. I do not place it outdoors with full sun.
I also prune it so it limits the growth of areca palm, but that doesn’t mean my plant will look ugly or stop growing. It means it will not overgrow and limit itself from growing bigger. The shorter the plant the easier the care of areca palm.
Areca Palm Florida Landscaping
- Best for Shielding, Screening for Privacy.
- It can be used on the patio.
- Areca palm can be used for hedge planting, fencing, filing corners.
- It is a tropical plant that appears to look good in lawns and gardens with its large fronds.
- Transplanting Or moving it into another place, this can be tolerated by this tree.
- It can handle the cooling weather.
Areca palm fertilizer
Areca Palm Fertilizer can be given in Summer to fall. Many of my friends are using granular based plant food. You can use slow-release fertilizer that can be dissolved slowly in a month and all the nutrients can be mixed in soil while the fertilizer slowly dissolves in soil.
Here is the best fertilizer for Areca palm – Shop Now.
Or use this – Milorganite nitrogen fertilizer – Shop Now.
Areca Palm Clearwater fl
Areca palm growing in Florida needs clearwater that doesn’t have more than 1 ppm fluoride in water. With Lots of fluoride containing water areca palm leaves may turn dark brown or you may find spots forming. Using clear watering and not more than 1ppm fluoride water would work for our palm tree in fl.
Areca Palm Prices
A single Areca palm tree price may vary according to its size. If you need it for indoor planting purposes a 12-15″ inches palm can come under 15-25 dollars while a 16-20″ inches tall tree has a price between 25 -40 dollars.
There are large 3-4 feet tall areca palms selling for over 45- 60$ and prices can change with time so At the time of writing if the prices seem less then you are lucky and if they are high then it’s just that the world is getting costly day by day we can’t do anything.
16-20″ Inches tall – Shop Now
34″ to 48″ Inches height – Shop Now
Areca Palm Care
Areca palm care is easy, your first need is to select a good location with partial sunlight. These palms grow best in partial light source areas because they need sunlight to grow more foliage and its shoots need more strength which can only be provided by the light and proper watering, with addition to slow release fertilizer. I have 2 areca palms which I placed on my balcony. They thrive and grow best there.
Other areas that I put inside the house needed south facing window light and they are also growing properly. For watering you need to give water once in a week and in hot days they often needed 2 times water in a week. For winters, water requirements are less. That’s why you need to give only water to them whenever its soil feels too dry.
For fertilizer, it can be used in the growing season and let it grow on its own. Mostly they won’t need any more help if you have a good location and weekly watering they would be perfectly fine.
Wrap up
I hope you get the answer on “Areca Palm Florida”. If you want to read more article check below.
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