The Pindo Palm, otherwise known as the Butia Capitata or Jelly Palm, South American Jelly Palm, Wine Palm, Cocos capitata, is a rather well known palm plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and slow growth, this palm will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its silver-green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, this is exactly what we’ll cover in this Pindo Palm Care Guide. So let’s dive in.
In order to take proper care of your Pindo Palm you’ll need to keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Water: The Pindo Palm will thrive when watered generously immediately after potting. Allow the soil to dry once it’s established.
- Light: Keep your Butia Capitata in an environment where it can receive partial to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Pindo Palm in soil with well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, loam, and clay.
And that’s practically it! If you keep these three factors in check, your Pindo Palm will likely have all it needs for it to survive and even thrive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Pindo Palm belongs to the Arecaceae family, the genus Butia and the species Capitata, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Butia Capitata (BEW-tee-uh kap-ih-TAY-tuh).
As with other Butia’s, the Pindo Palm is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Pindo Palm is a plant native to the Goiás, Brazil (Bahia and Minas Gerais).
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Pindo Palm is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Butia Capitata will be most used to the heat zones in the 10 – 11 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 8b, 8a, 9b, 9a, 10b, 10a and the ideal climate zone is between 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, H1, H2.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Pindo Palm is a relatively slow grower, which makes things easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, what size of Pindo Palm are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…
The Butia Capitata can grow up to 10′ – 20′ (3m – 6m) in 10′ – 20′ (3m – 6m) and 10′ – 15′ (3m – 4.5m) in 10′ – 15′ (3m – 4.5m).
Watering
In terms of watering, the Pindo Palm is a fairly complicated plant to take care of. This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Butia Capitata will thrive when watered generously immediately after potting. Allow the soil to dry once it’s established.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively low needs in terms of water.
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Pindo Palm in soil with well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Pindo Palm then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Pindo Palm needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Pindo Palm prefers to have soil with good drainage properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, loam, and clay.
This is why most experts agree that the Pindo Palm requires soil with high organic matter, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Pindo Palm requires partial to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this palm will do well as long as you keep it in partial to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Butia Capitata in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Pindo Palm will be present year round in your garden. But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid, late), the summer (early, mid, late), the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
You can expect your Pindo Palm to flower around the spring months from April to June (spring). The Pindo Palm produces some beautiful yellow or gold flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Pindo Palm have a beautiful silver-green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a fronds arrangement in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Butia Capitata to be around (> 6 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Pindo Palm is well known for its tolerance to drought conditions, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Butia Capitata will be fine.
Garden
Now, let’s talk garden and how your Pindo Palm will look best in it.
Most Butia Capitata owners agree that this palm will look great in most mediterranean, contemporary and tropical gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of mediterranean garden styles.
In particular, the Pindo Palm’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, and in patio and containers, others use it for landscaping in a rock garden, container, poolside, or a specimen.
Companion Plants
Pindo Palm’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Strelitzia, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Canna will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Pindo Palm in your garden or home.
