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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>Tanya Polasek</span> Thu, 08/20/2015 - 23:31
I have a pony tail plant that bloomed. The bloom is dead now and looks like it's making the plant die. Why is it looking so bad? Is there something I can do to save my pony tail?
<span>Marci Phillips</span> Wed, 09/16/2015 - 15:44
I know that flowering for most plants is hard on them. I would recommend removing the dead flower. Any dead leaves on a plant need to be removed. I have read opinions that say to snip the ends of the leaves if they're dead and not to snip if they're dead. Overwatering is also a huge problem with these plants. I just got my plant 2 weeks ago. I just repotted it. I hope some of what I've read helps you.
<span>John Brookes</span> Sun, 07/12/2015 - 17:48
I have a pony tail that is roughly 30 years old, that I have had since it was very small. It is now 10' tall in a large pot. It has never once put forth a pup. What's the reason for this? Thanks?
<span>Dee1234</span> Sat, 07/11/2015 - 17:58
Hello- I have just purchased a Ponytail Palm from a store. The top of the plant has wax on top. Will this prevent the plant from growing? Should I remove the wax? My other question is this, the palm was purchase in a small pot with rocks and moss (for decoration) should I quickly repot my palm? I would say the plant is around 6" Thank you!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/14/2015 - 09:28

Dee, Our guess is that the store put sealing wax on the top because they cut it off and this is a protective seal to heal the cut. If the cut is old, it maybe fine to scratch off the wax, but we really do not know the history of this plant and suggest you call the store back.

Ponytail palms are grow in containers unless you live in very warm zones (10, 11). They like small pots because they are desert plants and do not like too much water. Increase pot size gradually; the plant will grow with the pot. We do not know the quality of the soil mix used by your store. If you wish to replant, we'd advise a soil mix consisting of 2 parts loam to 1 part peat moss to 2 parts sand. Add small gravel to this mix for good drainage.

 <span>Royalmagnus</span> Sun, 06/14/2015 - 09:05
I have a ponytaill palm 12 years old. It is in my sunroom, is about 10 feet tall. The top has green leaves for about 3 ft down--the rest are brown or all gone, leaving the trunk bare. If I cut the top off, how much of the trunk should I leave to get new growth? Should I remove part of the cup off top when trying to pot it? Why did all the lower leaves turn brown?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 06/19/2015 - 12:01

It's normal for leaves on the bottom of the plant to turn brown when new leaves grow from the center. Also, is your ponytail palm getting very bright light? Is the temperature in your household average--not too hot?  Is the soil too wet (or dry)? Only water your ponytail palm when the first several inches of soil become dry. We're not clear why you want to cut off the top. We wouldn't advise cutting off the top which would expose your plant to infection.

 <span>Sheri Mcgowan</span> Fri, 06/12/2015 - 13:39
I wanted to double check something on re potting my plant with the glued rocks. An earlier comment said to repot at the same level. Is that the level of the soil below the rocks, or should the soil level now be up to where the rocks were on the plant? Just not sure if the rocks are considered part of the potting or just for looks. I don't want to repot it too deep.
<span>Marci Phillips</span> Wed, 09/16/2015 - 15:53
I purchased a ponytail palm that had rocks around it as well. The rocks were glued together. I just repotted it,and the rocks were cutting into the plant because it was root bound. The trunk of the plant had actually busted the glued rocks apart. The level it was at should be a good guide. My plant was so large I had to add more soil for support. I put a layer of sand and rocks on top of that for decoration, but it's not necessary for the health of the plant. Good luck!
<span>Sherri Littlejohn</span> Thu, 05/14/2015 - 16:06
I have a great 18" cast iron pot. The hand Palm I put in it las year died... Maybe because of the iron. Can I plant a ponytail Palm in it. If not want other indoor/ outdoor plants can I put in it?