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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> Mon, 03/09/2015 - 10:39
You can cut the brownish-red tips off. It's normal for the lower leaves to turn brown and eventually dry up. If you have brown tips on the upper leaves try moving the plant closer to a window so it gets more light.
<span>Jeff Shehan</span> Wed, 02/25/2015 - 13:18
I have a ponytail palm that up until a couple of weeks ago was looking fantastic. Now all the sudden it quit growing and all of the new growth is turning brown...please help.
<span>Dani Osborn</span> Thu, 02/26/2015 - 16:06
It could be due to a few reasons - is it getting hit by your heater? Sitting in water? Getting hit by the sun thru a window? Houseplants can be in direct light, but not direct sun. Once a week carry plant to sink let water gently run thru, let drain, set back on liner plate. Never let a plant sit in water. Should be in a container that drains. Hope this helps. Dani
<span>Jeff Shehan</span> Fri, 02/27/2015 - 08:14
Actually,you are right. I believe the heater vent in the ceiling is blowing on it. Does this affect it? I've also been told to water when the top inch of the soil is dry, also I've been told not to over water because the base stores water? what would you suggest to do to bring this plant back healthy as soon as possible? Can you please give me some good advice.
<span>Renee E</span> Sun, 02/22/2015 - 09:14
I have a pony tail palm that is about 8 year old. Over the years it has grown leaning (toward light). I have repotted the palm and tied (with soft wide fabric) it back to make it stand straight to try and promote it to grow straight. It has been this way for about 4 months. However, I tried removing the fabric and it still wants to fall back to its old position. Any thoughts or advice? The plant looks healthy and growing well, but the base soil is loose (have tried to push it down to compact it but it still seems loose around the bulb base of the plant).
<span>Jihastra</span> Thu, 06/11/2015 - 20:15
My pony tail palm was tipping too, I cut the bulb a bit in the area I wanted it to root and propped it into position with 4 plastic forks, pushing the handle into the soil with the fork part cradling / propping the bulb. When it was firmly rooted I removed the forks.
<span>Denise E Phillips</span> Thu, 02/19/2015 - 19:43
Hi, I have quite an established pony tail palm in my garden. just the other day noticed a white bubbling foam coming from it's base about 25 cm up from soil level, After doing some research the only thing found that resembles this foam is Slime Flux, but in all the researches there has never been a Pony Tail Palm listed, and reading down all of the inquires here there is also no mention of the problem. As this palm is out in the garden I was wondering if all the summer rain that we have had this year could be the problem and not Slime Flux. I live in Australia NSW and we have had an unusual wet and humid summer. I would appreciate an help with how to deal with this problem, would a mixture of bleach and 4 parts water to clean the area help and also would also removing the affected bark help? I have at least 4 other pony tail palms quite large with no problems. Thanking You Denise Phillips.
<span>Paulb</span> Sun, 02/15/2015 - 22:42
I have two large ( 8') ponytails which are now touching the house. They are too big to move so I was hoping to cut off the branches,about six on each one, and replant them using rooting powder.Will these branches survive as I have been told so I can kill off the originals and remove them?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 02/18/2015 - 16:21

You can transplant pups, or side shoots, as they mature from the bottom of the mother palm. Branches will not root. You can also cut the tops off the palms and they will grow new shoots from the main stem below the cut. See other comments on this page about how to root the pups and/or the cut off tops.

 <span>Glenn Marr</span> Mon, 02/09/2015 - 03:17
Hi I have taken my ponytails out of pots and put them in the ground, the soil is sandy lomb. The plants leaves are very light green and drooping. What have l done and can l save them. Please help me. Thank you