The Basics Of Ponytail Palm Care
The Basics Of Ponytail Palm Care
We love the way the ponytail palm looks, with its long fronds and bottle shaped trunk. A ponytail palm makes for a great houseplant, and with proper care can give you and your family many years of enjoyment. We've had our experts pull out all the stops to bring you the most essential basics of ponytail palm care, so that your tree can be as beautiful as possible.
Water And Light
The trunk of the ponytail palm is shaped like a bottle. In fact, they are often called bottle palms because of this. This bottle shape is one of the things that helps make ponytail palm care so easy. The trunk stores water for extended periods of time; meaning that you don't have to worry about watering very often. Generally, you only need to water the palm when the soil looks very dry. Too much water, and the roots will drown, and the tree rot.
If you are repotting your ponytail palm yourself, one of the most important things to remember about ponytail palm care, is that the soil must be a good combination of soil and sand. This will help prevent water from pooling around the root ball and retarding, or rotting, the tree.
Ponytail palm care is also quite easy for those who want to keep their palms inside as a house plant. These palms thrive well both indoors and out, and need only be placed near a sunny window to receive the proper amount of light.
How Big Do You Want It?
Another aspect of ponytail palm care, is deciding just how big you want your tree to get. If you live in a small house, apartment, or condo, you may want to try to keep your palm a bit on the smaller side. This is accomplished by only repotting one or two times. Each time you repot your ponytail palm into a larger pot, the trunk will expand, thus encouraging the tree to grow taller.
For those who want their palm to stay a more manageable size, ignore this common practice of ponytail palm care after the first two years. Within the first two years of growth, your palm could reach an average height of around two feet. This is more than tall enough to be able to enjoy the beauty of the long fronds. Just be sure that the pot it is replanted in, is tall enough to keep the fronds from dragging on the floor.
Whether big or small, ponytail palm care is easy enough the even the novice gardener can accomplish it. Talk to your local home and garden center today, and see about getting a ponytail palm for your home!