Ponytail Palm Plant Care
Common Name: Ponytail Palm
Scientific Name: Beaucarnea Recurvata
Lighting: Bright Light
Watering: Moderate to Low
Ponytail palms get their name from their ponytail like appearance. The Ponytail palm is one of my top 10 easy to grow houseplants. It requires very little attention. The only downfall to the Ponytail palm is that it is an extremely slow grower, so don't expect great growth spurts from year to year.
The Ponytail palm should be watered thoroughly once every 7 - 14 days. The Ponytail palm is native to desert areas therefore, it has a root system similar to cactus in that the roots go deep in order to store water for long dry spells. Be sure to let the soil become dry to touch 1" to 1-1/2" deep before watering again. If you notice the lower foliage is starting to turn a yellow or brown color you may be under watering the plant. The Ponytail palm requires bright light so be sure to place it near a window where full sun is received.
Bugs and mites usually are not a problem with the palm, however if they do appear, simply spray the houseplant down with a soapy water mix twice a day until they are gone.
Labels: easy to grow houseplants, palms
posted by drayas @ 1:46 PM
15 Comments:
I inherited an old plant, about 2+ft tall and about a foot wide base. It has three arms and all on all of them the foilage keeps turning brown. There is barely any "green" on them anymore. I want to change the soil. Cactus mix is recommended? Can I cut anything back to spur growth?
The ponytail palm is also an extremely slow grower, so you won’t see much results from year to year. A sandy cactus soil mix will work best for your Ponytail palm.
How often are you watering the palm? Usually brown foliage is a sign of under watering. If the whole leaf is brown you can remove it completely however if the tips are just brown, I would not trim the brown tips off. My experience is when you trim the brown tips off; you only get more brown tips.
Please let me know how you palm does.
Thanks,
drayas
My Poytail Palm is supposedly quite old and almost 8 feet tall. It grew up out west and was left with me here in the east coast. It sufered a "bump on the head" when moved a couple years ago and has never fully recovered its crown. I have had some success with removing side shoots. I decided to give it a some extra attention and have moved it outside on a small patch of covered side porch for the summer. I am concerned about fully exposing it to the elements. I have no idea when it was last repotted. I am wondering how to actually go about the process of repotting it. Maybe rolling the pot on the ground? Also, I am having a hard time finding a big enough clay pot. They are so heavy, too, considering the stairs, etc.. Are the double wall plastic ones OK?
asquared,
Well, this is a challenge for me. My ponytail palm, as you can see is small. Yours should be fine outside as long as it stays above 55. Ponytail palms like bright light so a partially sunny spot outside should work fine.
In terms of large pots and how to move it, that one I'm not sure. I know our local Home Depot has large pots outside in their garden center right now, because I just had to repot my 6 foot tall Yucca.
In terms of repotting, your best bet is to have a couple of people help out. Rolling on the ground to get the plant out will probably be the easiest way.
Please do let me know how things work out. I am very intrigued and would love to see a picture of this large ponytail palm.
Thank you,
Drayas
i have a ponytail palm about 6feet tall in the garden its base is about 2feet wide can it be moved successfully without killing it
Well, this is new to me. I strictly have ponytails as houseplants because I live in Wisconsin and thus limits my tropical outdoors. (I really don't like winter).
So I did some research and found a couple of forum posts talking about transplanting their ponytail palms and it seems you should be fine. But do read up on these forums, because like I said, I don't have any experience with palms outdoors.
Transplanting a Ponytail Palm
Ponytail Palm Root Systems
Please let me know how things turn out.
Thanks,
drayas
I live in Alabama. I inherited a ponytail palm that lived outside through hurricane Ivan (2004), had a tree fall on it and skinned the bark a little bit, so when I found it I brought it home and repotted it. It's done wonderfully on my porch in the summers and indoors in winter. My question is, this plant is now about 9' tall and has a shoot growing out of the trunk. Can I start another plant from the shoot and how is that done? How close to the mother plant should I remove it? This palm is very dear to me and I sure don't want to do anything to harm it. It's been through enough. Thanks.
alabob,
Well I honestly can say I'm not familiar with seperating ponytail palms. I found a few websites that say you can do it, but no specific instructions. I will do some more research.
If any of the readers have had any experience with splitting ponytail palms, please share them.
Here's the one site I found that said you can do it.
Houston Gardening
Thanks,
drayas
Hi!
I just got a PT yesterday and it is around 60cm tall. My question is about the side roots. Should I remove them?
I read in a book that the side shoots should be trimmed off to maintain health but what I see is just roots coming out of the top of the "ball" and going deep into the soil. Are these new shoots (to be removed) or external roots?!
Thanks
Hello,
I wouldn't trim the roots off if they are going back into the soil. I have not experienced this with my palm. If any of my readers can give us a hand it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
drayas
I have a number of Ponytail palms and put them outside in April or so, here in the Midwest and bring them in before the first frost. They overwinter in my kitchen and get the brown tips from the dryer inside air. They like to be pot-bound. I guess I have 10 in different sizes, the largest is about 3' tall and I've had it for around 25+ years.
I am responding to the person that was concerned about repotting and rolling the plant around. I also have a ponytail that is 7 to 8 ft tall and I repotted mine. I had to roll it around and it didn't mind at all. My problem is I have it in the biggest pot I could find and it has busted out of the pot. The pot was plastic, so now I am looking for a bigger pot that is ceramic. So take note, don't put your plant in a plastic pot, it will break out of it. Mine stays outside on the patio all summer long, so it doesn't mind the elements at all.
I have an old Pony Tailthat has grown from about 14" to a current 48". Over the years it had thrived on bottom watering. It was recovering from last year's neglect when our house sitter
forgot to water it for almost 4 weeks. This year the house sitter overwatered it and the crown completely died and also a pool of fetid, brown water with some kind of fungus developed in the saucer. Before I toss it, I would like to know if anyone has had any kind of regeneration after amputating the crown or if there is any chance that it will heal itself.
Thanks
poppop,
I can't help you out. I wouldn't toss it yet, but I can't promise anything. I've never had this happen.
Can any of my readers help us out??
Thanks,
drayas
I have two very large plants growing in my backyard. Both are over ten feet tall. Last year the female flowered and we harvested the seeds. It was the first time we got seeds. We have hundreds of thousands of them. We have let them dry and are now trying to get new starts going. I have them in small clay pots with plastic wrap over them. How wet should I keep the soil?
Post a Comment
<< Home