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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
Houseplant
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

Catherine Boeckmann
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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!

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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°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. 
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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. 
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About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

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

I’m afraid we are only able to see comments that are published. Unfortunately, errors do occasionally occur.

In any case, we are happy to answer any questions about ponytail palm that you may have. Please post them here on this page or send an email to our inbox, AlmanacEditors@YankeePub.com. 

Regarding the brown tips of ponytail palms: You may cut them as you wish—the brown tips are dead, so it won’t harm the plant to lose them.

Maris (not verified)

6 years 1 month ago

I have had an elephant foot tree I bought at a home depot about 3 years ago. Every summer (in Northern Illinois) I have put it outside, and it has grown and been re-potted once. Its about 12" tall. This summer I moved it out of the backyard because the goats were trying to eat it, and into the front, and forgot about it. Early fall it was cold and raining a lot and I remembered it and brought it inside. After a few days the leaves were turning brown, and eventually fell off. I was hoping that it was just going to be dormant and that I didn't kill it, so I left it in the pot in the house with no leaves and eventually a small squishy spot on the trunk, and haven't watered it at all, waiting for spring. Until today! When I walked past it I noticed 2 pups growing from the base of the trunk. Is my Elephant foot tree still alive? Should I cut the pups off, or just let them grow in the same pot? Is it possible to propagate off of a dead plant? I'm so confused and really hope its still alive!

It sounds like the top of the adult plant died back due to cold and/or excess moisture, but the roots and base (caudex) survived. Does the upper stem of the adult plant still feel squishy? Or does it seem dry and shriveled? Either of those conditions would further suggest that the top of the plant is no longer alive. But, if the stem looks normal, try putting the plant in a warm, sunny spot for a couple weeks and water it as you normally would, as this could trigger it to produce new foliage. 

If no new growth appears from the top, then you may want to trim the stem back to an inch or two above the caudex of the plant. If the plant is still alive, this should encourage it to produce new stems from the cut area after a few weeks. This practice is commonly done for aesthetic purposes, as it will make the ponytail palm produce more than one stem. 

I would also suggest leaving the pups until they get a bit bigger—at least an inch in diameter at the base and 3–4 inches in height. Best of luck to you and your plant(s)!

It does seem dry and shriveled, as if an avocado that is over-ripe. Where is you squeeze the trunk it seems as if there is air inside, the pups are now about 6 inches tall growing off the base of the plant. I did not try to cut the trunk down, but if you think this will spike new growth I will try that. Will I risk killing the pups if I do that? The pups don't seem to be growing trunks, just palms growing out of the base of the (dead) trunk

It sounds like the pups are not actually pups, but rather new growth. They are coming out of the top of the wide, rounded base (the caudex) of the plant, correct? Pups would be emerging from where the base touches the soil.

If the skinny part of the plant (the “stem” or “trunk”) is damaged by cold or rot, the plant may die back to the base, where new growth sprouts from.

If this sounds like what’s happened to yours, then you can cut off the dead stem just above the base and the new growth won’t be affected. 

Lorie (not verified)

6 years 1 month ago

Is there any such thing as a dwarf ponytail palm? I started my plant from seed 42 years ago. it lives indoors and is very healthy with new leaves constantly sprouting. But, it is only 3 1/2 feet tall. It is given two cups of water every week or two and given a weak plant food solution every 2 months. it is repotted every 10 years. The trunk has never been cut and it has never sprouted babies nor has it bloomed. It prefers very good light but the green part of the trunk get wrinkled if it gets to much direct sun. Is there anything i should do differently?

It sounds like you’re doing everything correctly; three and a half feet is actually pretty tall for a ponytail palm that’s spent its life indoors! Indoor specimens taller than 4 feet are fairly uncommon. The plant really needs ideal conditions (bright sunlight, warm temperatures, and no restrictions on its roots and trunk) to reach taller heights, which is usually the case for ponytail palms grown in greenhouses or outdoors. 

Ponytail palms are very responsive to the size of their pots, so keeping it pot-bound will slow down its overall growth. You might try planting it in a deeper and wider pot than it is currently; that could encourage it to grow larger both above and below ground.

Rachel Drinnon (not verified)

6 years 1 month ago

I have one that I have had for about a year now and it's basically just a cluster of pups that were removed from the parent plant. I have never repotted it. It's starting to grow aerial roots and the leaves are turning brown. It doesn't get much natural light, as its currently indoors for the winter. I recently Purchased a small plant light and covered the aerial roots with a bit of potting soil. Now I'm wondering if I've made the right choice?

Succulents that put out aerial roots typically do so in search of water, so that—combined with the browning leaves—suggests that your plant is in need of more water. However, if your plant doesn’t get much light this time of year, you do need to be careful not to overwater. What’s your watering schedule currently like? During winter months, water the plant deeply but don’t water again until the soil is almost entirely dry. Once you get the plant back in stronger light, you can increase waterings—still being sure not to water again until the top inch or so of soil is dry. 

As for what to do with the aerial roots: You don’t want the plant to be planted deeper than about halfway up its base, so if the soil was already at that level before you added more, it would be better to remove the extra soil and simply snip off the aerial roots with clean scissors. If you do this, don’t water the plant until it looks like its wounds have healed; this will help to prevent fungal disease.