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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>Susan Collins</span> Thu, 06/02/2016 - 17:35
Hello, my brother has a 40 year elephant foot plant that has two shoots which no longer produces leaves. Should he cut the old shoots off? Thanks, Susan
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 06/21/2016 - 14:14

Yes, cut them off at the base.

 <span>Cynthia</span> Mon, 05/30/2016 - 11:40
Hi, my pony tail palm is sprouting new sprouts but under them the leaves are turning brown. I water it 1nst a week. I've been fertilizing it with deluted coffee n water about 1 cup coffee to 1 Gallen water. That's when it started growing good. Is the brown leaves normal.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 06/01/2016 - 16:09

It's normal for leaves on the bottom of the plant to turn brown when new leaves grow from the center.

 <span>Jill</span> Sun, 05/29/2016 - 15:44
Hi there, We've had our elephant foot plant for over a decade. It has 3 shoots and generally thrives. Its in a good soil mix but we some how completely neglected it and accidentally left it out side over much of winter and it got severely over wateredby the rain. We live in south east UK. There was no frosts or snow but lots of rain. It obviously lost all its leaves. We let it dry out, which during it oozed white froth. It stopped frothing and dried out nicely and we've watered sparingly since. It shows no life and is a bit spongy at the tips. We've not cut the stems at all. Please can you give some advice to how we might be able to revitalise it. We plead complete ignorance and really hope we've not truely killed it. Many thanks
<span>Israel</span> Mon, 05/16/2016 - 16:50
I got mines 2 months ago and it's around 18'. The leaves have been going brown and dried up I thought it was because it was dried up but I've been watering it every other day. Suggestions?
<span>Russell</span> Fri, 05/06/2016 - 17:38
I have a beautiful Ponytail that i got last summer (2015). It is growing nicely with a new sprout out of the center of a full bloom of older leaves. My problem may be twofold. Our cat started eating the leaf tips. At the same time, she started having blood in her urine. When I checked the leaves, they are smooth if you rub them towards the leaf tip but if you run your finger back towards the base, they feel barbed. I cut the eaten tips back to a angled point and moved the plant away from a point where she could get to the leaves. We brought her to the vet who prescribed an antibiotic, just in case it was an infection and not from the leaves. The problem went away after finishing the medicine and the plant has been fine. It's been about 4 months and today we noticed that there was blood again in her urine. I went over to the plant and she is finding a way to get to the longest leaves again. Naturally, we have another appointment but is it possible for the leaves to cause harm to our cats digestive tract from the roughness of the leaves? I love the plant. Do I need to get rid of... the cat? Just kidding...any help would be appreciated. Russ
<span>Aubrie</span> Mon, 05/02/2016 - 19:42
I just got a pony tail palm and it looks like the top of my ponytail has wax on it. What is it? Can I take it off? Is this going to prevent it from growing?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 05/03/2016 - 15:19

This is sealing wax that has been put on the plant where a cut was made. This is a protective seal to heal the cut. If the cut looks old, it maybe fine to scratch off the wax. It's not going to hurt the plant to leave it on.

 <span>Geni</span> Sun, 04/10/2016 - 10:58
I have a 40 year old pony tail palm that is about 7' tall. It is very healthy but so tall. If I were to cut it back halfway, would it grow more fronds out the sides of the top? I have seen many other palms that way. Also, would I be able to root the part I cut off? I have grown it from about 2 ft. tall, outside in the summer and in a sunny window in the winter. I really don't want to ruin it, just would like to shape it up and shorten it.