I am having several issues with Adonidia palms.

One is that all of them froze this year that were outside in Florida and now it is almost impossible to find any. Are Alexanders more cold hardy than Adonidia? I hear that Alexanders can tolerate down to 28 F. whereas, Ad’s only tolerate down to 35 to 40 F.

Is one more shade tolerant than the other? Does one do better inside than the other? I have Ad’s inside as well but are have mite and mealy problems as of late. Are Alexanders more resistant to this?

I have never used Alexander palms before. I would like some feedback from those that have and know their success or horror stories. I am thinking of replacing the Adonidia’s with Alexanders this year... Any advice??

Thanks in advance,
Pam

For all practical purposes, they are kissing cousins, Pam. High light loving palms with foliage that tends to spot, get ratty, turn yellow and become infested with mites at the drop of a hat. Not great long-term subjects for the interiorscape, in my opinion, though some brave souls try, and fewer still succeed, with both varieties.

Alexander palms are Australian natives and take down to about 30 degrees F with protection (Zone 9b). Adonidia palms cannot tolerate sub-freezing temps at all, and even temps above freezing for prolonged periods can cause permanent damage (Zone 10).

It’s true that there isn’t a real substitute for these palms in terms of looks for the interior...at least for about two weeks after installation, when the mites generally arrive to colonize the site. But the trouble it takes to keep them clean and healthy can be more than it’s worth. Outdoors in containers for the warmer months, fine. Otherwise, pass.

Clem

Thanks Clem,

You are a world of knowledge! I did go back in the archives and found some info there as well. I might try a Spindle Palm instead for the interiors. Have you had better results with them?

Pam

Spindle palm (Hyophorbe verschaffeltii) is a wonderful interior palm with much to recommend its expanded use indoors...colorful orange tint to the stipe and rachis (the petiole of the palm frond), swollen trunk base wrapped in interesting remnants of the old frond bases, very substantial leaflets that could be mistaken for plastic, holding their shape and orientation well, some drought tolerance and a slow, deliberate growth habit that makes them long-lived specimens in moderate to bright light. They subirrigate very well, in either CWI or Joey pouches (we’ve had success with both methods on two Spindles in the same lobby), and are very pest-resistant (no mites, but scale can occur...however, they find it hard to feed on the thick leaflets and don’t amount to much of an infestation, doing little in the way of damage to the plants, other than some honeydew secretions on the foliage).

The only drawback with respect to their possibly being a good substitute for the two palms you mentioned is that it takes a very long time for these to develop much clear trunk, unless you can source mature specimens in very large containers...a 14" Spindle may be 7 or 8 feet tall but only have a couple of feet of clear trunk, so the look is very different.

One palm that does have a nice, bushy crown of fronds on tall, clear trunks is Wodyetia bifurcata, the Foxtail palm, another Australian native. These beautiful palms sport ruffled, multi-ranked rows of leaflets on each frond, hence the common name "foxtail". However, they are a difficult interior subject due to the difficulty of successfully cleaning and spraying pesticides on the dense fronds, which are prone to...you guessed it...mites! And dust!

Another Hyophorbe worth mentioning is the Bottle palm (H. lagenicaulis), a really unique species that has an even more exaggerated, swollen lower trunk that resembles an old-time beer bottle. It has similar foliage to the Spindle, and its other attributes are also like its cousin. It is even slower-growing, so it can be VERY expensive to obtain a large specimen. It does have a cute, cartoon-prehistoric-look with its shorter fronds atop the fat trunk, and it is definitely "something different". Florida growers now commonly carry this item on their availability lists, so it is becoming more accessible to the trade. It used to be quite the collector’s item just a decade ago.

Clem