Majesty Palm is a good indoor plant friend. Majesty palm care is very easy. Its lovely palm fronds grow slowly and grace your home with a beautiful elegance for many years.
Unlike dessert palms, the Majesty is a tropical palm native to the wet areas of Madagascar. So It has different care needs that other palms.
If you are a palm collector with lots of dry loving dessert palms, Ravenea rivularis will be a new experience in palm care.
Majesty palms indoors make a lovely, regal addition to your home. Enjoy the interesting flowing fronds anywhere you place them.
How Fast Does Majesty Palm Grow?
Majesty palm indoors is a slow grower. The Majestic adds about a foot of growth each year until it reaches four to five feet in height. After that it slows down even more.
Indoor growth is impacted by the amount of light available to the palm, pot size and the richness of the soil it is growing in.
In the wild, in its best conditions, Ravenea rivularis grows to almost 100 feet tall in its lifetime. Quite a difference from indoor growing.
Can You Put A Majesty Palm Outside?
Majesty Palms outdoors grow well as container plants on shaded patios throughout the summer months in any hospitable climate with summer temperatures of 50 to 85 degrees F.
This palm tree grows well outdoors year round, in the ground, in climate zones 9 to 11.
These palms can only withstand a small amount of direct sunlight each day without burning. They do well in light shade or shade with dappled light. Over time they will adapt to stronger sunlight but they prefer the understory.
To transition your Ravenea rivularis from indoors to growing outdoors for the summer in its container, follow these tips.
- Keep the plant in a shady spot until its foliage adjusts to the greater outdoor light intensity. Even a shaded Patio can often have a higher light index than your home. Majesty leaves will burn if the light intensity is too high.
- This palm survives down to 40 degrees F. However, the plant will have an easier adjustment to indoor temperatures if you bring it in when the coldest temperatures are 50 or above.
- Unlike with the dessert palms, extreme temperature swings of many outdoor climates are difficult for the tropical majestic to adjust to. Transition your majestic to outdoors when the temperature range outdoors moderate.
- These tropical plants also enjoy high humidity. Setting them outside in dry air is more likely to cause brown leaves. Consider a misting system to keep the leaves hydrated.
- Water Majestic palms when the soil is dry down halfway into the pot soil. Outdoors, this may be twice a week in some dry climates.
Is Majesty Palm Easy to Care For?
Majesty Palm is easy to care for once you understand its care needs. The table below give you an at a glance view of this plant information and care needs.
| Familiar Names: | Majesty palm, majestic palm, |
| Scientific Name: | Ravenea rivularis |
| Plant Family: | Arecaceae |
| Care Difficulty | Easy care |
| Temperature | 60 to 85 degrees F. preferred. Tolerates down to 40 degrees F. |
| Watering | keep Majesty palm evenly moist. Check soil weekly. |
| Humidity | Majesty palms enjoy humid environments. Humidifiers recommended |
| Fertilizing | Majesty will grow faster with monthly fertilizer applications. More slowly if fed once or twice a year. Slow release Palm fertilizer recommended with a 8-2-12 NPK ratio. |
| Soil | Light well draining soil is preferred. |
| Lighting | indirect bright or moderate light preferred- low light tolerated |
| Growth Habit | Slow growing |
| Pruning: | Trim off dead or unwanted fronds. |
Plants are very beneficial to people emotionally and as an environmental addition to your home.
Read more about why houseplants are beneficial to people here .
The Contented Plant
Are Majesty Palms Safe For Cats and Dogs?
Majesty palms are safe for dogs and cats. If your cat or dog enjoys a nibble, this plant cannot hurt them. But remember to use organic soil, fertilizers and other systemic additions to avoid toxic reactions in your pets.
For a more in-depth look at the care needs and tips for this palm, read our printable care guide
Majesty Palm Care guide
The majesty Palm is an easy care plant that adds grace and beauty wherever you put it. This plant is a great choice for moderately lit areas in your home or a shaded patio.
This Care Guide will teach you how to keep Ravenea rivularis happy all through the year.
