Ponytail Palm | The Ideal Plant For Busy Families
The Ponytail Palm, also known as the Elephant’s Foot, is one of the easiest, if not THE EASIEST plant to have and care for.
It is second on my list of the Top 5 Impossible to Kill Indoor Plants!
In-fact, the Beaucarnea Recurvata, (which is its scientific name), is only second to the African Milk Tree in our home!
Actually, the Ponytail Palm was the first plant I bought for our new home when I first moved to Canada back in 2004.
And I still have that plant!! (At the time this article is issued, my first Ponytail Palm is 17 years old!). It has survived a house move, the arrival (with consequential neglect), of two babies, a puppy and two parents with full time jobs, two kids with a million activities!
I think I gave you a good picture of the hardiness of this plant!
And it’s beautiful too, with its bulb-like stem and lush, long, curly leaves cascading like fireworks wherever you place it!
Native to the state of Veracruz in Mexico, the Ponytail Palm is currently in a threatened conservation status.
There are plenty of these plants on the market for indoor use that is hard to believe that they are in critical condition in their native environment, due to the disruption of their habitat.
It’s important to know that despite its name, the Ponytail Palm is not a true palm.
It is an evergreen perennial with succulent-like needs.
It has many great qualities aside from being low maintenance and eye catching; it’s drought tolerant, it thrives in the average home humidity levels, and it’s non-toxic to humans and pets! (I had it listed on my article on the 5 Best Succulents Safe for Cats).
Click here for more Non-Toxic Houseplants Safe for Children, Cats and Dogs.
Before we dig into the care needs of this awesome plant, let me ask you;
- Are you new to indoor plants?
- Do you think you have a Black Thumb?
- Do you live in a home with super dry air?
- Do you have pets that like to chew your greens?
- Do you have young and curious, exploring toddlers that like to put everything in their mouth?
- Do you travel a lot for work or you are rarely at home?
- Do you have a crazy busy lifestyle with no time to look after your plants?
If you answered YES to any or all of the questions, the Ponytail Palm is the plant for you!
Now, let’s learn more about this amazing miracle plant!!
ponytail palm light
This plant thrives on full sun or bright, indirect light.
However, it can tolerate medium light conditions indoors, during the Winter months if kept outdoors during the Summer months.
I keep my Ponytail Palm on a a bright pony wall, (no pun intended!), between a North and an East facing window. It has plenty of bright, indirect light and it never receives direct sunlight.
I never put it outside for the Summer either.
If you decide to bring your Ponytail Palm outdoors for the Summer, it is important that you bring it back indoors before temperatures dip below 50F/10C at night.
It is also very important that your plant is acclimatized and quarantined for pests before you bring it back inside your home!
Read this article on Bringing Plants Indoors For The Winter for more information.
PONYTAIL PALM HUMIDITY & TEMPERATURE
The Beaucarnea naturally grows in a region with low humidity and very little rain. The average temperature is around 68F/20C.
It’s no wonder that this plant thrives in homes with low humidity and outdoors in temperate climates.
This is a very adaptable plants if you live in a home with a humidity, don’t worry too much. Your Ponytail Palm will do just fine in any home environment!
If you care for a Ponytail Palm indoors, make sure you place it away from any drafts, whether it is cold or a source of heat.
Keep it away from doors, operable windows, and vents that can blow air conditioning or heat on its leaves and dry them out.
Ponytail Palms are particularly susceptible to cold drafts.
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PONYTAIL PALM WATERING & FERTILIZING
The Ponytail Palm cadeaux, (its bulb-like trunk), is enlarged at the bottom for storing water.
It is this wonderful feature that makes it, not only an interesting looking plant, but mostly a drought tolerant plant.
It is critical that its soil dries out between waterings, so make sure your Beaucarnea is planted in a container with drainage holes and that you don’t water it too much!
This plant will suffer if over-watered, rather than under-watered.
I recommend you water your Ponytail Palm every two to three weeks, and that you discard any excess water left in the saucer an hour after watering it.
If the Ponytail Palm trunk looks shrivelled up, it’s a good indication your plant is under-watered. On the other hand, if the trunk looks and feels damp and mouldy, it’s a sign of over-watering.
When it comes to fertilizing your plant, take it easy!
In-fact the Ponytail Palm only needs some liquid plant food twice, maximum three times per year; once in early Spring and once in Summer is ideal.
Too much fertilizer will brown its lovely curly leaves!
ponytail palm SOIL & REPOTTING
In its natural environment, the Ponytail Palm grows in nutrient deficient, rocky soils.
(Wow! No wonder this is such an easy plant to maintain!!).
Anyway, the ideal soil for this plant is a well draining potting mix! I recommend mixing a Cactus & Succulent soil with some Perlite for added draining properties.
(I use a 3 to 1 ratio; 3 scoops of soil and 1 scoop of Perlite)
Once again, make sure your plant is in a pot with drainage holes! There is no point in having the right soil if you have the wrong pot for your plant!
Another added bonus of this plant is that it grows really slow! You don’t need to repot it into a larger pot for a long time!
In-fact, Ponytail Palms should be kept root bound, with their roots tight into their pot.
When roots are tight into their pot, the amount of soil into that same pot is limited. When soil is limited, the water drains easier, because there is less medium to absorb it and retain it into the the pot for a longer period of time.
As you know by now, Ponytail Palms thrive in drive soil conditions!
So, the bigger the pot you plant them in, the more soil there will be, the more soil there is, the more water will be retained in the pot for a longer period of time, and the more water exposure the Ponytail Palms roots get, the more damaging it is for their health.
I generally recommend to replace any plant’s soil once a year, even if the plant doesn’t need a bigger container, simply because the soil after a year becomes nutrients depleted.
However, in the case of the Ponytail Palm, I’d say to avoid this yearly process, as these plants naturally thrive in nutrients deficient soils.
Bottom line, do not rush into repotting your Ponytail Palm!
Just take it out if its pot once a year to check that its roots are healthy.
If there are no roots sticking out of its drainage holes, your Ponytail Palm won’t need repotting!
other facts worth mentioning
Ponytail Palms are long lasting plants!
I told you mine was 17 years old.
I also have a 10 years old one.
They’ve probably been repotted in larger pots once! (That also tells you how slow growing they are!).
Well, that’s nothing! You’ll be amazed to know that in Mexico there are registered Ponytail Palms that are 350 years old!!
These plants outer and oldest curly, long leaves can yellow and dry out over time. It’s normal!
You can simply pull those outer leaves off!
I also like to trim those yellow or brown tips every once in a while. Ponytail Palm leaves can become really long and inevitably, their tips will yellow or crisp. I simply move my plant to the kitchen counter every three months and give all the tips a trim!
Finally, there could be pests!!
My 17 years old Ponytail Palm never had an issue, but unfortunately, I never noticed that when I took my 10 years old one home from the nursery it came with mealybugs!!!
I defeated them right away using a common insecticidal soap.
Fast forward 10 years, I just found some spider mites in that same 10 years old one!!!
I am treating it with the same insecticidal soap!
Pests in Ponytail Palms are tricky because they hide really well inside their clumps of leaves, especially, where the leaves are overlapped before separating and arching out!!
I am not saying that Ponytail Palms are prone to pests! I had one for 17 years without a single issue and one with two different pests. (You need to keep in mind I have over 100 plant in our home…it’s hard to avoid bugs!!!).
The Ponytail Palm is an amazing houseplant to have!
It gives so much to a space for very little in return!
A no brainer if you ask me!!!
Hey Midlife Mom!
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