It is a ponytail palm. The green mossy stuff on the caudex is the result of being grown in a green house and watered more than it should be.

Thanks for the info! I'm guessing I will need to re-pot into a much grittier mixture then. Do I need to separate these little guys? Any harm in doing so?

It'll be perfectly fine just the way it is until spring. During the wintertime, they dont really need to be watered. Once a month, at most, is all that mine gets. Also, don't get the foliage wet when you do water it, it's entirely unnecessary. I have a small pot of these, too, and they haven't been watered since September or October. I don't remember exactly when it was, but they're doing just as good as my larger specimens. These plants thrive on neglect.

No need to separate them, they'll do just fine growing together as a group. Perhaps after many years, when they're much bigger, then you could plant them in their own pots. All of mine grow in a soil mix for cacti & succulents and they do just fine.

Excellent! I was afraid these would be fussy. Glad to hear they don't need too much babying. Thanks for sharing your experience!

If you want to spend a weekend reading about Beaucarnea recurvata, there is a lot already written on them - just search for 'Ponytail palm' or by its scientific name in the search box above. Bring food.

That the plant is the genetic beneficiary of a stoic nature which allows it to tolerate a good deal of neglect is no reason to believe it thrives on neglect, in spite of how often that suggestion is proffered. Neglect is adversity (otherwise, it wouldn't be neglect), adversity is stressful, and a stressed plant is a plant you're asking to 'thrive' in conditions at or near the limits it's programmed to tolerate. How likely is THAT to happen? No plant prefers a congested root system, but how often to we find advice to the contrary - especially when it comes to PTs. The myth that any given species likes tight roots and PTs thrive on neglect are offspring of the fact that many plants tolerate wet feet poorly. The myth is born when faulty reasoning leads to the conclusion it's better to accept the limitations associated with tight roots and the neglectful practice of allowing the soil to go completely dry for extended periods, than it is to risk the soil remaining wet so long (especially in winter) that roots are at risk of fungal infections gaining a hold. That reasoning is an outgrowth of the erroneous assumption there is actually a dilemma, one of the horns of which you must choose. Do I water and risk root rot, or not water and suffer the limitations associated with that practice? Why limit your plant by accepting there is a dilemma where none really exists? Why not repot the plant in a larger pot and a soil that drains so thoroughly that root issues are removed from the equation? That course eliminates limitations associated with root congestion, and the problems that go along with over-watering AND under-watering; this, because you can water regularly all winter long?

Al

By mentioning that they "thrive on neglect," I wasn't insinuating that someone treat their plant poorly. I was merely pointing out that you can ignore these plants and they will do just fine on their own. Just as long as my ponytail palms are brought in when the weather gets too cold for them outside, I could essentially ignore them all year long and they wouldn't give a rat's ass.

Last year, my second largest ponytail palm had fallen over during a severe thunderstorm and its glazed ceramic pot shattered into pieces. Since then, it has been left bareroot. I tried ordering another pot for it over three times from Amazon, all of which arrived in broken pieces. To keep it propped up, it's been sitting in a metal bucket this whole entire time. The only care it ever got from me was to remove it from the bucket and spill the water out after it rained, before placing it back in there. Other than that, it was pretty much left to bake in the scorching summer sun, where the temperature can easily climb up into the triple digits, and it couldn't care any less. Not only that, but it kept on growing.

Not once will I ever worry about "overwatering" either of them. Back during the summer months, I left my potted ponytail sitting in a bucket of water overnight to prove that, potted correctly, you can't give them too much water whenever you do water them...

As a matter of fact, I think that the previous photo of it sitting in a bucket of water was the last time it was ever watered. Even then, it probably didn't even need it. But I wanted to make sure it had all the water it needed before I moved it into my unheated garage and left it to thrive on my neglect for the duration of the coming winter months.

PS says: "They only need us to step in and intervene whenever their most basic needs can no longer be met in the environments that we grow them in" can be said of every single plant we grow under conventional container culture. Should we ignore them all and expect spectacular results?

PS says: "But as I've stated before in other posts, couldn't care any less what other people believe." That's clear - no argument from this quarter.

