Ponytail palms are a unique-looking, long-lived indoor plant that thrives on benign neglect. They are very easy to grow, provided 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. From the top of the stem, one or more rosettes of long, green, leathery leaves develop as the plant ages. Indoors, the leaves can get up to 3 feet long, but outdoors, they may be double that length.
In its native environment (eastern Mexico), the entire plant has been known to reach up to 30 feet in height! However, ponytail palms that are grown in gardens as landscape plants don’t usually get to be more than 10 feet tall. Kept indoors, they are rarely taller than 4 feet.
Care of this plant is generally simple; the most common difficulty is having to adapt your watering habits to its watering needs!
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Ponytail Palm Cold Damage
It does sound like your ponytail palm has suffered from a freeze, unfortunately. It’s really a toss up as to whether it will be able to recover or not, but what you can do it to try to keep it in a warmer place for the remainder of the season and be careful not to overwater it. The brown leaves are dead and can be cut off. It’s possible that new leaves will grow in the spring.
Ponytail Palm
Ponytail Palms are quite common and do well outdoors here in southwest Florida. Another common name for Beaucarnea recurvata that I have heard often is Whoville palm because it looks like it came right out of a Dr. Seuss illustration.
How much water do you use when watering the Ponytail Palm?
I know how often to water, but how MUCH water do you use?
How much water
While we can’t give an exact amount because it depends on the size of your pot and the amount of soil in it, the rule of thumb for watering is to “water deeply, but infrequently.” This means that you should water until the water starts to come out of the pot’s drainage holes. If the soil is particularly dry or porous, let the pot sit in any water that comes out of the bottom for a little while so that the soil can soak up the water that went straight through. Once you’ve allowed the pot to sit in the excess water for 10 or so minutes, dump out the dish of excess water.
climate for pony tail plant.
I have 2 pony tail plants and I live in south Mississippi. Would it be wise to plant my plants out side?
Ponytail Palm Outdoors
Ponytail palms require consistently warm temperatures and low moisture. In the US, they can survive outdoors in Zones 9 and warmer, but only where it’s also quite dry, such as in the Southwest. We imagine it would get too humid and wet in Mississippi for a ponytail palm to thrive, so it would probably be best to keep yours potted. Consult a nearby Cooperative Extension service for local advice.
Hi, I have the palm tree for
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
Ponytail Palm Fronds Bleaching
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.
Pale and Split Leaves
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.
Spots on trunk
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?
Can ponytail palm be planted in regular soil?
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.
Ponytail Palm Soil
Yes, a 1:1 mix of perlite and potting soil can be used as a substitute for succulent mix. Adding a ¼ part of small gravel will also help to improve drainage.
My Ponytail Palm is growing mushrooms!
My young Ponytail Palm has little skinny brown mushrooms growing out of the soil alongside the trunk. How do I deal with this? Thanks!
mushrooms near base of palm
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.
Ponytail Palm
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?
Repotting Ponytail Palms
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.
Pony tail palm
I have a pony tail palm that my mother in law gave to her mom over forty years ago. It out grew her home and because I have vaulted ceilings we transported it here. On the way the top broke. Now there are two tops and it just doesn't seem to get as full. I don't have a great place for it to get a lot of direct sunlight and probably could do batter about watering it. What are your suggestions to get it to perk back up?
perk up ponytail palm
Ponytail palms are slow growers. Place it by a window (but be careful of cold drafts)–these plants love lots of sun, at least part of the year. Also, make sure that the soil is a well-draining type (a cactus mix works well), and that it has a drainage hole that isn’t blocked. Water about every 1 to 2 weeks; give it a good watering, and let it drain out. Do not water unless the soil is dry at least 1 inch below the surface–or even more. Good luck!
Ponytail Palms
I have a ponytail palm and there is a crack in the barking when we peeled back the bark small white aphid like bugs were lined on the inside and where the bugs are under the bark , its dry. What do i need to do to make the bugs go away?
Ponytail Palm
Hi Mia,
What you describe sounds like cottony mealybugs. Depending on how many there are, a good treatment is to use alcohol dipped q-tips to dab individual bugs. This will have to be done several times over a few weeks, keeping up with their egg cycle. If there are too many to do individually, try spraying the bugs with child-safe insecticidal soap, once again administering the treatment several times over a few weeks.
Good luck!
Separate
I bought two pony tail palms in one pot. I repotted together. But I would like to separate the two. Will this kill them? The roots are grow together so I left them the first time, not knowing.
ponytail palm roots tangled together
You can separate the two plants, but carefully.
How to stimulate new frond growth
I read in these posts that to stimulate new growth the top of the pony tail can be cut off. I have 4 beautiful ponytail palms each in separate pots. One has awkward palm/frond growth and I'd like to try cutting this off to stimulate new growth.
Can you specify exactly where to make the cut? Would this b at the top of the base, just below where the green shoots grow out? I don't want to harm the plant.
Many thanks!!
Rachel
Help!
I bought a ponytail palm last spring! I love it to death, but my cats keep eating the leaves and now it just has stubby little leaves and has had only stubby leaves for nearly 9 months. What can I do to get them to grow? It's in its own pot, and has good soil, I only water when needed!
ponytail palm leaves help
To promote leaf growth on the palm you can cut off the top and the palm will grow new shoots. You can also plant the top in a pot with soil to root it.
Bent Leaves
I have three pony tails, 2 of which are great with nice curved dropping leaves.
The other one has got straight or bent leaves, have tried to gently pull them into a curved position but it doesnt help.
Bent leaves
I've had my ponutail palm succulent for about 2 years now it has 5 strong pulps growing right now and I've always noticed that the leaves that look the most out of shape or bent and unhealthy are either the oldest or lowest leaves on each pulp or in some cases a leaf growing from the backside of the pulp where with multiple pulps things tend to get crowded(competing for light can be tough on the inside). I made a decision on my own to pull the lower most leaves until the stalk was no thinner than the pulps base where it connects to the trunk.( Even if the leaf looks healthy but needed to be removed to get to the next one I removed it but sometimes i had to wait for new growth for an ugly leaf to be pushed down enough) The very base of the remaining leaves will be white! The next day I was blown away!!!! My palm had perked up so much the diameter of the whole plant increased 6-8 inches without a single drooping leaf!! it actually had some leaves sticking straight up almost 2 feet long!!! So By removing the lower messy growth the plant could focus more on supplying nutrients and water the very top of the pulps, within a few days i had a ton of new growth from the center of the pulps, the trunks of each pulp grew 1/2" taller. I do this as often as i need now and my palm couldn't be any more healthy looking here's my email if u would like to see pictures or need help maywreckyaday21 at icloud
I have a 20 year old ponytail
I have a 20 year old ponytail palm. We started going south for the winter 3mo. My question what should I do about the plant. Husband says it goes dormant but 3 mo of no water? Help
ponytail palm in winter
Yes, the plants do go dormant in the winter, however they usually need water about once a month. Water just enough moisture to prevent the roots from drying and dying, but never let the pots stand in water. You may need to have someone come by the house once a month or make other arrangements if you want the plant to live.
Ponytail palm
The fronds are turning brown. Any suggestions?
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