蜜桃恋人

How to Care for Ponytail Palms

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.
Photo Credit
Renata.Ka/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Beaucarnea recurvata
Plant Type
Houseplant
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Part Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Flower Color
White
Yellow
Hardiness Zone
9
10
11

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Growing Ponytail Palm Houseplants: Watering, Lighting, Repotting, and Pests

Catherine Boeckmann

Ponytail palms, or elephant foot palms, are unique-looking, long-lived indoor plants that thrive on benign neglect. They are straightforward to grow鈥攑rovided 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 鈥減alm.鈥 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 鈥渟tump,鈥 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 (eastern Mexico), the entire plant has been known to reach up to 30 feet in height! However, ponytail palms grown in gardens as landscape plants don’t usually reach more than 10 feet tall. 

Kept indoors, they are rarely taller than 4 feet. However, as explains, 鈥淚n 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 it 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.鈥

Care of this plant is generally simple; the most common difficulty is adapting your watering habits to its needs!

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Planting

Choosing Soil and a Pot

  • Use a fast-draining soil, such as a cacti and succulent potting mix. If you already have potting soil, sand, and perlite on hand, you can create your own desert soil mixture: Mix 1 part potting soil, 1 part perlite, and 1 part sand. 
  • 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 moist soil for very long.
  • Use a clay pot if possible; the porous material will absorb some of the water, drying out the soil more quickly (a good thing for cacti and succulents).

Growing

How to Care for Ponytail Palms

  • Ponytail palms prefer to have as much light as possible, so place the plant in a bright location. Bright, indirect sunlight is best.
  • Keep soil fairly dry. Water from spring through fall, allowing the top inch or two of soil to dry completely before re-watering. During the winter, only water occasionally.
  • To water, soak the soil 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 cacti/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掳F / 10-13掳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鈥攁 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. 
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Wit and Wisdom

  • The plant’s unusual shape and coloration have granted it another strange nickname: the 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. 

Pests/Diseases

  • 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 husbandry practices appropriately. They can also indicate that the plant is getting too much direct sunlight and too little water.
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About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it鈥檚 not surprising that she and The Old Farmer鈥檚 蜜桃恋人 found each other. She leads digital content for the 蜜桃恋人 website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Carol (not verified)

6 years 4 months ago

I moved a 10 year old plant outside in Central Florida in a fairly wet spot. Surprisingly it grew to about 20 feet then was blown over last year in a hurricane. It was not totally blown out of the ground so it was propped back up and continued to grow but not well. We cut it back about 10 feet hoping it would sprout. No luck after several weeks so we pulled it out and set it by the trash. Yesterday I noticed three sprouts near the top of the trunk!! I guess it wants to live. We pulled it into the sun and set it on rocky sandy soil. Now what?? Cut it back more? Plant the roots again? The root/base it heavy and solid.

Sharon Boles (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

I have a ponytail palm a friend gave me about 35 years ago. I love it and at this time I don't want to lose it. It is about 6' tall. IF I wanted to cut it off would new starts come on? Should I leave it alone, I don't want to lose it, just afraid it is going to fall over or not get enough nourishment being that tall. I was given another one recently that has three individual starts shooting off where it had evidently been cut off. It is beautiful.

Than (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

I have a ponytail palm for almost 35 years. I repot it no so often due to the large dimensions. The last 6 -7 years do not grow well. New leaves are constantly rotting before they grow and spread and have fallen over 50 percent in last years. It has multiple branches that go better. I have not changed anything about grooming, fertilizing and its position. At the last pot change (2 years ago) the roots were reduced and concentrated in the upper part of the pot. I do not want to lose it. Any suggestion?

This is a tough question because it sounds like you haven’t done anything differently that would cause your plant to have problems!

There are reports of 350-year-old ponytail palms in Mexico, so we doubt your plant’s issues have anything to do with age. Perhaps the plant needs more light? They are a desert plant, so they grow best when given full sun all day long. Try moving it to a sunnier spot, if possible.

Check your fertilizer, too, to make sure that it is an all-purpose formula and that you are not fertilizing the plant too much or too little. Additionally, you may want to check the pH of the soil. If it is too acidic or basic, the plant will not grow well.

Finally, make sure that you are not over watering. Rotting leaves can mean that the plant is getting too much water. Let the top inch or two of soil dry out between waterings.

Hopefully, one of these changes will be successful for you and your ponytail palm. Good luck!

Thank you very much for your help. I reduced watering and moved the plant in a sunnier position that receives more light all day long as you advised. I waited more than 2 months to see if it would go better. The results: top shoots of the main trunk keep rotting. The lateral shoots that start from the base were clearly improved. Your help was great, the problem was not solved 100% though. Thank you again for your help. I hope I can keep my plant alive.

Diane (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

I just acquired this plant. It has been in an office setting until now. It has foam under it. I'm sure to hold the moisture while it was there. Now how should I care for it. I live in zone 7 so winter may be too cold for it outside.

TIFFANY (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

I have a small (maybe 1.5') ponytail that I bought with the intention of planting in the corner of the backyard. My husband, however, has decided he wants it to go in this very small area in front of the house. This area is a spot surrounded by concrete and directly against the house and is currently filled with a bleeding heart vine. How much space does the ponytail need and will the placement prove to be a problem as it grows? He is convinced that the small area will prevent the base from growing too large for the space.

A ponytail palm grows very slowly, but will eventually fill the space it’s given. They do well in pots because they can tolerate being root-bound鈥攖hat’s what keeps them small. If planted in the ground, they can get up to 30ft tall! How deep does the concrete go? If not too deep, the plant’s roots will spread underneath, letting it get larger. 

Ponytail palms like fairly dry, well-drained soil, and need full sun. If the spot where your husband would like to plant it is right up against the house, there could be rain run off from the roof or the plant could be shaded by your house, depending on which direction it faces.

Assuming that that spot doesn’t get too wet and gets full sun exposure, you could plant the ponytail palm there, though you may have to remove it many years down the line if it gets too large. At that point, the roots may be too deep to remove, though!

Joe Hogan (not verified)

6 years 6 months ago

Hello - I live in SW Florida. I have a ponytail Palm I received when I volunteered at the Naples Zoo 12 years ago. It was about 2鈥 tall. Now she鈥檚 3-4鈥 and potted on my lanai. For the last 6 months it鈥檚 been covered in a fuzzy white particles. I water/fertilize as needed. Of course watering more. I have tried to wipe each leaf clean with different suggested 鈥 home remedies鈥 to no avail. It just keeps returning. Then I bought Garden Safe Fungicide3. It covers fungicide, insecticide and m铆ticide. Still it keeps returning. What鈥檚 next? What can I do? I love this plant. It signified a turning point in my life and I do not want to give up. It鈥檚 orjerwise healthy at the base and still producing new branches but they are quickly covered in white. Please help! Thanks!

It sounds like you could be battling mealybugs, which are tiny white pests that can quickly infest a plant. They tend to congregate on the undersides of leaves and look like little pieces of cotton or fungus.

Mealybugs can be tough to get rid of. Repeated application of an insecticide is usually what does the trick. The insecticide that you bought does list mealybugs on its label, so it should be appropriate. Follow the directions on the insecticide’s label, and make sure that you search every nook and cranny of the plant, as well as in and around the pot and soil. Remove all the bugs that you can see by hand and know that you’ll need to treat the plant several times to kill subsequent generations of the pest. The insecticide only kills the adult mealybugs, but not the eggs.

In the meantime, you may want to move the plant to a different area in case the insects are hanging around that area. Mealybugs spread easily, so keep the infected plant away from other plants.