Ponytail palms can be pruned at any time of the year, but spring through early fall is the best time to do so. To prune the plant’s top-level leaves, use tidy, razor-sharp bonsai shears. The foliage will be forced to grow downward and resemble a ponytail as a result.
Eliminate any wilted or brown damaged leaves. To avoid taking too much of the plant away, make sure you are seated at eye level with the plant and take frequent breaks to monitor your work.
After clipping ponytail palms, if cuts start to seem frayed or brown, you can use pruning paint. The healing of your ponytail bonsai palms will be aided by this.
How is a ponytail palm that has grown out cut?
On the other hand, pruning typically refers to the removal of woody and base elements with the intention of revitalizing or restoring the plant.
The leaves of a ponytail palm are vulnerable to damage and can have a brown or black tip.
To restore the plant’s visual appeal, this is simple to cut away. Trim just the discolored portions of the leaves using a pair of sharp shears or yard snips.
I would advise against pruning any leaves that are very healthy and vibrant because excessive clipping can result in more damage.
Before pruning the green leaves, wait until you identify the cause of some of the leaves becoming brown at the tips and take the necessary action to fix it.
Brown tips are typically an indication of too much fertilizer or water. Browning of the tips can also be brought on by sunlight.
Once the problem has been resolved, cut the brown ends in long, concave strokes to prevent the ends from appearing square. You can start trimming your plant to shape it once it is lovely and healthy again.
It is simple to manage the plant’s growth so that it takes on the shape of a ponytail.
Should I trim my ponytail palm’s brown tips?
Let’s tidy up your plant first. This enables the plant to focus its efforts on encouraging healthy new development.
- Use a pair of sharp scissors or pruning shears to cut off the affected area or the entire brown frond (they won’t turn green again).
- Between each cut, use rubbing alcohol to clean the scissors’ blades.
- Because you never want to remove more than 20% of the problematic leaves at once, you might need to trim your plant in stages to avoid shocking it. Let’s now restore the health of your Ponytail Palm.
Although your Ponytail Palm can withstand droughts well, you shouldn’t ignore it entirely. Make sure your plant is not being overwatered or overgrown. Water on a regular basis, only when the soil feels fully dry.
The leaves of your Ponytail Palm may get limp, droop, and potentially even begin to brown and curl if the soil is unintentionally left entirely dry for an extended period of time. The trunk could also start to droop and wrinkle. A thorough soak is required if the soil is completely dry throughout the pot and there are indications of severe underwatering.
How to soak-water your ponytail palm is as follows:
- Without the saucer, put your plant in the sink or bathtub. Pour roughly 3 to 4 cups of water into your basin. Check to see if the water is warm.
- Give your plant at least 45 minutes to absorb water through the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot.
- After giving your plant a soak, feel the soil’s top to see if the water has gotten to the top 2-3 inches.
- Water your Ponytail Palm softly from the top of the soil to assist hasten soil saturation if not all of it feels soaked.
- Drain the sink or tub once the soil of your plant is evenly moist, and then leave it to rest while it completely drains. Put the plant back in its proper place on the saucer.
Sharpness of ponytail palm leaves
The common ponytail palm, B. recurvata, has leaves that appear smooth, but closer inspection reveals sharp teeth (right). These are small, gentle, and forgiving whereas other species’ leaf edges can pierce the skin if handled carelessly. The leaves are long and strap- or grass-like and evergreen.
Can you cut the palm leaves off at the ends?
You may easily remove the dead ends of the fronds with a good set of pruning scissors while leaving the healthy, green portion of the leaves in place.
How are palm leaves trimmed?
Finally, the moment has come to trim your palm tree. To prune the damaged and dead leaves first, safely climb up to reach them. Be very cautious because it could harm the health of your palm tree to unintentionally remove any healthy fronds.
Concentrate your cuts on the palm fronds that may be seen on your tree’s lower half. In this manner, you can avoid unintentionally employing the hurricane technique.
Under the healthy fronds are the mature fronds, which are the ones that are most likely to be dying. So it makes sense to start at the bottom. Cut only damaged and dead fronds as you proceed gently.
Make sure not to cut too close to the tree trunk when you are trimming the fronds. At least 2 inches should separate your cut from the trunk.
The fronds that are wilting or facing down are what you should pay close attention to. Your palm tree will become more vulnerable if you remove fronds that are growing at an acute angle.
Never, ever remove the crown of your palm tree. The leaves that are visible at the top are these. Your tree will perish if you do this.
How do you maintain a ponytail palm?
Ponytail palms are an eye-catching indoor plant with a long lifespan that benefits from mild neglect. As long as you don’t overwater them, they are quite simple to grow. Here’s information on how to grow and maintain a ponytail palm at home.
About Ponytail Palms
The ponytail palm is not a true palm despite its name and palm-like appearance “palm. Actually, it has more in common with desert plants of the Agave and Yucca genera (such as Joshua trees).
Ponytail palms typically have a big, domed “tapers off into a thinner stem from the stump. As the plant becomes older, one or more rosettes of lengthy, green, leathery leaves emerge from the top of the stem. The leaves can grow up to three feet long indoors, but they may be double that length outside.
The entire plant has been observed to grow up to 30 feet tall in its natural habitat (eastern Mexico). Ponytail palms, on the other hand, rarely grow taller than 10 feet when grown in gardens as landscape plants. They rarely grow taller than 4 feet when kept indoors.
The most frequent challenge in caring for this plant is needing to change your watering routine to meet its watering requirements!
Choosing Soil and a Pot
- Use a soil that quickly drains, such as cactus and succulent potting soil. You can make your own desert soil mix if you already have potting soil, sand, and perlite on hand: Simply combine 1 part perlite, 1 part sand, and 1 part potting soil.
