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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> Tue, 04/23/2019 - 14:35

It sounds like the pups are not actually pups, but rather new growth. They are coming out of the top of the wide, rounded base (the caudex) of the plant, correct? Pups would be emerging from where the base touches the soil.

If the skinny part of the plant (the "stem" or "trunk") is damaged by cold or rot, the plant may die back to the base, where new growth sprouts from.

If this sounds like what's happened to yours, then you can cut off the dead stem just above the base and the new growth won't be affected. 

 <span>Lorie</span> Wed, 02/27/2019 - 11:26
Is there any such thing as a dwarf ponytail palm? I started my plant from seed 42 years ago. it lives indoors and is very healthy with new leaves constantly sprouting. But, it is only 3 1/2 feet tall. It is given two cups of water every week or two and given a weak plant food solution every 2 months. it is repotted every 10 years. The trunk has never been cut and it has never sprouted babies nor has it bloomed. It prefers very good light but the green part of the trunk get wrinkled if it gets to much direct sun. Is there anything i should do differently?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 02/27/2019 - 17:12

It sounds like you're doing everything correctly; three and a half feet is actually pretty tall for a ponytail palm that's spent its life indoors! Indoor specimens taller than 4 feet are fairly uncommon. The plant really needs ideal conditions (bright sunlight, warm temperatures, and no restrictions on its roots and trunk) to reach taller heights, which is usually the case for ponytail palms grown in greenhouses or outdoors. 

Ponytail palms are very responsive to the size of their pots, so keeping it pot-bound will slow down its overall growth. You might try planting it in a deeper and wider pot than it is currently; that could encourage it to grow larger both above and below ground.

 <span>Lorie</span> Thu, 02/28/2019 - 13:50
Thank you for the info!
<span>Rachel Drinnon</span> Mon, 02/25/2019 - 14:30
I have one that I have had for about a year now and it's basically just a cluster of pups that were removed from the parent plant. I have never repotted it. It's starting to grow aerial roots and the leaves are turning brown. It doesn't get much natural light, as its currently indoors for the winter. I recently Purchased a small plant light and covered the aerial roots with a bit of potting soil. Now I'm wondering if I've made the right choice?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 02/27/2019 - 17:31

Succulents that put out aerial roots typically do so in search of water, so that—combined with the browning leaves—suggests that your plant is in need of more water. However, if your plant doesn't get much light this time of year, you do need to be careful not to overwater. What's your watering schedule currently like? During winter months, water the plant deeply but don't water again until the soil is almost entirely dry. Once you get the plant back in stronger light, you can increase waterings—still being sure not to water again until the top inch or so of soil is dry. 

As for what to do with the aerial roots: You don't want the plant to be planted deeper than about halfway up its base, so if the soil was already at that level before you added more, it would be better to remove the extra soil and simply snip off the aerial roots with clean scissors. If you do this, don't water the plant until it looks like its wounds have healed; this will help to prevent fungal disease.

 <span>Sandra</span> Mon, 02/25/2019 - 08:04
It’s 4 years old and in the same pot. When I first got it I was watering it every 2weeks. Then of courses I wasn’t watering like I should and forgot some times. Could not remember when I did so I just gave it water. Today it looks skimpy with brown leaves. The bass where the leaves come out is all brown but some new growth is sprouting out. I not sure what to do should I water it last time was early in the month. I would love to see it thrive. Is it possible to bring it back.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 02/26/2019 - 12:20

Dry, browning leaves can indicate a thirsty plant, but it's also perfectly natural for the older leaves to die off as the plant grows. Yours likely just needs a more regular watering schedule. Water it when the top inch or so of soil has dried out completely—this could be every two weeks, every three weeks, or once a month depending on the humidity of your home, the consistency of the soil, and how porous the pot is. 

To keep track of your waterings, try attaching a post-it note to the plant's pot and writing down the date when you water. 

 <span>Karen Breen</span> Mon, 02/25/2019 - 10:59
Try a spray bottle and mist your palm maybe twice a week to keep the trunk from drying out. I keep my spray bottle next to it.
<span>Martha Kaeser</span> Mon, 01/14/2019 - 10:42
I have just brought my palm in and my cat is very interested it and tries to eat the leaved. Are they hurt him other than cutting his tongue?