Tools
- Plant Pot (ceramic, plastic, or terra cotta)
- Potting medium
Instructions
Soil Preference:
- Majesty Palms prefer well draining substrates with a good amount of organic loam in the soil.
- Make a mix of 1 part potting mix, 1 part perlite and 1 part sand to keep the roots areated.
- Make sure your pot has drainage at the bottom. Drain rocks improve drainage.
Pot Size and Type:
- The Majesty palm can grow in many different kinds of pots. Terra Cotta, concrete, ceramic and plastic are all great materials for this plant.
- Repot every second year or when roots come out the drainage holes on the pot bottom To the next pot size up. Don't jump to a huge pot from a small one. Just go to the next size up pot.
- NOTE: Pot size determines growth to a large extent. This plant will grow well in a small pot. The larger the pot the larger the ponytail palm tree will get.
Lighting:
- Majesty palms prefer moderate light conditions. When growing these palms outdoors in a container, place them in light shade. Well away from direct sunlight.
- Strong direct sunlight from west or south facing windows, or on a patio will burn the Majestic Palm.
- However, Majestic palm tolerates lower light conditions well. If you can give it moderate lighting in a large north facing window it should thrive.
- You can also supplement low lighting with artificial grow lights.
Watering:
- Unlike other palms, Ravenea rivularis needs moisture in the soil. Water weekly when the soil is dry halfway down.
- Watering is best done on a regular schedule so the plant is not over or under watered. Both can cause stress on the plant.
- Overwatering can cause root rot and attract fungus gnats to your plant.
- Underwatering causes the leaves to turn brown.
Humidity:
This tropical palm loves humidity. If the leaf tips turn brown that a sign your home is too dry.
Suggestions for adding Humidity:
- Place a humidifier near the palm
- Group your palm with other plants
- Place the majesty in a tray of rocks or sand and fill it with water. The planter should be placed above the water line it it does not absorb too much water.
- Misting a majesty palm daily or at least weekly will help hydrate the leaves.
How to Fertilize:
- Apply a good quality slow release fertilizer (linked in materials) annually or bi annually.
- Over fertilizing can cause the leaves to brown and turn brown.
Temperature:
- Ravenea rivularis tolerates temperatures down to 40 degrees F. However it is happiest above 50 degrees F to 80 degrees F.
- In winter patio plants can tolerate constant temperatures in the 50 degree range but do not let them freeze.
- Indoors room temperatures of 60 to 85 degrees is fine for these plants. You can remove them to a cooler room in the house for the dormant months.
Pruning:
Prune off dead or yellowing fronds. Prune only lightly to shape the plant. This plant grows slowly so be careful with the pruners.
Leaf Care:
- Washing the palm leaves helps keep the plant stomatas (pores) open so they can respire well.
- clean leaves are attractive.
- Washing and inspecting the leaves on a monthly basis also helps you discover plant problems that may need addressing.
- Pests are best found with close leaf inspection done at washing time.
- you can use our homemade neem oil spray found in all our pest control guides as a wash on plant leaves to deter pests.
Pests:
- This plant is a hardy resilient plant. However all plants can get attacked by pests.
- Stress by longterm overwatering, poor light, extreme temperatures and soil conditions are contributors to plant stress.
- Spider mites are the biggest threat to Majesty palms. However, mealy bugs, scale, thrips and whitefly are all common houseplant pests.
- Read our post on How to get rid of aphids and other pests with our homemade pesticide soap recipe or neems oil.
- To minimize the possibility of pests be sure to check all nursery plants before bringing them home.
- Quarantine all new plants until you are sure no pests live in them.
How to Propagate:
- Majesty palm will grow offshoots from the trunk called pups.
- They can be separated from the mother plant and planted in another pot to make a new palm.
- You can also propagate the Majesty palm by seed if you have years to wait. The process is the same as you will find in our video series and posts on planting and growing Monstera from seed.
Notes
The Majestic palm Plant is a rewarding and perfect plant for a beginner. This plant will grow beautifully with just a little bit of care.
In the video below Kayti is showing you how to divide a ZZ plant below. The process of division is the same for Majestic palm propagation.
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