Lady palm - Rhapis excelsa declining, please help

[just2vicky]

A few things are happening to both of them - lower smaller fronds are drying up and withering away, some upper larger fronds are getting dark brown tips, and the soil is developing a sort of off-white dusting on top if that makes sense.

I have two, one is large kept on the floor in a corner 3 feet to the left of a large East facing window (but last week I've moved to in front of window in case it's missing light). The other is small kept on the kitchen bar which is right in between that same East facing window and a smaller West facing window (about 15 feet away from either window).

I water them with filtered water every Monday, the top soil always feel dry to touch and I always pour out the water that drains from the holes into the saucers 5 mins later. Both are experiencing the same symptoms... I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong for these poor guys

 

[Silentrunning]

Welcome Vicky. There are a few things that cause these symptoms. It doesn’t sound like you are overwatering them so I wonder if you are using city water. Even if you filter central water it is not great. The second problem could be they are root bound. How long have they been in their present pots? Let’s eliminate these two possibilities first.

 

[just2vicky]

Thank you! I am using city water that's filtered through to remove chlorine, heavy metals, and fluoride. I use probably around 1.5 cups for the big one and just under 1 cup for the little one weekly (then pour out any that drains out). They were repotted using most of the soil they came with adding new soil around the sides back in June 2020 when I received them.