Leslie - these grow very well in the ground down here. Unless you like the look of the pots, need pots since there is no other way to plant it, or you want some control over the size, you may want to check for any problems you would have if it is in the ground. Here are a few in my neighborhood just to give you an idea of how it may look. The bottom of the plant needs room to grow.

By the front entry to the house -

On an island out front -

And this big boy -

And since I don't grow this plant, I'll defer to others on your potting mix. =)

They are STUNNING in the ground!!! We need something on both sides of our front door, and we found some gorgeous pots. Now we're trying to figure out what to put in them. So, the pots came first, plants second, mainly because the size of the pots were dictated by the space in that vestibule area.

I thought you might be limited by the space where you want the plants. But I wanted to be sure you knew they do nicely in the ground. Did you search this c&s forum? I seem to remember a few discussions about potting and repotting ponytail palms, Beaucarnea recurvata.

Dracaenas do very well in pots here & have a similar form, but do not need as much foot space. They come in colorful variegated forms as well. I have 2 in my shady front yard - 1 by the front door & 1 by the driveway - that have been there for years now & have yet to outgrow their pots.

Thanks, Carol... off to research Dracaenas!

Good suggestion, Carol! I have 2 in my foyer area. I have a tall Dracaena marginata that I just had to prune back. It is branching already and I am trying to propagate the stem.

I also have Dracaena 'colorama' (I think). (and darn it all, I just found mealies when I went out to take this picture!) This is an alcove off of the foyer and it does have a skylight near the back. This plant has propagated from cuttings easily. It is easily 20-25 years old.

They are easy to propagate, IMPE. The one I have by my front door was a branch rescued from a curbside brush pile. I just put it in water until it rooted, then potted it up.

They might be too tall for the area I have, and without the big base of a ponytail, might look too thin. I would still like to do a ponytail, but welcome advise on what soil mix to use. I know that layering is typically frowned upon, but in such a tall pot, I think it's a waste to use good gritty mix throughout, plus would love to save some weight if at all possible and/or recommended.

Leslie, I'm going to be repotting my beaucarnea in the next few days. It's about 35 years old, has been in it's present pot for 15 years, and is growing in ordinary potting soil. This time I'm using Sunshine cactus and succulent mix which is sort of gritty mixish. Most of the weight is in the caudex so you don't have to worry about top heaviness, I wouldn't do the rocks.

Ah - I remember your tree! Still lovely!

Wow -- that tree is absolutely amazing. Good luck with the repotting! So you would recommend filling the entire 27" pot with a good-draining C&S soil?

It's important to know that what sets PTPs apart from many other plants isn't so much what they like as it is what they'll tolerate. They'll tolerate completely dry conditions for extended intervals and being root-bound in the extreme; but what they tolerate is often mistaken for what they like. They LIKE the same conditions as most other succulents - a soil you can keep damp, never wet or soggy, and room in the soil for roots to run. If it was my plant, I'd make sure it was going in a mix comprised of particles all larger than 1/10", and I'd use pine or fir bark as a small organic fraction of the mix (1/3 or less). This will ensure the soil can't collapse and there will be no accumulation of fine organic material at the bottom of the pot as an already small organic fraction breaks down. Particles larger than 1/10" also ensures the soil won't hold water between soil particles except at the interface where the particles contact each other. In this type of soil, it should be very easy to keep your plant very happy.

If you decide to use something like a cactus soil from a bag, you can do yourself and the plant a significant favor by using ballast in the bottom of the pot to take up space that would otherwise be occupied by saturated soil. In order for ballast to work for you instead of against you, you need to retain a continuous soil column between the main body of soil and the pot bottom.

Al

Brilliant explanations, Al. I have 3/16" pumice on the way to me and can get pine bark and chomp it down to the advised size. Would you do 1/3 (or less) of the bark and the rest pumice, or for weight-savings, could I do 1/3 bark, 1/3 pumice, and 1/3 perlite? Would I need any grit? The place where they're going can get very hot - the pots will be warm, if that makes a difference in the blend.

For some reason, a % of growers think grit or other mineral products automatically increase root or soil temps. Fact is, many professional growers use light colored Gran-I-Grit on top of the soil to increase reflectivity so the underside of leaves get more light, and to keep soils cooler. Keep in mind that any light that's reflected won''t be turned into heat. Dark soils absorb light and turn it to heat. Also, the additional gas exchange inherent in using large particles in your soil increase evaporative cooling, which brings temps down, another plus during summer hot spells.

I like a basic 1:1:1 ratio of screened bark, screened Turface, and screened grit./ For more or less water retention, one can vary the ratio of grit to Turface and leave the bark at 1/3 of the mix.

4 Turface

3 bark

2 grit

is more water-retentive, while

4 grit

3 bark

2 Turface

is less water-retentive. What ingredients you use aren't particularly important other than some consideration should be given to appropriate water and nutrient retention.

Al

Thanks, Al. I might use pumice and Turface together since I have some already ordered. I appreciate the explanation and especially the PWT drawings. Makes a lot of sense to me. Could I still use perlite on top of the ballast bricks just to save weight and gritty-mix ingredients?

Yes, but I'd look for coarse perlite and make sure you use some sort of ballast.

Al

Perfect. I will find the coarsest perlite and bricks. I have to "weigh" the consequences of making the pots too heavy to ever move, but heavy enough that no one tries to steal them.

You can use materials for ballast other than bricks. Plastic milk jugs or soda bottles - empty water bottles, plastic eggs or plastic childrens' blocks, ........

Al

Ha! I love the idea of hiding plastic eggs in there! :) A surprise for when I repot it! With the way my memory has gotten lately, I will completely surprise myself with that.

So true...

Be sure to put lovely notes inside the eggs!

Eggs? Who said anything about eggs?

