With proper care, fan palms can grow to be impressive. You don't have to pay much attention to the palm trees.
The fan palm is one of the rather undemanding plants that require very little care. Watering, fertilizing, cutting now and then and removing brown leaves is enough for the palm tree to thrive. Assuming you do everything right. Otherwise, care mistakes will quickly become noticeable on the fan palm. She then gets e.g. brown fronds.
How to water fan palms correctly
The region of origin of the fan palm is the Mediterranean. Therefore, it tolerates both heat and prolonged drought without letting the palm fronds hang directly. Of course, the fan palm cannot do without water entirely. Especially with potted plants you have to make sure that the soil never dries out completely.
The reason is that although the roots of the fan palm can draw moisture from deep soil, the space in the bucket is very limited. Only planted in a suitable place in the garden can the palm tree make use of its ability to resist drought.
However, you should not water the fan palm too much. It only has an increased water requirement during the growing season, which falls in spring. However, if waterlogging forms in the root region, the roots rot. We therefore recommend that you provide the container plant with a drainage and an outlet so that excess irrigation water does not collect in the root area (reading tip: plant fan palms - how to do it right). Always keep the soil moist and prevent it from drying out completely. By watering a completely dry soil, you wash out the nutrients that are important for the plant, and the soil cannot absorb the moisture at all. In summary, you should therefore note the following when watering:
- water more in spring
- Keep soil generally moist
- Avoid waterlogging
You can place an air humidifier near the plant so that the palm fans do not dry out in the summer months. Alternatively, the plant likes it when the fans are in betweenbe covered with a fine mist.
How to fertilize fan palms correctly
To give the fan palm more resilience and encourage growth, you can fertilize it between spring and summer. A complete fertilizer is ideal. The following ingredients are important:
- Nitrogen - supports the formation of leaves and shoots
- Phosphorus - promotes strong roots
- Kali - increases stability, increases flowering
Pruning back fan palms wisely
Every now and then you have to free the fan palm from dried up or broken palm fronds. The best time to prune is just before winter as the fan palm stops growing completely during the winter months, so pruning will not hinder the development of new palm fronds.
When trimming, only focus on the sheets that are clearly bent downwards. Also cut out brown and dried fronds from the plant. Always consider the trunk when caring for it. If palm fronds fall off, small stumps remain on the trunk, in which parasites like to settle. Therefore, remove all superfluous stumps.