All growers innately understand how to ignore a plant w/o need for directions from anyone. They also realize that's generally not the best strategy, which is why they are interested in learning how to help their plants realize as much of the genetic potential Mother Nature blessed them with as they possibly can. If there are growers who don't care how much of their plants potential they sacrifice on the altar of indifference, by all means - ignore repotting at appropriate intervals and pot up (instead of repotting) only after root congestion causes the pot to split; allow the plant to remain completely dry for weeks or months instead of watering on a schedule that ensures the plant suffers no drought stress; ..... might as well forget about fertilizing while in 'ignore mode', too. That will at least establish a baseline basis for comparison, so when they repot (instead of potting up) to alleviate root congestion, water with regularity so the plant remains a stranger to water deficits (no matter how stoically it endures the stress), fertilize with a well considered supplementation plan on a regular basis, they'll be able see the stark contrast between a plant largely left to its own devices, and one that's actually been nurtured.

Al says: What defines our efficacy as growers is nothing more than how proficiently we are able to identify those cultural factors that limit our plants, and how deftly we correct and/or eradicate the limiting factors. That's it. Too, conflating the notion that because a particularly stoic plant tolerates an extra measure of adversity, with, it needs that adversity or the adversity somehow helps the plant to thrive, is extremely illogical, and I'm surprised anyone would spend the effort in defense of the notion.

Al

It seems we are getting off topic here.

Regardless, thanks to those who have shared some valuable information.

I'm new, so thanks for the advice, cactusmcharris. I'll try to check out some of the info you've suggested when I have some time.

I assume one of my first steps is to get it into different soil. Yes? No? It doesn't necessarily need to be the first step, but it is an important step if you want your plant to thrive instead of just survive. If you think about it for a moment, you'll realize you get a sense of satisfaction from nurturing things. The better you become at nurturing, the greater the level of satisfaction.

Very often, the soil your plants are in is the source of serious limitations. If your soil compacts and/or holds too much water, root function and health are impaired, which means your plant is limited in its ability to realize its potential. Root congestion (being root-bound) also limits plants' ability to grow and to function normally; it limits growth and saps a plant's vitality. We see living proof of this when we free a PT from its pot, remove the soil from its roots (I've seen them so rootbound a chisel was required to remove the calcified soil), and repot them into a larger pot and an appropriate soil. Something like this:

As soon as the plant has recovered from the repot, it exhibits what most growers would consider to be a growth spurt; but it's not a growth spurt at all. What you see after repotting a root-bound plant or one suffering the limitations associated with a poor soil is the plant returning to a level of vitality (health) it might have been enjoying all along had the grower not neglected the root maintenance required for this plant to 'thrive' in a container. The effects of root congestion start to take a toll on growth rate and the plant's o/a level of vitality at the approximate point in time when the root/soil mass can be lifted from the soil intact, and progresses in a direct relationship with how congested the roots are allowed to become.

So, you might think about moving toward a soil you won't have to fight for control of your plant's health in early summer - as in somewhere near the summer solstice (or Father's Day, in the N hemisphere). The one it's in now appears to be extremely water retentive and compacted, so you'll need to be extremely careful not to over-water - especially during the winter; whereas, if the plant was in the soil pictured above, the likelihood you would get into over-watering trouble would be only a tiny fraction of what it appears it would be in the soil your plant is presently in.

And is the mossy substance growing on the caudex a bad omen? Any help is greatly appreciated! What happens when you dip a paper towel into a source of water? You can see the water rise up through the paper towel. That's capillary action. The surface of the soil your plant is in is remaining wet for longer than it should. This allows water in the soil to move upward on your plant's caudex and supply a water source that supports the algae or moss that's evident in the picture. While it can't be said with certainty that this evidence is a messenger of ill to come, it is hard evidence you need to be very careful about watering.

There are many cases where someone will tell you to avoid watering all winter, because it's better to have your plant suffer the limitations associated with a water deficit than it is to chance over-watering, which can cause root rot. The better advice is to use a soil that eliminates the potential for root rot and allows you to water, so you're also avoiding drought stress. We find the same type of advice when it comes to fertilizing indoor plants in the winter, but that's a topic for another day.

You might find this to be of value.

Al

If you could only see what your plant would look like had it not been neglected, you'd have a real sense of what a thriving plant looks like and how much potential you've left on the table; and if honest, you'd have to retract what you currently believe to be true. I have no interest in debating what grower A through Z should or shouldn't be happy with insofar as their plants' appearance or level of vitality; I'm interested in trying to get the point across that it's ludicrous on its face to suggest any containerized plant thrives on neglect. Even purposeful neglect is a form of nurturing because it's calculated to be in the plant's best interest, even if wrongly so. Do your children, pets, wife, lawn, car, home, tools, even your shoes thrive on neglect? Your hair, nails, teeth, body? Roadways, bridges, dams, any structure?

