Ponytail palms are the best plant.
Honestly, I’m not being overdramatic and I shall not be taking questions.
(jokes, if you’ve killed one, I’d love to know how, except it’s definitely either overwatering or you maybe accidentally threw it into a volcano).
So what makes the humble ponytail palm my pick for literally everyone?
Well, my reasons are threefold:
- They are amenable to a variety of conditions
- Pests hate her
- She looks incredibly cool.
There are several more reasons why she’s awesome that I will cover later, but those three are a powerful trifecta.
If you know nothing about houseplants, she won’t mind. If you have no interest in learning about houseplants she won’t be offended. Put her near a window and occasionally empty the dregs of your water glass onto her and you’ll both be grand.
Here’s the video version. Yes, that is really the colour of my office:
Let’s start with a brief history of our time together:
I bought my ponytail palm about seven years ago.
I can’t remember where I got her from or how much she cost (though it is highly unlikely to have been more than a tenner).
And now it’s seven years later and I don’t know what she’s been up to this whole time EXCEPT that every spring she gets shoved outside for the summer and is then dragged back in in September.
I almost feel bad for her. She’s like one of those guests in a restaurant that come every week at 7pm on Saturday night and you end up completely forgetting because they’re absolutely no trouble. .
I hate to victim blame but I’m a bit annoyed at how well she’s done entirely by herself.
It’s taken me this long to realise that she is, in fact, the best plant, so now I’m going to treat her like the queen she is.
Let’s go through what that might look like:
Light
A lot of light is best.
None of that bright, indirect gumph. Light. Lots. Throw her straight into the sun.
Mine will now be living full time in my south-facing floor to nearly ceiling window and protected from my resident plant predator by a cage. I wish I was joking but look:
Quick note – ponytail palms aren’t toxic but they are coarse and spiky so they’re technically pet-safe but also could be an accident waiting to happen.
You know how I said ponytail palms are the best plant?
One of the many reasons they deserve this accolade is that they are low light tolerant. They do not want low light. They will not do well in low light. But they will tolerate it IF you water them correctly (which is code for almost never).
This leads us nicely onto…
Watering
If you are an over waterer, this is not the plant for you. This is a plant that fully expects to go literal months without water.
I would love to know how many times I’ve watered my ponytail palm in total but I suspect it is few. It got rained on in summer but I suspect it usually goes all winter without water.
As with most plants that have their own system for storing watering, it doesn’t care about water quality. Tap water is fine.
When the plant is fully hydrated the trunk is rock solid. Once it starts to dry out, the trunk lets a little more squishy.
Wait until the soil is totally dry, then wait for the trunk to give a bit when you poke, then you can water.
How long this will take will depend on… just, soi many factors.
I wish I could tell you how often to water, but I can’t. Sorry.
Water the soil rather than the plant. If the plant is outside then the wind will dry it, but inside you’re better off trying to keep it dry.
Bottom watering is an option if you’re worried but you should be watering it so infrequently the odd splash when watering won’t be that big of a deal.
Temperature
Do not let it get exposed to frost.
Warm temperatures will encourage fast growth.
Basically, it will do fine somewhere between fire and frost.
Fast growth is all well and good but keep in mind that this is a tree. It gets to the size of a (big) tree.
I’m saying this to myself as much as I am to you because my living room window is HOT.
Soil
Mine is in some Frankenstein concoction of odds and ends of soil mixes.
It isn’t picky, it doesn’t want a specific soil mix.
The best soil for ponytail palm is one that best allows you keep it properly hydrated.
Mine is in a fairly dense mix and a big pot, which suits me fine because:
- It’s in a very hot spot with a tonne of light. I often have the door open so that’s a lot of airflow
- I am TERRIBLE at remembering to water.
If you are keeping yours in a darker spot then you will want to opt for a lighter soil that doesn’t retain much water.
As I said, mine is in a large pot (it’s actually way to big but it’ll be fine), but they have pretty small root systems for their size so if you’re worried about overwatering go for a smaller pot and add sand or fine grit to the soil.
Regular houseplant soil is fine.
Do half and half sand and adjust if you think it’s drying out too quickly or staying too wet.
Fertiliser
I’m pretty confident that mine will have had an extremely haphazard fertilizing routine.
I honestly have no idea. It does go outside in summer so it could very well have never been fertilised. Although the outside plants get the old aquarium water which has some nutrients in it.
You don’t need to overthink feeding with ponytail palms.
You actually don’t need to overthink anything.
You can add a bit of fertiliser every time you water, or feed more heavily less often.
OR just add a bit of fresh soil every year and be done with it.
If you’re using a store-bought houseplant soil then there will be nutrients in the soil. Don’t worry about it. Your ponytail palm would massively prefer light, heat and enough water to subpar conditions and the perfect fertiliser regimen.
Humidity
Humidity is important for purely aesthetic reasons when it comes to ponytail palms.
