Growing Ponytail Palms

How to Care for a Ponytail Palm

The ponytail pam, or elephant foot palm, is a delightful houseplant that gives your home a more tropical feel.

Arizona State University

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Ponytail palms are a unique-looking, long-lived indoor plant that thrives on benign neglect. They are very easy to grow, provided you don’t overwater them! Here’s how to grow and care for a ponytail palm in your home.

Despite its name and palm-like appearance, the ponytail palm is not a true “palm.” In fact, it is more closely related to desert plants in the Agave and Yucca genera (e.g., Joshua trees).

The typical ponytail palm consists of a large, domed “stump,” which tapers off into a thinner stem. From the top of the stem, one or more rosettes of long, green, leathery leaves develop as the plant ages. Indoors, the leaves can get up to 3 feet long, but outdoors, they may be double that length.

In its native environment (eastern Mexico), the entire plant has been known to reach up to 30 feet in height! However, ponytail palms that are grown in gardens as landscape plants don’t usually get to be more than 10 feet tall. Kept indoors, they are rarely taller than 4 feet.

Care of this plant is generally simple; the most common difficulty is having to adapt your watering habits to its watering needs!

Planting

Choosing Soil and a Pot

Use a fast draining soil, such as a cacti and succulent potting mix. If you have potting soil, sand, and perlite already on hand, you can create your own desert soil mixture: Simply mix 1 part potting soil, 1 part perlite, and 1 part sand.
Select a pot that has a hole in the bottom, so that excess water can be drained off. Ponytail palms do not like to sit in moist soil for very long.
Use a clay pot if possible; the porous material will absorb some of the water, drying out the soil more quickly (a good thing for cacti and succulents).

Care

How to Care for Ponytail Palms

Ponytail palms prefer to have as much light as possible, so place the plant in a bright location. Bright, indirect sunlight is best.
Keep soil fairly dry. Water from spring through fall, allowing the top inch or two of soil to dry completely before re-watering. During the winter, only water occasionally.
To water, soak the soil and allow the excess water to drain through the bottom of the pot into a dish. Let the pot sit in the dish for several minutes, then dump out any remaining water in the dish.
Fertilize in the spring with a cacti/succulent fertilizer and bring into a brighter room for the summer months.
Normal room temperature is fine for most of the year, but keep the plant slightly cooler in the winter (50-55°F / 10-13°C) to replicate the natural dormancy cycle.
During winter, don’t let the plant sit too close to cold windows at night, as it can be severely damaged by freezing temperatures.

Repotting a Ponytail Palm

Ponytail palms will remain small if kept in a small pot. They can go for many years before needing to be repotted. Repotting every other year at the most is all a ponytail palm needs.
Moving the plant to a larger pot will give it room to grow in both height and girth. However, older plants may become difficult to manage due to their sheer size and weight if not kept on the smaller size.
When selecting a new pot, pick one large enough to leave about an inch or so of space between the ponytail palm’s trunk and the rim of the pot.
Note: Use caution when handling a ponytail palm, as its leaves have tiny serrated edges.

Pests/Diseases

Overwatering can result in stem rot. If you withhold watering, the plant may be able to internally remedy the problem. Signs of stem rot include yellowing leaves and a caudex (the plant’s base and stem) that is soft or squishy.
Spider mites occur on the leaves, but can be dealt with by rubbing a cloth of dish soap and water on the stems. Spider mites are evidenced by the presence of spider-like webbing on the plant.
Brown tips on leaves can be a sign of overfertilizing or underwatering, so adjust your husbandry practices appropriately. They can also be a sign that the plant is getting too much direct sunlight and too little water.

Harvest/Storage

Propagation

Rarely, a ponytail palm may produce an offset—a small baby plant that stems from the base of the adult plant. These can be cut off at the base when they reach at least 4 inches in height and planted in a succulent potting mix. Before planting, allow the cut wound to heal, then apply a bit of rooting hormone (available online and in nurseries) to encourage the offset to root.

Wit & Wisdom

The plant’s unusual shape and coloration has granted it another strange nickname: the Elephant’s Foot Palm.

Reader Comments

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Ponytail Palm

I have green sprouts growing out of the dome, what does that mean?

New Trunks

Those sprouts will eventually form new trunks. You can leave them if you like, or prune them off if you prefer the single-trunk style.

