Indoor Ponytail palm tree Care and Maintenance

Mar 30, 2022by Urban Plants

In recent years, the ponytail palm tree succulent has become a popular houseplant, and it is easy to see why. Its sleek bulb-like trunk, long curly leaves make it visually stunning, and the fact that a ponytail plant is forgiving and easy in its care makes this an ideal houseplant for many people.

Ponytail Palm Tree Information

Oddly enough, a ponytail palm tree is not a tree. Ponytail palm is a member of the Agave family and is actually a category of succulent. Other common names for this ponytail plant include the bottle palm tree or the elephant foot tree. In the past, it has been classified as either Nolina plant recurvata or Beaucarnea recurvata, but the latter is now the correct classification of this ponytail plant.

The common characteristics of this ponytail plant include a bulbous trunk, which is used to store water, and its long, hair-like leaves that grow from the top of the trunk like a ponytail plant, giving the plant its renowned name.

Gardening Ponytail Palms

Ponytail-palms

Growing ponytail plants in the home is easy. Technically, a ponytail palm tree needs bright sunlight, but because it is such a forgiving plant, it will be okay if you give it bright light about half the time. If you keep it in low sunlight conditions half the year and provide bright sunlight conditions the other half the year, it will be perfect. This means that as long as you place it outdoors in the summer, it will tolerate any indoor sunlight conditions you keep it in during the winter.

Since this ponytail plant is succulent, it grows best in semi-dry conditions. When growing ponytail palm as an indoor plant, you should let the soil dry out significantly in between waterings.

Ponytail Palm Tree Care

The care instructions for ponytail palm are relatively minimum. Because ponytail palm care needs dry soil, it is best to let them get root bound before repotting. When you are repotting them, use a pot that is only an inch or two about 3 to 5 cm wider than the previous pot. If you repot them into a larger pot, they can get too high moisture content at once, which can damage their growth and health.

Ponytail palm trees only need to be fertilized two or three times per year. Any more than this and the ponytail plant may develop brown tips on the leaves.

Ponytail palm tree care is very easy, and growing ponytail palms as an indoor plant is a great way to add a stunning and visually interesting plant to almost any room.