Worth knowing:
The high crown stalk with its neat pinnate leaves sitting on a slightly furrowed stem with small rings at the leaf base, creates a graceful appearance that makes the Roystonea regia to the most elegant type of the palm trees. It produces inflorescences with big bunches of small purple fruits. In Cuba the plant is as important as it is displayed in the coat of arms. The Cuban Royal Palm can easily be cultivated in a tub, where it grows fast and steady when kept sufficiently moist and bright.
Natural Location:
The Cuban Royal Palm has its natural habitat in the plain lands of Cuba with a lot rainfall and tropical temperatures.
Cultivation:
Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. To increase its germinability, you can slightly roughen the seed with a piece of sandpaper and place it in warm water overnight for priming. Plant the seeds about 0,5 cm deep in moist potting compost and cover the seed container with clear film. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20°C and 25°C and keep the earth moist, but not wet. Now you might need some patience with the germination - it usually takes about 8 to 16 weeks.
Place:
The Cuban Royal Palm needs a bright and ideally full sunny place. During the summer from May to September it can also be kept in slightly sheltered spot outdoors.
Care:
As a tropical plant it needs to be watered excessively. It is best to keep it consistently moist in a permeable soil that contains expanded clay or gravel. Choose a tall container for planting, so the deep reaching taproots have enough space, and shift to a bigger and taller pot every three years. Water plentiful with lime-deficient water, but avoid waterlogging. From late spring until fall you may give fluid fertilizer for tub plants every two weeks. Since a typical living space doesn’t have a tropical climate, you should spray your Cuban Royal Palm regularly with lime-deficient water. That way the plant can naturally absorb a lot of water through the leaves and you also prevent spider mite infestation. Withering palm leaves will fall off over time including the stalk, so they don’t need to be cut.
During the winter:
Your tropical Cuban Royal Palm should be kept during hibernation in a bright spot with a temperature not less than 15° Celsius. Keep the plant always moist, but give it more time until the next watering since the substrate is drying out more slow during the winter. Before you move your plant outside during spring, you should keep it initially in a half-shaded place for two weeks, so it can slowly adjust to the UV radiation and doesn’t burn its leaves so short after the darker winter months.
Picture credits:
- © © Panther - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Panther - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Xemenendura - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Panther - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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