- Choose a pot with a hole in the bottom so that any extra water may drain. Ponytail palms do not enjoy spending a lot of time in wet soil.
- If at all feasible, use a clay pot; the porous material will absorb part of the water, speeding up the soil’s drying process (a good thing for cacti and succulents).
How to Care for Ponytail Palms
- Place the plant in a bright area as ponytail palms want to get as much light as possible. The optimum light is direct, bright light.
- Dry out the soil somewhat. Water your garden from spring to fall, waiting until the top inch or two of soil is fully dry before watering again. Only sporadically water in the winter.
- Water the soil by soaking it, then let the extra water drain into a dish via the pot’s bottom. After letting the pot rest in the dish for a while, drain any residual water.
- For the summer, move the plant into a room with more light after fertilizing in the spring with a cactus/succulent fertilizer.
- For the majority of the year, keeping the plant at room temperature is good, but in the winter (50-55F / 10-13C), keep it a little cooler to mimic the natural dormancy cycle.
- Avoid placing the plant too close to cold windows at night during the winter months since freezing temperatures can cause serious damage.
Repotting a Ponytail Palm
- Ponytail palms may be kept in a little pot and will stay that size. They don’t usually need to be repotted for many years. A ponytail palm only requires repotting every other year at most.
- The plant can expand its height and girth by being moved to a larger pot. However, if elder plants are not kept on the smaller scale, they may become difficult to manage because of their sheer bulk and weight.
- Pick a pot that is big enough to give the ponytail palm’s trunk about an inch or two of room between it and the rim when choosing a new one.
- Be careful when handling a ponytail palm since the edges of its leaves are minutely serrated.
Propagation
- Rarely, a ponytail palm will create an offset, a little young plant that grows from the main plant’s base. When they grow to a minimum height of 4 inches, these can be pruned at the base and put in a succulent potting soil. To encourage the offset to root, use a small amount of rooting hormone (available online and in nurseries) once the cut incision has healed before planting.
- The plant’s peculiar form and coloring have earned it the odd moniker “elephant’s foot palm.”
- Stem rot can be caused by overwatering. Withholding watering may allow the plant to address the issue on its own. Yellowing leaves and a soft or squishy caudex (the plant’s base and stem) are indicators of stem rot.
- Spider mites are present on the leaves, but they can be removed by wiping the stems with a cloth dampened with dish detergent and water. Spider-like webbing on the plant is a sign that there are spider mites present.
- The appearance of brown tips on leaves may indicate overfertilization or underwatering; therefore, modify your husbandry techniques as necessary. They might also indicate that the plant is receiving too little water and too much direct sunlight.
What does a ponytail palm that is overwatered look like?
- Often, over or underwatering causes this. Insufficient water causes the leaves to turn brown and brittle, while too much water can result in brown tips with noticeable yellowing. With a fresh pair of sheers, trim the leaves and then assess the soil to determine the appropriate watering schedule.
- Most likely not! Simply said, these plants grow extremely slowly. There is nothing to be concerned about as long as your plant appears to be in good health.
- The first symptom of overwatering is the yellowing of the leaf tips. If this occurs, stop watering the plant until the soil is completely dry and then cut back on the amount of water you give it. Other symptoms of overwatering include drooping leaves and a soft, squishy base to the plant.
- Fertilizing indoor plants from spring through fall generally results in their thriving. Use an organic houseplant fertilizer once a month, dilution and application instructions on the container. In order to ensure that your plant doesn’t require fertilizer within the first six months of receiving it, Greenery NYC employs an organic potting mix with a slow release fertilizer in the soil.
- We advise repotting smaller desktop plants every 12 to 18 months. In order to allow for growth, you need often use a potting vessel with a diameter that is 1- 2 bigger. Selecting a pot that is significantly larger than the previous one could drown the plant’s roots. Repot your plant into the same container, add additional soil, and remove some roots and foliage if you’d like to keep it at its current size. Repotting should be done in the spring or summer when the plant is at its healthiest.
How does a ponytail palm look as it ages?
Overwatering is the most frequent reason for Ponytail Palm death. The leaves turn yellow and the base feels mushy, which are signs of root and stem rot. A trunk that is dehydrated will be limp and have leaves with brown tips. Ponytail Palms can die off prematurely due to improper soil conditions, an overabundance of fertilizer, or even the inappropriate pot size.
Shrunken bulbs
A full, firm bulb will be present at the base of a well-watered ponytail palm. A base that has been submerged, however, will be wrinkled, deflated, and shriveled. This indicates that the water reserve of the plant has run low.
Limp, droopy leaves
Ponytail palms that have been submerged will have withered and drooping foliage. The change may not be immediately noticeable because the leaves of these plants are naturally recurved, which means the leaf border turns downward. However, you will notice the leaves are quite limp and are hanging lower than usual.
Crispy or brown leaf tips
Browning foliage with the darkening beginning at the tips is another telltale symptom of a ponytail palm that has been submerged. The edges of the leaf blades will be curling and they will be dry and crispy.
Dry soil
Put your fingertips into the soil’s surface to conduct the finger test. Water your plant well if the top two to three inches are entirely dry. Wait approximately a week before checking the soil again if it’s damp.
How can I accentuate the thickness of my ponytail palm?
Ponytail plants can produce more heads if they are pruned when they are under 6 inches (15 cm) tall. Only very young plants can benefit from it, and to encourage growth, the main trunk should be chopped in a slightly curved shape.
To keep the cut from rotting, keep the plant in a dry area with little humidity. The plant will produce a sprout after it calluses, and then it will eventually produce leaves to create another cap of greenery. This method is frequently used by growers to produce two- and three-headed plants for larger ponytail palms with more appeal.