Growing Ponytail Palm Houseplants: Watering, Lighting, Repotting, and Pests
The Almanac Garden Planner - Use It Free for 7 Days!
Plan your 2025 garden with our award-winning Garden Planner.
ADVERTISEMENT
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” tall. Now she’s 3-4’ and potted on my lanai. For the last 6 months it’s 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 “ home remedies” to no avail. It just keeps returning. Then I bought Garden Safe Fungicide3. It covers fungicide, insecticide and míticide. Still it keeps returning. What’s 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’s 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.
My pony tail is putting out branches, or clamps of leaves, several places along the main stalk, should these be pruned off?
It depends on what you’re looking for in your plant! If you want it to grow as tall as possible with only one central stem, trim off the offshoots so that the plant focuses its growth upward. If you’d prefer that your plant be a little bushier, leave the offshoots alone. Offshoots can add interest, but a tall, single-stemmed ponytail palm is also quite a sight. The plant will do fine with or without the offshoots, so it’s up you!
I am trying to keep the plant in more sunlight and water less, but the brown tipped leaves are getting worse. Should you remove these and if so how?
If your plant’s leaves continue to turn brown at the tips, you may actually need to water a more. If the plant is in intense sun for most of the day, it will dry out fairly quickly. Test the soil and water when the top inch or so of soil is dry. This could be once a week, twice a week, or more. When you do water, water deeply.
As for the brown tips, they can be cut off if you prefer a cleaner look, though the leaf tips won’t grow back.
Hi there,
I have a poneytail palm that is about 9 years old- it was given to me as a gift when my grandfather passed away. It was in a small clay bowl with a hole at the bottom. I just repotted it, as it definitely had outgrown the bowl. There was hardly any dirt in there when I took it out- it was also topped with stones that I would just water over once a week. I repotted it to a larger pot that does have holes at the bottom with regular potting soil and used some fertilizer too (I reported it after reading this info). I then put that pot into an even larger decrotive pot that does not have holes in it. The pot with holes fits pretty snug into the pot with no holes, the pot inside is a plastic pot, and the decrotive one is clay. I used to water it once a week- when I repotted I gave it about 4 times as much water as I typically do, since there is now so much dirt in there and thought I’d wait awhile to water again.
This was about two weeks ago, and today the underneath leaves are starting to yellow. This has happened in the past before also. But now I am worried since I changed the pot. Any advice I would greatly appreciate!
Yellowing leaves can be caused by over- or underwatering; to know for sure, you’ll have to check the soil and see if it feels wet or dry.
Our guess would be that the plant has gotten too much water—the potting soil and plastic pot hold in more moisture than the plant has been accustomed to. For now, take the plastic pot out of the clay pot and check the bottom of the plastic pot. Is the soil at the bottom still moist? If so, let the plant dry out outside of the clay pot. Also note that if the plastic pot is too snug in the clay pot, there will be nowhere for excess moisture to evaporate to.
If it seems like the plastic pot is holding too much moisture, you may want to consider repotting the plant again. Ideally, use a clay pot with a hole in the bottom, as well as a succulent soil mix (or a 1:1:1 mix of perlite, potting soil, and coarse sand). When you repot, don’t water for about a week in order to encourage the plant to put out new roots.
Thank you for the advice and info! I did repot the plant a couple of days ago. I took the little pot out and had my husband drill holes in the clay pot. I added a layer of rocks so they do not get clogged, then repotted the plant with succulent soil. It is still a little yellow, but the soil is completely dry at each level. I checked with a hydrometer. I will wait at least a week to give it anymore water, hopefully that will spruce it up! Thank you again for the advice!
My mom gave me her ponytail palm. She is now deceased and this palm means so much to me. My mother grew this from a baby. It ij s now at least 30 years old and stands 6ft high. It is potted and I bring it outside here in NY for the warmer months. I noticed that I have lost many leaves this past winter. What is the best thing to do to get new leaves to grow back? It looks very odd with such a small amount of leaves on top of a 6ft high trunk.
Thanks for your help.