It's easy to SAY PTs thrive on neglect, but to be "thriving", a plant will necessarily be growing at close to it's maximum potential. That does not happen in a container when the plant is left to its own devices; and, it's impossible when it's stressed and suffering an assortment of limitations related to neglect. If you're neglecting your plant, you're not watering it when it needs it, not fertilizing appropriately, not repotting regularly, and not attending to the plants general welfare. If you are not ignoring these essentials to container culture, you can't honestly make the claim you're neglecting the plant.

To visualize the impact tight roots has on a plant, note this Madagascar palm:

It's history is written in the thorns. Note how the thorns get closer and closer together as your eye moves from the soil line up the trunk to the midpoint. The plant was potted up when the trunk was half the height it is in the image. You can tell because the plant immediately and substantially increased its growth rate, such that the second half of the trunk's height was put on in less than 1/3 the time it took the bottom half of the trunk to grow; this, because of the easing of the limitations of root congestion when the plant was potted up. Note how increasing root congestion in the next pot was causing the thorns to become tighter together as the plant grew, because it's growth/extension was being limited. The plant was topped and potted up again when it's height was somewhere above where the branching starts, and you can see the thorns growing closer together as root congestion increases in the pot the plant is currently in.

Had it been prudent from the perspective of the bottom line to fully repot the plant on a regular basis instead of taking the shortcut of potting up, the tree's mass could have easily be 2-3 times greater than what it was when the image was created; that's how severely root congestion can and does limit seriously root-bound plants. This plant is actually far from thriving and has only realized a fraction less than half of its potential. That's what neglect does for your plants. Tax the plant further with drought stress, inappropriate nutritional supplementation and a few other culturally limiting factors a grower might choose to neglect, and there's no telling what it might look like.

A PT is one of the most stoic plants you'll commonly find growing in a container.

Al

So, I really haven't been neglecting my plant..I do feed and water it sparingly. Maybe I will consider it to be a 'Bonsai Ponytail'! It has been purposely dwarfed to not become to large for my home for 25 yrs! lol The art of Bonsai is a highly honored tradition!

"Do your children, pets, wife, lawn, car, home, tools, even your shoes thrive on neglect? Your hair, nails, teeth, body? Roadways, bridges, dams, any structure?"

Have any of these evolved to survive for millions of years in a harsh desert environment that gets very little, if any, rainfall during the dry season?

Talk about comparing apples to oranges...

Escolat, you have a gorgeous ponytail palm. It clearly loves being "neglected" that bay window. Part of me wishes that I had a window like that for mine, but none of that would matter, because my little sweetheart of a cat would chew off every last leaf, HaHa!

I often wonder how old mine are. My largest one was pruned back many years ago, and now it has eight separate growing tips branching out from it. My second largest was a purchase from the store a few years ago. I think it has just as many branching growth tips on it, too. Though, not as old as my first. As for my others, I have two smaller ones, and a communal pot of tiny ones. All of which thrive on the same neglect that my oldest ones do.

I gave my best friend a pot of little ponytails a while back. She was sharing some photos of her renovated home on facebook messenger, and I spotted them in her kitchen window. They had definitely gotten much bigger, and she was so happy that she hasn't killed them yet, lmao.

As a bonsai judge, I can say w/o blinking that the primary factor we consider when judging a tree or its companion plantings is the vitality (health) of the organism(s). Unhealthy trees and plantings are removed from display. Minimization of stress in order to maximize vitality is intrinsic to the art, science, and practice of bonsai, and the health of the plant is always first; so, when a tree or planting becomes root-bound to the point the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, it's normally repotted at the very next opportune point in time - by 'opportune', I mean when the timing is next deemed appropriate for the plant - so you're working WITH the plant's natural rhythms instead of against them. Bonsai and prebonsai are never purposely left to languish under rootbound conditions; this, because it saps so much vitality and growth potential. Root congestion also influences the growth habit of branching plants and severely limits the pruning opportunities that are required for fine ramification (branch and leaf density).

Al

You and your plant will be happier if you just ignore a certain poster.

I agree. Iochroma & Photo, my plant has been living for over 25 yrs, which is longer than the majority of houseplants kept by people! It looks beautiful to me and has given me so much enjoyment! If I were so cruel to my plant, it would have died yrs ago. Even in nature, plants are stressed and endure...which often makes them bloom beautifully or develop wonderful character and form! (graceful wind-swept pines on rocky ridges or roses after a rough winter that bloom profusely!) Sometimes, intelligent people can be too serious. It's the Holidays... relax!