I took it outside for the afternoon sun, it doesn't get much light at the base.. it sits in the corner of living room in a north room (has some east and west very filtered light exposure also). The bottom outside leaves were browning. Well, the sky opened up while I was out and it made mud soup out of the soil. My container had 3" of gravel at the bottom and no holes. I was told because of that, I'd only have to water it once a month.

So, after that whole long history, this is what I was told by the nursery to do. I bought larger gravel... put in 3" deep at most... then used a 1:1 organic soil mix and perlite equal parts. I took out plant, removed the mud from it's root ball (not hard to do, slipped right off... it was SOAKED). I checked for root rot..NONE.. hard and healthy roots. I repotted it like I explained above. Wiped down leaves and brought it back inside. I did NOT water it. the root ball is VERY wet.

Questions...
Do I water the new soil at all? I didn't yet. If so, how much, and if not, when? LOL.. (sorry I am so dense about this stuff, but I'm an INFANT with all of this) Do I feed it with high nitrogen count plant food? if so, when? Is my north room okay for this plant... I was told the outside leaves are the oldest and are supposed to turn brown when old and that it was probably fine to begin with... all the other palms were beautifully green.

Oh, and lastly, can't believe I almost didn't ask this, should I have this plant in a non draining pot? I promise not to over water it and put it outside to be vulnerable to mother nature again!

Thanks for any help you can offer. I love this place..

* * * *
AKA: Karen