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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
Houseplants
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Part Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Flower Color
White
Yellow
Hardiness Zone
9
10
11

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

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 (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 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 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.”

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

Read Next

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°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. 

Gardening Products

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.

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. 

Houseplant Guides
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Alan Hollister</span> Sun, 04/06/2014 - 20:16
I have a triple ponytail that I just repotted but did not break up. I am in Palm Springs, CA. So now it is loving being outside and just the long shadows of afternoon sun. Your previous answer gave rise to my question though...your answer would seem I could still leave it outside through the summer if I just shade it more? August will bring 115 temps often. It is a little too big to bring inside and no where inside has sunny windows.
<span>Lynnpncst</span> Mon, 07/08/2013 - 15:43
thank you so much ! We live in Pa and have been getting a very varied mix of weather this summer - nothing cold though. We have been getting heavy rains and high temps. Sounds like we may have probably too much of both extremes though. I will try to put it in a more shady spot that doesn't always get sun through out the day. Sounds like that may work ? thanks again !
<span>Eugenie</span> Fri, 06/21/2013 - 05:46
I got my Ponytail plant from Wegmans; it is in a pot with stones over the "soil" which appear to be glued somehow. It's about a foot high and seems to be doing well. I've had it about 6 months now. My question is how do I water it because I can't see the soil? I give it a light watering down about once a week but most of the water seems to run off because of the stones. Should I re-pot it? As I say it seems to be doing very well as it is but I don't like it that I can't actually see what I'm doing when I water it.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 06/21/2013 - 12:30
Remove the stones and repot the plant in light fast-draining potting soil (a bonsai mix works well). Water thoroughly once every 1 to 2 weeks. Let the soil dry up in between waterings.
<span>Nancylynn</span> Tue, 01/07/2014 - 18:46
I too have a ponytail palm where the stones are glued in. I was going to try to replant it but I'm afraid that if I pull the plant too hard, I'll lose the roots. Will the roots grow back? Thanks for any advice.
<span>M. Paloma Werner</span> Tue, 06/18/2013 - 07:49
Hi there. The top of my pony tail plant broke off during moving it. We have now planted the bottom in the garden and hope it will take. Is there a way I can try to get roots from the top tuft? Shall I stand it in water or put in in the soil for it to maybe develop roots? Thank you.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 06/18/2013 - 12:59
The base often survives and grows back again if properly replanted so hope it takes! We've never tried re-rooting a tuft. The usual practice is to take the suckers or offsets shooting up from the trunk and reroot. Cut with a sterile, sharp knife and coat the base of the cutting with rooting hormone and plant in a sterile, well-drained potting soil (such as that sold for cacti). The optimum time of year to remove those offsets is spring, but yours may still root at some point.
<span>Lois Hodge</span> Tue, 05/28/2013 - 14:15
I live in SETexas and my ponytail palm lives outdoors year round. I've had it about 25 years and the total plant is about 8 ft tall. It is beautiful.
<span>Anonymous</span> Wed, 03/20/2013 - 13:51
i have just bought my ponytail palm, which came with four, i separated them and put two in each pot, I had some moisture stay soil and switched it out about 3 days later into cactus potting mix, but now my palm is browning rapidly, I have not watered it since I figure It was feeling over watered, what did I do and if I cut back the brown leaves will it continue to grow? Any advice would be great.. drazor02@yahoo.com
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 03/21/2013 - 15:44
Be sure that your plant is not sitting in water. The "moisture stay" soil, which from the sounds of it retains moisture, may not have been a good idea. Propagation such as you described can be tricky; several methods have been recommended. The "baby" plant, or offset, could be given a dose of rooting compound and rooted in sand or a very well-draining potting soil. Another treatment would have been be to wrap/layer the offset in sphagnum moss and alternately moisten the moss and then allow it to dry. This would encourage roots on the baby; when those appeared you could remove it from the mother plant and pot it separately in well-drained potting soil. This plant like to be watered deeply but does not like to sit in water; the water must be allowed to drain out. (Too much water can/will cause root rot and drown it.) Allow the soil to dry between waterings. About the browning leaves: this could be from excess salt in your water. Repotting into cacti soil is recommended. However, some sources say some browning of leaves is normal; new leaves should appear from the center. By the way, this plant is not a true palm; it is a succulent. We hope this helps. Best wishes!