Al

If you want to keep them a relative size under your porch, then put it in a small pot and don't water them very often at all. What Al said is true, ponytails are like all other succulent caudiciforms, but that may not be what you want for it to outgrow your intended environment. You can keep a perfectly healthy set of ponytail palms as ornaments by stunting their growth keeping them root-bound in pots just bigger than their caudex size in well draining, sand/bark/coir medium with no worries. The foliage won't be as robust or green, but they will survive and stay the same standard size and look for years. I would also agree with a ballast material. I grew mine with lava rocks on the bottom and a mix of sand, pine bark, coconut coir, and slow release palm fertilizer mix under my front porch for years, watering rarely in SW Florida. It got enough water from rain to not have to worry about it ever.

I am sure Al knows a lot more about these plants than me, but you can grow them in somewhat adverse conditions to accomplish your goal and neglect them and they will still tolerate it.

In all my years of growing these wonderful plants, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that they don't grow very fast at all. I don't try to hinder their growth whatsoever. In fact, I give them everything that they want; direct sunlight from sunrise until sunset, frequent waterings, and adequate sized pots that don't restrict their root growth. Even then, they don't necessarily grow substantial root systems. My ponytails grow new leaves every year, but they are nowhere near close to outgrowing themselves. I wish they did grow faster, because I'd love having them being as large as davez7anv's beauty. But that won't happen anytime soon.

I keep two smaller ones out in my front yard, on either side of my driveway. I have tended to them more often than my slightly older one that I keep in my backyard. It pretty much got ignored all year long. I didn't even bother watering it at all. It only received whatever rain that fell on it. Well, I finally brought it back inside tonight to give it a real good watering, and I couldn't believe how much it has grown since I first placed it outside back in spring. It's still not too big, but it's definitely much bigger than I realized. I just thought it was funny how it has grown much more than the two younger ones that I've actually been taking care of. Perhaps next year I'll just ignore all of them when they go back outside in the spring. I haven't officially brought them back inside just yet. That won't happen until it the temperature gets too cold for them. What's funny it that I pretty much ignore them all winter long, when they're indoors. They don't sit close to any windows, so they dont get very much natural light. And I keep them on the dry side, only watering them perhaps once a month.

These plants almost seem like they thrive on neglect. They sit in my yard and bake in this scorching summer heat, under direct summer sun, with the occasional thunderstorm, and their only response is to just send out more leaves. Or to grow the leaves it already has much longer.

I remember back when I first started growing them. I gave them too much care and attention, only to end up killing them with kindness. But that was a long long time ago, back when I didn't know any better, haha.

I'm now wondering it if would be best to grow them in a pot-within-a-pot. Not sure where to find a square 16" pot, but I'll try.

What makes you wonder if that might be the best choice?

Al

Well, the pots are 27" tall. So if I kept the plants in a shorter pot inside, then they'll use less gritty mix and can be kept slightly more rootbound. And I feel (probably incorrectly) that I'll be better able to control their water intake in a smaller pot.

Leslie, can you show us a picture of the pots? It probably won't change any advice given, but I'm nosy. LOL

I used lava rock in the bottom third of a concrete pot last year. The whole time I was telling myself that rocks in the bottom are useless. But I needed to lighten the weight some so I could at least drag it into an alcove in case of hurricane.

I like the idea of using ballast and I will do that in the future.

27" tall, 16"x 16"

Those are very nice-no one has asked how large your plants are. Unless they are already good sized most of that lower space will be wasted. An inverted pot with a smaller pot on top might be a good idea since you were planning on filling the bottom with a space taker anyway.

Cooler weather here tomorrow so it's replant day for me-will post some pics.

Nice pot(s)! Those will look great flanking your front door.

I'll post pics of the completed project. Soon!!!

I'm back. Finally found nice-sized ponytails. My current thinking is to get 15-gallon fabric square planter bags to use so they look nice in the square topped pots. By using the bags, I'll be able to remove the plants in the future if need be, even if just necessary to move them around. I like the fabric because it will allow more ventilation than a plastic pot. Still going to use ballast and coarse perlite in the bottoms to maintain balance but not too much weight.

Fabric planter bags

Fascinating, I just looked at the fabric bags & while they appear interesting, I wish to point out several things.

Copied from the product website verbatim:

"Made from custom black non-woven polypropylene material,
environmental and BPA-free."

Non woven means just that, not woven, so you won't see any threads, felted like old style mens hats, those are felt & yes breathable.

However, polypropylene is a primary petroleum product.

Somewhere the site suggests the bags are eco friendly & I can't quite go along w/ that. While some of the reviews suggest the fabric's well made & the bags re-useable multiple times, I still feel its important to know it's a pure synthetic. I understand that it has to be, so it won't rot.

But I don't know that I'd want to eat food grown in them; some petrochemicals can leach.

I studied textiles & possess a B.S. in Textile Design, Technology & Manufacturing. (lots of chemistry too).

I don't think there's anything edible from a ponytail palm. :)

Leslie, try telling my cat that, HaHa... If it were up to her, all of the leaves would be "pruned" down into little stubs. I have to keep them up out of reach or else she would go bonkers over them and they wouldn't stand a chance.

Photo Synthesis I was thinking the same thing when I read Leslie's comment. My cat loves to make my ponytail palm a snack. All the ends are munched on;). I'm always trying to stop her, but it's usually a waste of my time. She always go back to her beloved snack.

You know -- what's kinda funny is that I forgot about my first ponytail, years and years ago. My cat nibbled it down to the crown, and just when I was about to toss it, two little shoots came up from the side. My ponytail palm became a pigtail palm. :)

Just caught a certain cat getting her daily snack;)

Adorable! Maybe I need another cat to keep the end of mine tidied up!