Watering 3 times per month is pretty much the same as saying every 10 days, and with a large number of commercial media out there that can easily go 3 weeks w/o watering, I wouldn't think the potentiality of over-watering is able to be eliminated as a candidate for the cause of necrotic leaf tips. That said, there are several reasons old leaves might be showing these symptoms, over-watering being one. Others include a high level of dissolved solids (salts from fertilizer solutions and tapwater) in the soil solution, low fertility - particularly a deficiency of nitrogen, root congestion, and under-watering. Fluoride never leaves the plant until the organ containing fluoride is shed, so the greatest build-up in plants is in older foliage where symptoms are most likely to be made manifest.

By what metric do you decide when it's time to water? What are you fertilizing with? how often? how much? what are the NPK %. If you see wilting in leaves while you can readily detect moisture in the medium, the wilting is VERY likely due to over-watering. When you water, do you water in small sips to avoid over-watering, or do you apply enough water to fully saturate the medium and allow for at least 20% of the o/a volume applied to exit the drain hole? Do you allow the plant to sit in the effluent that exits the drain hole as/ after you water?

Al

can we see the whole plant ....

no plant holds its leaves forever.. and you usually have to remove the oldest ugliest leaves every now and then ...

since its age related.. it is NOT an indication that anything is wrong ....

sometimes the leaves just shut down due to season light changes ...

in my z5 forced air furnace house... i usually have to do such after a long hard winter ... though a houseplant.. its just not perfectly happy indoors all winter ...

in my world.. warped as it may be.. if the new growth is doing fine.. then really ... whats to fix?? ... the alternative would be.. dont fix what isnt broken ...

ken

Thanks everyone, for your thoughtful comments. Its been a busy weekend so my apologies for my delayed response.

With respect to watering/fertilizing regime:

• Upon further consideration I realized that I only water the plant once every 2-3 weeks.
• I generally don't use precise measurement in the volume of water, but I always use enough to ensure a decent amount pours out through drainage; I'd say about 20% volume exiting through drainage is a reasonable estimate.
• I never let the plant sit in the drained water longer than 1-2 mins.
• I initially used tap water for the first few months before switching to filtered after I learned of the benefits, so this may be contributing to some of the older leaves wilting
• The plant was purchasing in April and I have not yet used fertilizer.

Photos of the whole plant are provided below

I suspect the soil may not be getting fully hydrated by a single watering at that interval. Try watering twice, a few minutes apart, and see if the soil absorbs a lot more moisture the 2nd time. An unglazed clay pot can dry so quickly. One handy feature is that they turn a lighter color when the soil is dry. You should notice that it turns a darker color when the soil is moist.

Looking again, I can't tell if the pot in question is plastic or clay.

Looking again again, that is probably not the pot it was in when sold. Was that much of the trunk buried when it was in the store pot?

aw man ... if i could grow that plant.. that well.. i wouldnt be worried about a few errant leaves ...

just cut the out.. and be done with it ..

and growing it as well as you are.. i would hesitate to change anything .. included what is probably a very successful watering regimen ....

imo.. dont fix what isnt broken ... or at least make sure something is broken before you try to fix it ...

one last thought.. i didnt ask.. since this is in the houseplant forum.. but where are you.. big city name ... youve had it since april ... but will there be a forced air furnace kicking on for winter ... or what might change during winter ... dry air.. especially on a clay pot might change things that do require something changing ...

no need to apologize on delays in responding quickly.. especially when im thinking there is not much to fix anyway ...

ken

ps: i never had any luck with adobe pots indoors ... except for cactus type plants ....

Although ponytail can survive dry conditions, watering often enough so that the soil never completely dries yields a much more healthy plant, IMVHO.

The pot is clay, and no, it was not the original pot it was purchased in. The stem is actually slightly less buried than it was when initially purchased. Is this something I should be concerned about?

I'm beginning to think that the issue is simply one of older leaves naturally wilting. As I mentioned previously, the new growth is coming in healthy with no browning/wilting.

Does anyone have any recommendations about pruning? Should I prune the portions of the leaves that are half wilted? Or should I wait until the entire leave has dried up before pruning? Are these dying leaves sucking nutrients away from more healthy parts of the plant?

No, don't worry about the stem/trunk - but I would have been worried if it had been sunk deeper than it was @ purchase.

I trim the brown tips off of my leaves when I notice any, just for my personal preference. I don't think the plant cares much one way or the other once a leaf or the tip has gone brown. They're not sucking anything away from the whole. Your plant looks very good, IMVHO. I wouldn't change much about the care except to try to not let it get too dry. (And don't go too far in the opposite direction and start watering it incessantly.)