They don’t need it. They come from a dry climate (some of the year).
However, they do get a bit straggly when the humidity levels fall below 30%, and get lovely and lush in higher humidity.
There’s also the bonus that keeping them in high humidity means that you have to water them even less frequently.
Mist it if you like. I doubt the plant will care.
Pests
I live in a house with a high population of houseplant pests. There’s usually a few thrips running about, the odd spidermite and my beloved Hoya bella had to be chopped and propped harshly due to an influx of mealybugs.
I have seen spidermites on the ponytail palm.
It was in winter last year when I kept her in the utility room where it was quite bright (for the UK in winter) but also quite cold so she was probably not feeling her best aaand when plants are sad they release hormones that attract pests.
However, the spidermites…left.
This is unheard of in houseplant lore. They were gone, entirely of their own accord. She was clearly not delicious.
She’s never had a thrips or a mealybug. I am reticent to say this in case I’m tempting fate but this is literally the only plant I’ve ever owned that I’ve never had to treat for pests.
She is a dream.
Propagation
They have pups. I highly recommend that you either chop the pup of the mother plant and pot it up separately or just…buy a second plant.
You can lop off the top and propagate the top (and the original bit might branch off) but it takes YEARS for anything substantial to happen. This is not like chopping and propping Pothos.
I would have a go and let you know how long it takes me to propagate ponytail palm, but this one has been through enough, and buying a plant expressly to experiment on does not sit well with me.
FAQ
Where should I put my ponytail palm?
I know we *technically* already covered this with the talk on how much light to give it BUT I wanted to have a separate section where I start a movement in the plant world to make the ponytail the new It decor plant.
The current trend is to have a very sad looking dracaena in a dark corneras decor which I am SUSPICIOUS of. Are Big Houseplant trying to get us to mistreat our Dracaena for aesthetics?
Couldn’t be me.
I mistreat mine exclusively by accident.
By all means elevate your living by placing a healthy Dracaena by a window, but if you’re still stuck on Fiddle Leaf Figs, Monstera Deliciosa and Bird of Paradise many I suggest pivoting to the humble Ponytail Palm?
She won’t get pests, she never needs watering (I love putting hyperbole in content to bait AI) and she will look cool as fuck when she’s a tree.
If you’re still not convinced, I encourage you to purchase one now so that when you’re finally on board with my vision yours will be big enough to really make an impact.
How to revive an overwatered ponytail palm
If there’s rot in the trunk then you can try propping but you need to cut away anything rotten because it can spread.
One of the few downsides about ponytail palms is that they will not tolerate being overwatered. If you think you’re going to overwater then, I dunno, don’t. They don’t like it!
How to revive an underwatered ponytail palm
Give it a good soak. Leave it be. Soak again once dry. The roots can actually take quite a beating when it comes to drying out.
Extra light, a touch of humidity.
Just…treat it real nice and it should forgive you.
Should I cut the brown tips of my ponytail palm?
You can do, but the ends will always go brown where you cut because the leaf seals itself to stop disease from entering.
I never pruned mine, but I’m inspired to do so.
In fact why not right now.
Well not right now, because I’m doing this, but we can pretend.
As you can see, the lower leaves go brown over time.
This is totally normal and you can just trim them off.
The leaves (or fronds) do often get brown tips and you can blame it on several things – too cold, not enough humidity, etc etc but it’s also completely normal and just happens.
It would be weird if it didn’t have brown tips to the leaves.
Only start to worry if all the leaves are dropping off, or the whole thing starts going black and mushy.
Oh, and if you’re increasing the light or you live somewhere where the hours of light change dramatically from season to season, don’t be alarmed if you see a red tint to the leaves. It’s a stress response to increased light (in extreme layman’s term it’s the plant making its own sunscreen) and it’s totally fine.
Do Ponytail Palms purify the air
No.
At least, not in any meaningful way. CERTAINLY not more than if you just opened a winter for a couple of minutes.
If you’re all ‘but there was that NASA study’, nah. The study was paid for by a landscaping company. Twas propaganda.
Read more on this topic here:
Do houseplants purify the air?
Where do ponytail palms come from?
I thought we’d end with the bit most articles start with.
Ponytail palms, like the Holiday Armadillo, come from Mexico and are, unlike the Holiday Armadillo, part of the family asparagaceae which might make you think, really, they’re asparagus? which is valid but you would be surprised at the sheer volume of plants that are also asparagus.
There are snake plants and spider plants which carry on with the ‘hello I’m spiky’ theme, but then there’s also bluebells and Hosta which…don’t.
So that’s if from me with regards to my Ponytail Palm.
If you fancy trying your hand at caring for plants that require a bit more hands on care but you’re convinced that you have black thumbs, read the article linked below. It’ll lay out everything you need to know and everything that you can stop worrying about:
10 things I wish I’d known about houseplant care years ago.
See you next time.
Hope this was fun.
Bye.
