The Rhapis palm is a signature indoor plant

Rhapis Palms are one of the more exotic and beautiful plants that we place indoors.  They need good light, and a lot of water and nutrients to thrive.  They are one of more expensive plants to place, in part because they take so long to grow.  A 5 foot tall Rhapis palm takes about 5 years to grow.

Below is the growth cycle of the Rhapis Palm  

The production of Rhapis begins with seeds that once germinated are grown for the first year under partial shade:

The plants are then brought outside to develop further:

After a year of being outside in full sun, the plants are transplanted into 2 gallon grow pots and brought back into the greenhouse to finish under partial shade:

Once the plants reach a certain height and density, they are sold as a 2 gallon Rhapis or potted into a 5 gallon grow pot to grow on further:

 

 

Again, once the plants reach a certain height and density, they are sold as 5 gallon Rhapis or potted up to 7 gallon and grown on. This process of growing on continues from 7gal to 10gal to 15gal to 20gal. Eventually, you arrive a beauties like these:

 

Rhapis are fairly slow growing plants. The rule of thumb is that Rhapis grow about 1 ft per year, which I why they are one of the more expensive plants in the industry. However, their flexibility and longevity make them worth the wait.