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I've been researching to buy plants for my rooftop. We live in the Caribbean, so the plants will receive at least 6 hours of direct sun. The heat is also unbearable.

With that said, I saw an ad where the owner is selling several Areca Palms for USD $10 each. Here's a picture in the ad:

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The palms are 3-4ft high, and they're in 1.5-gallon pots.

Will this outgrow their pot?

Also, how large will these grow?

Will this plant survive in hot, humid weather with lots of sun? It's been raining a lot lately, but you can really feel the heat and humidity when it stops and there's full sun at noon. When it's not raining, the temperature mid-afternoon, on a sunny day, can reach over 90°F.

Finally, assuming I decide to buy a few of them, is there anything I would need to look for in the plant to make sure it's healthy?

rbhat
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  • Do you know the species of Areca palm? There are 50 species under the genus Areca. Some want different requirements than others. If you don't know can you find out? Here is a list of some of species Palmpedia; http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/index.php5?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=areca&fulltext=Search – GardenGems Dec 13 '19 at 00:00

2 Answers2

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Arecas grow fine in full sun in central and south Florida. Deeper green in the shade, more yellow in the sun.

They will definitely outgrow those pots. Arecas planted in the ground will grow to 25 feet tall. They can easily have 10 to 50 trunks from the same plant. Each trunk can be 2 to 4 inches in diameter. At any given time the trunks will be of various heights -- they are often used as a hedge to block a view.

I'd worry about a single small pot alone on a hot roof, but a group of larger pots would make their own shade. With enough water they should be fine.

In my neighborhood in Florida, Arecas grow like weeds. There can be hundreds of seedlings under each palm. The only bad looking specimens seem to be those that are isolated, standing alone in full sun with no irrigation. Eliminate any one of those issues and they seem to do fine.

Not sure about salt tolerance. I'm only a block from the beach, and the do fine, so they must not be too sensitive. But I don't see any directly on the beach front.

Greg Hadaller
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Areca palm (Latin name Dypsis lutescens) prefers bright, indirect light - in full sun, the leaves will be quite yellow. It also prefers temperature zones between 40-50 deg F, so I don't think they will cope with the situation on your roof. Some info on growing Areca outdoors https://homeguides.sfgate.com/care-outside-areca-palms-41349.html

Bamboo
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