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PonyTail Palm

17 years ago

Hello all. I have a PonyTail Palm that is about 3 years old. At least it has been with me for this amount of time. Recently I saw that it was beginning to become yellowish and the leaves if that is what they are considered would easily fall off by just touching them. As if the tree was dying or rotting. I decided to replant it since it was next to a large palm tree so I thought it was not getting enough water/fertilizer. I replanted into a pot and it has gotten worse. I checked the roots when I replanted and seemed fine. They looked like a spider web around the trunk. If that is normal not sure. Either way, what am I doing wrong? I know they should not be watered much and need sunlight. Bad thing I am in Miami where it constantly rains during the summer. I wanted attached a picture but do not see the feature to import one. Any advise would be great. What fertilizer should I use?

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Comment (1)

lucy
17 years ago
There are instructions as to how to post to the gallery (of this particular forum) on the front page (top or bottom), but you'll have to find it as I don't use it myself. You say you know it doesn't like a lot of water, yet you said you thought it wasn't getting enough water (and I presume you then watered it?), plus you said it rains constantly... which would lead me to believe it's gotten much, much wetter than it ever should (which is why people keep these in the house unless they live in the dry west). Also, repotting in midsummer is a bad thing, though I do understand why you did it. All in all, your tree sounds pretty bad, and I hope you're not emotionally attached to it because I don't think it's going to get a lot better at this point, especially with the fungus or whatever problem it seems to have on top of the rest. It might be a good idea to keep the next one indoors.
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Ha, Well I joined gardenweb in 2012 when I was 13 mostly for stupid pond questions. Then somehow ventured out to this Forum and asked stupid plant questions. I refuse to look at most of my old posts and I feel bad for the people who had to deal with me! Though, I'll probably be saying the same thing down the road. Thus makes me 16. I'd have alot more things and Such if I was 'allowed' to. So I'm pretty limited to the things I 'can' purchase. Instead of a 20 gallon fish tank it would be a 55, my pond wouldn't be 60 gallons but 1,000, I'd probably have alot more plants and I'd have zebra finches. Though free food is nice. Thanks asleep! Looks so sad.
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That is new growth, but it's new growth that occurred without sufficient lighting. Ponytail palms love lots of light. As much sunlight as possible. I grow mine in direct sunlight all throughout spring, summer, and autumn. And when I bring it indoors for the winter, it does just fine in lesser light. When you water it, don't get any water in the crown of the leaves, or it could lead to them rotting. Though, when I have it outdoors, I don't worry about this one bit. Just when I have it indoors. Also, don't trim off the brown tips of the leaves. This tends to happen naturally, and if you cut it away, then the pruned ends will just die back even further. It's best to just leave them as they are. Give you ponytails as much sunlight as possible and those pale centers will green up they way they're supposed to. Unfortunately, those leaves won't perk up, but it will quickly grow newer leaves to cover them up. They need bright, direct sunlight to grow their leaves perky with that graceful curvature to them. Don't worry. Ponytail palms are hardy plants. Just give it some time to recover. :)
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That's after removing it, to show where the stuff was actually at on the plant.
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