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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

<span>Iva Se</span> Fri, 08/11/2017 - 16:17
Hi, I have the palm tree for over 15 years. It's only 30cm high but it looks very fine. I keep it outside from late spring till autumn. I keep it in a small pot (there is space 1inch from the plant bulb to the rim of pot) is that reason that the palm doesn't grow high or might be mini breed? It has only 1 stern
<span>K. Ferrier</span> Sun, 07/30/2017 - 16:28
Several of the fronds on my ponytail palm are losing their green color and are splitting. This is an indoor plant, but we are in zone 7b. Not sure if palm is not getting enough light, or if soil currently has too much moisture.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/31/2017 - 12:20

Ponytail palms prefer full sun, so loss of color may occur if the plant isn't getting enough light. To maximize lighting, keep your plant in front of a south-facing window, if possible. Without knowing your watering habits, it's hard to say whether the plant is getting too much or too little water. Ponytail palms are succulents, so it's best to err on the side of giving too little water rather than too much. Are you letting at least the top inch or so of soil dry out before watering again? Also note that older leaves may naturally turn brown and dry up as the plant grows, so if you are seeing these issues only on lower leaves, you shouldn't be concerned.

 <span>Becki</span> Tue, 07/18/2017 - 00:00
I recently noticed that the trunk has circles on it that are lighter in color. Some are somewhat protruding and looks like more may be developing. Is this an issue?
<span>Michelina</span> Mon, 07/17/2017 - 19:29
I have 2 bags of regular soil and a bag of perlite. Can I use these in place of cactus soil? I'd rather not buy another bag of soil to be sitting around my tiny apartment.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/18/2017 - 14:57

Yes, a 1:1 mix of perlite and potting soil can be used as a substitute for succulent mix. Adding a 1/4 part of small gravel will also help to improve drainage.

 <span>Tabitha</span> Fri, 07/07/2017 - 14:14
My young Ponytail Palm has little skinny brown mushrooms growing out of the soil alongside the trunk. How do I deal with this? Thanks!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/11/2017 - 08:03

Fungi will grow in areas that are moist or shaded and rich in organic nutrients. Put on some gloves and pull the mushrooms out. Scrape away any remnants with a garden spade. Apply a fungicide, ideally with the active ingredient triadimefon, borate salt or chlorothalonil for best results. 

 <span>Michele Payne</span> Wed, 06/28/2017 - 14:29
I just bought a ponytail palm and the pot that it's growing in is 6 inches in diameter. There are roots coming out from the bottom. Does it need a bigger pot and if so what size should I move up to?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 06/29/2017 - 15:09

If roots are coming out the bottom, then your ponytail palm will definitely appreciate a deeper—if not overall bigger—pot. These plants are not very fussy and are often kept in smaller pots to keep their size small. The diameter of the pot you get depends on how long you want to wait until you have to repot the plant. Leaving at least a two-inch gap between the trunk and rim of the pot would give the plant plenty of space to grow and give you plenty of time to not worry about repotting. With that in mind, look for a pot that is on the deeper side, so the roots have plenty of room to grow.