Elephant Palm

We are moving and we have a Elephant Palm in the back yard about 3 feet in diameter and 6 feet high. We would like to take it with us as it was my Mother in Laws but are wondering if it would survive and whats the best way to dig up and transport?

Ponytail Palm

I bought my plant in 1975 in a 3" pot. Until this spring, it was scraping the 8' ceiling in my house. It was usually placed outside in May and brought inside in October. Due to its height another winter in the house would not be possible, so I made the painful decision to cut it down to 5'. It has now produced 6 new shoots at the cut, in addition to the shoot it pushed out at the base 3 years ago.

Ponytail Palm

My Ponytail Palm is 6" tall and the leaves are about 2 feet long, with the last foot very brown. Is it OK to cut the brown off?

Brown Leaf Tips

Yes, the brown part of the leaf is dead, so it can be cut off.

Ponytail palm

Please....they are NOT a houseplant. They will take full-sun and grow quite tall. AKA the elephant foot palm.......note how large the trunk is
rather like the foot of an elephant.
Please leave them outside.....growth is stunted inside!!!!

Ponytail Palm indoors

I would love to plant mine outside but live near LaGrange Ga. and don't think it would survive the winter with temps getting below freezing occasionally like18 to 20 degrees for a night or 2. It's healthy and about 4 feet tall. What do you suggest?

florida ponytail

I had a pony tail palm in my front yard it was over 16 foot tall it had a base that was 8 foot wide. I had a tree company want to by it from me I asked them what they wanted it for and they said they wanted to put it in a mall in new York. They would had dug up my hole front yard to get it out. Needless to say I did not sell it to them. I believe it is still there at my old house in Florida.

What causes a long shoot of

What causes a long shoot of new leaves, about 12 inches before it fans out?

Ponytail issues

My palm, which is usually kept indoors and has just had a new sprout/pup just above the big bowl base was fine until suddenly all the top leaves have collapsed and are a very light green. I have just moved the plant outside to get more light and will water tomorrow (every 10 days in Northern Thailand). Unfortunately we cannot post pics here

I messed up! Gave it too much water!!

Can I save my ponytail plant if i gave it too much water?? its been 3 days since i gave it water, i looked over and BAM, all her leaves have fallen down, if not off!!! Can i save her??

Ponytail Too Dry? Seems So Rare!

I have a small, 1.5m ponytail palm that was happy in the summer but come winter, the leaves became very brittle, almost a lime-green color, and the caudex is hard and shriveled. I don’t want to over-water, but could it be too dry? Google is of little help since the diagnosis for ponytail problems seems always to be too wet! It was getting full sun and 1x/week water in a very dry zone 9a, even drier than Tucson (Johannesburg, South Africa!)

Shriveled caudex

Update: just noticed it’s put out quite a few aerial roots, which your comment suggests it’s too dry, so I’m going to give it a deep watering. Nevertheless would be interested in the meaning of a shriveled caudex on these plants.

Shriveled Caudex

A shriveled caudex is indeed an indication of a thirsty plant! Try watering it a bit more often or watering it deeper—in other words, make sure that the soil gets properly soaked at each watering (but still allow it to dry out between waterings).

Note that if your area experiences a noticeable winter season, the plant could also just be going into seasonal dormancy, which means that it won’t need as much water as it does in spring/summer when it’s actively growing. Still, the trunk should have a fuller appearance, so find a watering schedule that brings the plant back to a healthy-looking state.

How to separate the new ones

How to separate the new ones that grow on the side

Ponytail Tree

Ok, many years ago I planted my Ponytail Palm in the ground and now it is 10 feet tall. Every now and then I pull the old /brown leaves/palms off the bottom on the plant. It survived many frost conditions we had in Florida. NOW I notice a little sprout coming out of the side of the trunk. What do I do with this new growth?

Ponytail Palm Sprout

If this new sprout is growing from the very base of the tree, at ground level, then it is a “pup”—in other words, a baby ponytail palm.

If the new sprout is growing from the point where the wide base of the tree narrows, it is likely a new stem starting to form. This usually only happens when the tree is damaged and dies back to the wide base, though.

In either case, you can leave it alone if you’d like to have a two-stemmed tree or a little stand of palms… However, if you do leave it attached, note that the tree will spend energy growing the new stem or pup rather than on its original stem. If your goal is to have the tallest ponytail palm, I would recommend cutting off the new sprout.

