It is cultivated on Lord Howe Island by collecting wild seeds and germinating them for export worldwide as an ornamental garden or house plant.

[4][5] Howea forsteriana gained great popularity as a houseplant in Europe and the United States during the Victorian era, at a time when exotic palms and other plants were avidly collected in England and elsewhere.

"[10] Another reason for their popularity is attributable to Queen Victoria, who cultivated them in all of her homes and left instructions for Kentia palms to be placed around her coffin while she lay in state.

[13] During the Edwardian era, around 4 million seeds were harvested annually on Lord Howe Island to satisfy the market for Kentias.

It grows readily outside in areas such as southern Australia and northern New Zealand, where it is fairly common in private gardens or as a street tree.

In the Northern Hemisphere, it can be grown as far north as southwest England, and grows well in the south of Spain and the southern United States, and will bear flowers and fruit.

The closely related Belmore sentry palm (Howea belmoreana), also endemic on Lord Howe Island, is a smaller species to 7 metres tall, found mainly as an understorey plant in moist forests.

[8] They are more popular, less expensive, and easier to purchase in European countries than they are in the United States, where much of the commercial growing is done in Hawaii before plants are brought to the mainland.

[15] As potted plants Kentias are fairly tolerant of neglect: they can withstand low-light conditions, low humidity, infrequent watering and cool temperatures.