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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>Dianne Wykes</span> Tue, 07/27/2021 - 10:02
Can you trim the leaves if the plant?
<span>Byrd</span> Fri, 07/02/2021 - 13:30
Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me. My beloved ponytail palm tree sits in my room near my window. My great dane knocked over the pot. I picked it up right away but after that, the leaves started to droop and now they are turning brown. What can I do. It was fine prior to it being knocked over. I should add that the roots were exposed around part of the truck when u picked it up. I immediately covered them with the dirt that came out of the pot. Thank you
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 07/02/2021 - 14:21

It sounds like some of the roots may have been damaged. The plant should recover with time; it just needs to get resettled into the soil. Refrain from watering it for a little while longer than usual so that the roots can heal and so that any broken bits aren't exposed to the wet soil.

 <span>Iain Shute</span> Wed, 05/19/2021 - 13:04
I have a mature ponytail which has been kept in a fairly low-light area. The leaves are discoloured, with pale brown marks running the entire length (not the dark brown tips you get with under-watering). The leaves are not glossy as they should be and when you run your fingers down the leaves a black, gritty powder can be felt. There is no evidence of infestation. Can anyone tell me what this is caused by and what I can do to cure it? I have already moved it to a brighter area. Would application of a 20-20-20 fertilizer be helpful?
<span>Julia</span> Mon, 02/08/2021 - 16:22
My mother has had PT plant for over 35 years. She hasn’t moved it or started watering any differently and all the sudden the leaves turned brown. There is new growth on the top but everything else looks dead. We are stumped as to why this happened.
<span>Kelly L</span> Thu, 01/21/2021 - 19:32
I have 'acquired' a ponytail palm that is already 10' tall with a 14" base. It has the green top coming out of the top so I'll probably cut that off. But the tips of many of the leaves are dry and brown. Is it okay to trim those edges off? The pot it is in has disintegrated so we are going to try to put it in an equal size pot. I don't think we want it much taller.
<span>Terri L Kelley</span> Mon, 01/11/2021 - 17:45
My ponytail palm with 2 heads got cold one is fine while the other turned yellow at the tip and also could tell it got cold . Can I cut the part that got cold off? The trunk seems fine the other other seems fine but I don't want to chance loading the whole plant. It belongs to my mother
<span>Pc</span> Sun, 01/03/2021 - 16:06
Hi all, help please We noticed yesterday that pretty much all of the new growth at the top of our beautiful pony palm is falling out. None of it is brown, none of it is crisp It's all beautiful brand-new growth. Why is it just falling out? It was repotted three months ago, because it was not looking too good. But it came back around BEAUTIFULLY . We did have some Christmas tinsel kind of decorating around the base of it and we're wondering if maybe some chemical from that got into it or prevented adequate water from getting to it ( but it does not display any of the signs of lack of water ) , but aside from that the plant is beautifully healthy looking. Thank you for any help you can give me
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 01/04/2021 - 15:34

Has the plant been exposed to a sudden drop in temperatures? A drafty window or door, perhaps? Even being right up against a cold window could do it. Shock from temperature fluctuations can cause plants to drop their leaves. It should recover if moved to a warmer, more stable area.

If you don't think that could be it, consider whether you could be giving it too much water. Stick your finger in the soil and see if it feels damp. Also check the soil at the drainage hole of the pot. Allow it to dry out more than usual, since it doesn't have foliage to allow it to get rid of water as quickly as it usually would.

 <span>Don</span> Tue, 09/15/2020 - 00:08
My two plants have been in my Hawaiian garden, potted, for about 5 years. Recently I had them moved to the ground in a relandscaping idea some five months ago. Other plants in the area are doing well, but I’m a bit worried about these two recently. Both are about 3 feet tall. Ideas? Thanks!