Ponytail palm

I have a ponytail palm that is 32 years old. I live in Rhode Island and keep it in the house during the winter and put it outside in the summer. This past winter I noticed that as the new grown is coming its turning brown and there more brown than normal for the leaves. It has never been repotted. I'm thinking of repotting but some advise would be great. Is my plant dying.

Browning Leaves

It probably wouldn’t hurt to repot and refresh the plant’s soil a bit, just to give it some new nutrients and room to grow! The sickly-looking leaves could have also just been a result of winter conditions indoors—if it was too cold, too dry, or too wet, this can produce browning leaves.

my ponytail palm is loosing all of its leaves.

Is it dying? It looks otherwise healthy. Will I get new growth?Please respond

Losing Leaves

The plant will lose its oldest leaves naturally, but if they’re all starting to fall off, then something has gone wrong. Typically, this is an indication of a watering problem; too much or too little water will promote leaf drop. Follow the watering instructions given above and your plant should recover.

Misting an indoor ponytail palm with water

I was wondering if it is beneficial to mist a ponytail palm (it grows indoors in a pot)with water in the summer or ever?

Thank You!

Misting Ponytail Palm

It’s not really necessary to mist ponytail palms; they will benefit much more from a thorough watering every few weeks!

When I water my pony tail

When I water my pony tail palm I give it a shower in the kitchen sink. This method keeps leaves dust free and bright, and it has been happy for years.

Elephant foot plant damage

I have an elephant foot plant that is two years old and about 2 feet in height.
There has been alot of new growth coming from the center palm. However last week
something fell on it and broke off many of the center palms. Will they re-grow? Should I keep the plant?

Lost related article from me. Miss Joy Bradford

Where is the very time consuming articule I wrote concerning, do we or don't we cut the brown ends of the ponytail hair.
I'm elderly ad can't see well. I'm very concerned about my article. When I was finally finished. The report was having trouble try again. I'm just not able to try again.
It would be most appreciated if you would please take the time and find my article, answer it. And send it to my email. Along with the copy of my article.
I've been many,many years with The
Almanac. I certainly would not want to be disappointed after all our wonderful years together. Once again bless you indevor. Sincerely, Miss: Joy Bradford

Brown Tips

I’m afraid we are only able to see comments that are published. Unfortunately, errors do occasionally occur.

In any case, we are happy to answer any questions about ponytail palm that you may have. Please post them here on this page or send an email to our inbox, AlmanacEditors@YankeePub.com.

Regarding the brown tips of ponytail palms: You may cut them as you wish—the brown tips are dead, so it won’t harm the plant to lose them.

Propagation

I have had an elephant foot tree I bought at a home depot about 3 years ago. Every summer (in Northern Illinois) I have put it outside, and it has grown and been re-potted once. Its about 12" tall. This summer I moved it out of the backyard because the goats were trying to eat it, and into the front, and forgot about it. Early fall it was cold and raining a lot and I remembered it and brought it inside. After a few days the leaves were turning brown, and eventually fell off. I was hoping that it was just going to be dormant and that I didn't kill it, so I left it in the pot in the house with no leaves and eventually a small squishy spot on the trunk, and haven't watered it at all, waiting for spring. Until today! When I walked past it I noticed 2 pups growing from the base of the trunk. Is my Elephant foot tree still alive? Should I cut the pups off, or just let them grow in the same pot? Is it possible to propagate off of a dead plant? I'm so confused and really hope its still alive!

Ponytail Palm Propogation

It sounds like the top of the adult plant died back due to cold and/or excess moisture, but the roots and base (caudex) survived. Does the upper stem of the adult plant still feel squishy? Or does it seem dry and shriveled? Either of those conditions would further suggest that the top of the plant is no longer alive. But, if the stem looks normal, try putting the plant in a warm, sunny spot for a couple weeks and water it as you normally would, as this could trigger it to produce new foliage.

If no new growth appears from the top, then you may want to trim the stem back to an inch or two above the caudex of the plant. If the plant is still alive, this should encourage it to produce new stems from the cut area after a few weeks. This practice is commonly done for aesthetic purposes, as it will make the ponytail palm produce more than one stem.

I would also suggest leaving the pups until they get a bit bigger—at least an inch in diameter at the base and 3–4 inches in height. Best of luck to you and your plant(s)!