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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>Lina</span> Fri, 02/19/2016 - 15:58
Can it be that my palm was not producing new roots because of the winter? It is clearly drying out very slowly. How will it take fertilizer or water if it doesn't have new roots? :( All it has is wooden looking roots. I really want it to live and make sure I do all I can.
<span>Gerard Crosswell</span> Sun, 01/31/2016 - 15:45
Does anyone have any advice on how to remove a pony tail palm from a boxed garden please ?
<span>Morgan</span> Sun, 01/24/2016 - 00:32
1 year ago I moved my mother's 35 year old pony tail plant from IL to Denver, CO (in the middle of winter). Our plant is 4 ft tall and has 3 stalks, all of which have a nice bunch of leaves at the top. In July I transplanted it to a larger ceramic pot. During that time I was treating it for an Aphid problem, that has since resolved. It has been noticeably getting weaker since the move here and now it seems to be dying, with the head of the shortest stalk now very limp and the leaves of the other two stalks being lifeless and partially brown. Is there any thing I can do?! If it is too far gone, is there any way to replant any part of it? There are a few, fairly decent looking pups. Any advice would be appreciated!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 01/28/2016 - 10:15

Hi Morgon,

Please read some of the questions and answers on this page regarding pruning the palm and starting new plants. You can cut the stem or stems off your plant. Put a sealant or wax on the cut surface on the mother plant. Be patient and cut back on the watering until you see new green growth. If you want to try to save the top(s) you can plant them in pots with moist soil and see what happens. You can remove the pups carefully by digging down under the pups to get as much of the rootball as possible. Using a sterile sharp knife cut through the roots that are attached to the mother plant. Plant the pups in moist cactus potting mix. Let the soil dry out between waterings.

 <span>David A</span> Mon, 01/18/2016 - 01:11
i had 1 it was 25 yrs old. it got sicki was upset i had it since it was very small. i cut the stcak off. it took a while but then it came back big time!! it grew 5 stocks! looks like i hand. but then i got a kitten and so was tearing it up. so i looked up ways to stop it. so i sparyed lemon water on it.....well leaves went dead! i was upset. but after 3 months its now getting new growth! i was soo happy but i dont know where this will go...im sure it will be the most strange plant yet....i can send pics if u want to see them....im just so happy my 30 yr old plant came back!
<span>Marie Plummer</span> Tue, 01/05/2016 - 23:02
What to do, cut off or leave alone. Several of the leaves on my Pony have gotten bent somehow and they are brown in that area. Should I cut them off at the bend and if so, will they grow back?
<span>Kathy Wiley</span> Sun, 12/06/2015 - 11:08
my plant isnt growing it had some leaves on it but my cat ate them now it just has a few little leaves can i save this plant
<span>Terri Timmons</span> Thu, 11/26/2015 - 20:55
Hi, I have my Grams ponytail (it's 33 yrs old) and it's a single stalk 3 foot tall, I moved her out to the sunroom this year in front of a window out there, versus a living room window (big mistake) and when the weather turned colder (I forgot it got colder out there) she took it hard!! Now her leaves have all fallen off but 4, they are half brown and barely hanging on and the top is soft!!! Please, what can I do? I have read about cutting the tops off, is this what I need to do? How do I do it?? I really don't want to lose this plant, I have another, she's a beauty, 4 shooter, my big girl. If I can get this one to produce again, I certainly won't move her from her spot anymore!! Help anyone!!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 12/01/2015 - 14:54

Hi Terri,

You can cut the top off your plant. Prune off the soft section of the top and put a sealant or wax on the cut surface. Be patient and cut back on the watering until you see new green growth. If you want to try to save the top you can plant it in a container with soil and see what happens. Good luck!

 <span>Virginia B.</span> Sun, 11/01/2015 - 13:50
I was recently given two 35 year old Pony Tail Palms. They are very large and need some advice on how to winter them. They are in large pots. I live in Southern New Mexico and I am not sure if they can be left outside in a protected area or if I need to greenhouse them. Any advice appreciated.