re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

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Thoughts?

Well, my wife surprised me today with a 3 gallon Lipstick Palm for my birthday. Looks like its about 4 foot tall. It was shipped to our house and I was shocked that it looks very good. No broken parts or anything. Also, the soil was very moist and the tree was nice and green.


I did a little research but do you want to tell me how not to kill this thing. I know you have a love/hate relationship with yours...

I am doing good so far with my flamethrower. That thing looks very healthy with where I have it and how I am treating it. Of course Ive only had it about 2 months but it looks happy.


I assume the Lipstick is similar care but with more frequent wattering?

Wow that lipstick looks exactly like mine did upon arrival. I wonder if she got it from the same seller.

OK, so now it is by far the most tropical plant you own. Here are the things it won't tolerate:

1) drying out. They live in tropical swamps in Thailand and Malaysia. Forget to water and it's done. If you go on vacation, get someone to water or leave it in a dish of water. They will grow in standing water.

2) cool weather. Not cold, cool. Below 60F and they are declining. Below 50F they start taking damage. I recommend getting the antifungal spray dithane M-45. When the weather starts to cool down give it a good spray.

3) low humidity. This thing needs as much humidity as you can give it. It's going to have to be an inside plant for a chunk of the year, so plan to mist the leaves, get a humidifier, etc. I keep mine in a controlled room where humidity stays between 70-80%.

Here are all the things it will tolerate but won't like:

4) being repotted. You're going to have to do this. They probably have it in garbage soil. I went straight from 2gal to 10gal with the logic being that I will let it struggle now and not have to repot for a very, very long time. Too early to say if this was the right call. I'll post pics in a minute.

5) being moved into a new environment. You've already done this. Moving to a new spot with new lighting, new humidity, and new temperatures are going to stress it. Just roll with it. The large fronds are likely to turn yellow and degrade but you should observe the small sucker fronds staying green and eventually getting bigger. It took probably 2 months for me to see new growth. During that time the large fronds just kept getting uglier until that eventually stopped. I'm sure that will start again when the weather is warm enough for me to keep it outside.

6) full sun. They will take full sun, but only if you very slowly acclimate it. I would recommend either filtered sunlight or morning sun only at first.

You will need a palm specific fertilizer with an 8-2-12 NPK ratio. I recommend Palm Gain. Follow the instructions exactly.

Ideally you get it through the repotting and relocation process and end up with probably the most attractive palm on earth as a showpiece container specimen. We'll be learning this one together.


Here it is today. Finally getting itself together.


Here it was on arrival on 01/08/2026.

It's a challenge for sure but that's what this thread is all about. One great thing about cyrtostachys is that you can propagate it from the suckers. So at some point we should be able to split off insurance palms in case something goes wrong with the big ones. I also happen to think that this palm looks best in pairs. But I wasn't ready to remortgage the house.

Oh. I thought you had cut off and loosened the roots on the first tree. That first tree needs work.

The first one is the one that’s dropping leaves and turning yellow. Roots look healthy just wrapped around the pot. So I need to size up?

The bottom one is a year older and won’t grow vertically.


Both are Wurtz avocados

Why would the one year younger tree have much more aggressive root growth than the older tree? That part confused me

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Why would the one year younger tree have much more aggressive root growth than the older tree? That part confused me

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Simple answer is that avocados are just difficult and unpredictable. It was probably healthier than the older tree until it aggressively grew itself into a corner with its roots.

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From the photo it looks planted too deeply

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It probably is. I'll fix that when I get home this evening, thanks. I'll also back the mulch away.

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Third (and this is totally aesthetic), I would prune off those three branches on the bottom. Key lime actually wants to grow into a bush and you need to start training it into a tree so it isn't dragging fruit on the soil/ground later.

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I'll do that as well. They weren't there when I originally trimmed it up. It's sprouting like crazy. I wasn't expecting it to grow as fast as it has been, especially since it has been inside for most of the time since I got it.

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Here's what my key lime root flare looks like. You can get a finger underneath some of them.

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Damn, all of my citrus trees have been planted too deep if this is what they're supposed to look like when in the ground, too. I didn't realize that they were supposed to be planted that high.

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Key lime might be my favorite citrus tree

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It's my favorite citrus. I love using them in salsas, mojitos, margaritas, tacos, etc. I'm hoping I have the same results as you. Thanks again for the tips. I'm pretty excited about this tree.

My biew kiew longan is finally showing some new growth. Looking forward to this one as they will reliably fruit in a container. Will be an experiment in pruning and size management for these vigorous trees.