Salt and fluoride build-up
Brown tips with a white crust on the soil point to mineral build-up from tap water or over-feeding.
Diagnosis
Salt and fluoride build-up
What's happening
Palms are unusually sensitive to the fluoride, chlorine, and fertilizer salts that accumulate in soil watered with hard tap water. These minerals collect in the frond tips, where they scorch the tissue brown, and they leave a tell-tale white or yellow crust on the soil surface and pot rim.
How to fix it
Flush the pot: run plenty of plain water through the soil until it drains freely, several times over, to leach out the built-up salts. Then switch to filtered, distilled, or rainwater if your tap water is hard, and cut feeding back to half strength every few weeks in the growing season only. Trim the browned tips for a tidy look.
What fixes it
- A long-spout watering can — A dedicated can lets you keep filtered or distilled water on hand so minerals stop collecting in the tips.
If that doesn't fix it
This is general guidance based on common symptoms; individual plants vary.
Read the full Kentia Palm care guide →
Reviewed June 2026 · how we check this