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Ponytail Palm Care Guide: How to Grow This Easy, Long-Lived Houseplant

Poneytail palm indoors by a window. The Beaucarnea Recurvata, also known as Ponytail Palm, or Nolina is a houseplant with a swollen thick brown stem and the long narrow curly, green leaves flow up from this base.
Image Credit:
Renata.Ka/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Beaucarnea recurvata
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Partial Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Flower Color
White
Yellow
Plant Type
Houseplants
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Ponytail palms, or elephant foot palms, are unique-looking, long-lived indoor plants that thrive on benign neglect. They are straightforward to grow—provided that you don’t overwater them! Here’s how to grow and care for a ponytail palm in your home.

About Ponytail Palms

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 (such as Joshua trees).

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

In its native environment of eastern Mexico, the plant can reach up to 30 feet in height. However, ponytail palms grown in gardens as landscape plants typically don’t reach more than 10 feet tall. 

Kept indoors, they are rarely taller than 4 feet. However, as Susan Mahr of the University of Wisconsin-Madison explains, “In containers, ponytail palms will grow slower than if in the ground, and the plants will remain small if kept in a small pot. They can go for many years before needing to be repotted. Moving your ponytail palm to a larger pot will give it room to grow in both height and girth. They can be very long-lived and can easily outlive their owners. However, older plants may be difficult to manage because of sheer size and weight if not kept on the smaller size.”

Care of this plant is simple; the most common difficulty is adapting your watering habits to its needs.

Planting

Choosing a Growing Medium and a Pot

  • Use a fast-draining potting mix, such as one for cactuses and succulents. If you already have potting mix, sand, and perlite on hand, you can create your own desert mixture using equal amounts of each
  • Select a pot with a hole in the bottom so that excess water can be drained off. Ponytail palms do not like to sit in moisture for long.
  • Use a clay pot if possible; the porous material will absorb some of the water, drying out the growing medium more quickly (a good thing for cactuses and succulents).

Growing

How to Care for Ponytail Palms

  • Ponytail palms prefer bright indirect light.
  • Keep growing medium fairly dry. Water from spring through fall, allowing the top inch or two to dry out completely before rewatering. During the winter, water only occasionally.
  • To water, soak the potting mix 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 cactus/succulent fertilizer and bring into a brighter room for the summer months.
  • Average room temperature is acceptable for most of the year, but to replicate the natural dormancy cycle, keep the plant slightly cooler in the winter (50°–55°F / 10°–13°C).
  • Don’t let the plant sit too close to cold windows at night during winter, as freezing temperatures can severely damage it.

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 allow it to grow in height and girth. However, older plants may become challenging to manage due to their sheer size and weight if they are not kept at a 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 pot’s rim.
  • Note: Use caution when handling a ponytail palm, as its leaves have tiny serrated edges.

Harvesting

Propagation

  • Rarely, a ponytail palm may produce an offset—a tiny 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 some rooting hormone (available online and in nurseries) to encourage the offset to root. 

Pests and Problems

  • 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 and scale insects may find their way to 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 practices appropriately. They can also indicate that the plant is getting too much direct light and not enough water.

Wit and Wisdom

  • The plant’s unusual shape and coloration have granted it another strange nickname—elephant’s foot palm.
  • Are ponytail palms poisonous to cats? While the leaves of a ponytail palm are not toxic to feline (or canine) companions, their foliage does have abrasive edges that could irritate a pet’s mouth, so we suggest keeping the plant out of reach. 

Houseplant Guides

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 05/24/2019 - 09:45

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.

 <span>Julie List</span> Wed, 05/22/2019 - 10:46
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!
<span>Sandy</span> Mon, 07/15/2019 - 12:09
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.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 05/22/2019 - 16:52

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

 <span>Karon</span> Sat, 05/04/2019 - 10:18
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?
<span>Joy Bradford</span> Fri, 04/12/2019 - 10:57
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
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 04/15/2019 - 14:04

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.

 <span>Maris</span> Mon, 03/11/2019 - 03:40
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!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 03/11/2019 - 11:37

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)!

 <span>Marisa</span> Fri, 04/19/2019 - 00:49
It does seem dry and shriveled, as if an avocado that is over-ripe. Where is you squeeze the trunk it seems as if there is air inside, the pups are now about 6 inches tall growing off the base of the plant. I did not try to cut the trunk down, but if you think this will spike new growth I will try that. Will I risk killing the pups if I do that? The pups don't seem to be growing trunks, just palms growing out of the base of the (dead) trunk