Time to re-pot ? ?

I've had this Ponytail Palm for about 30 years. It's been in this pot for at least 22 years. Today it popped the pot.
Andy P

I gave it a good watering yesterday, more than it needed actually. There was still some water in the pan, I 've had to bottom water it for years. That may have caused all the swelling.
I guess it's time for a new pot, LOL.
Andy P

Andy, I think it's trying to tell you something.....

You Think ? ?

It's time! I'm surprised it stayed there that long. I bought a quarter sized bulb from HD about 6 years ago and it's at least as big as yours now. They grow pretty fast.

Amazing .... Yep .... looks like that "Pony" needs a new home (pot)!

Really Nice Plant!

I was given a pony plant last year and amazingly it is still alive. I slipped it out of the pot yesterday and it is very root bound. Is now the time for a new home? Or do I wait until the ball fills the pot like the picture above?

I have a couple of pictures that may help. First is the plant.

Second is the root system

nanna,

Repot it if you want it to grow larger. If you want to bonsai it, then trim the roots and put it in a shallow tray. Mine is in a 15 inch fiberglass pot with an inch of space all around it. It is over 6 foot tall. I started this from a two inch pot about six years ago.

Hey hc! Thanks for the quick responce. I had no idea they grow that tall. Looks like mine is just beginning. I would like it a little taller. I'll see what kind of container I can find. Thanks for your help.

Nanna,

It doesn't look rootbound but if you want to move it up, it shouldn't hurt - just don't keep it wet.

Here is the base of mine from 2005. It is in the same pot and this is the first year I have left it out during winter - I have it laid down under a tarp. Any exposed leaves to the frigid air was burned, but the rest of the plant looks pretty good.

Maybe that is why my plant has survived. I just totally forget about it and don't water. How often do I water and what about fertilizer?

I water sporadically in summer and fertilize with some slow release. In winter, I don't water at all or very little.

hcmcdole ~ doing yours this way, how often do you add soil to that small a pot? I find after a while the roots leave no room for soil...

I haven't added soil since it has been in that pot (about 4 years). So as it got blown over and dumped the gravel mulch in it, I got tired of replacing the mulch (I have a few black Mexican pebbles in it now). I had it in a 6 inch pot (I moved it up shortly after I bought it). I just haven't wanted to deal with a bigger pot so it's been pretty constrained the last two or three years. Maybe I will move it up to an 18" pot this spring. I'm very close to topping it and see if I can root the top.

Mine was topped years ago by kittens playing. Didn't think about planting the tops at the time but it made multiple heads and looks fuller...

Nana, like HC says, your plant is fine in that pot for a while longer. I personally think they look better somewhat potbound. The large 'bulb' in a small pot is cool. They grow slower when potbound, also. Had I treated mine like any other potted plant it would have outgrown it's welcome here 15 years ago by getting too big. Do a search in PlantFiles, you will be amazed.
Benign neglect is what they like best. Lots of light, a little water and no fertilizer.
Andy P

HC, when you repot it, use a pot with a wide base for stability. That was one of the first things I noticed with the pot it's in now. Besides how nice it looked, lol.
Andy P

Thanks everyone

andy, how fun...you get to go pot shopping. i'm doing that tomorrow for a little ivy i rooted (in my journal).
when you get a pot and re-pot it, please post a picture. can't wait to see.
stephanie

Don't hold your breath, Stephanie. It'll have to wait until it's warm enough to do outdoors. It will surely fight me when I try to pry it out of the old pot. The soil will fly, lol.
But I will post a pic.
Andy P

Andy,

When I move my ponytail palm out for the summer I have to prop it between other large pots or lean it next to a tree so it doesn't get blown over (much). The occasional storm usually topples lots of houseplants including potted trees, banana tree, and bamboo (22 inch pots).

This is what you call root bound. One of my bamboos ('Robert Young' is less than 3 years old) pulled out of an 18" pot ready to be planted into a 22" pot.

Andy ~ when you take it out of the pot, I would cut the pot away from the roots. Doesn't look like the pot is a saver...

HC, my Ponytail is one of the very few houseplants that stays indoors.
I'm sure it's way more potbound than that Bamboo, lol.
Podster, I will have to cut the pot away from the roots, for sure. I haven't removed the tray in many years so there are roots coming through the pot drain holes that will need pruning, too. There is a price to pay for procrastinating, lol.
Andy P

Andy,

If you've had the ponytail in that pot for 22 years, then I'd say you got your money's worth out of that pot. It looks like you might need a saw to cut it (but maybe the ponytail will break it the rest of the way).

I was showing nanna what rootbound is. I had a hard enough time pulling the bamboo out of the pots without cutting the pots up. Another year and I may have had cracked pots like you.

Nice plants !

I'm so glad to see this thread and all the info on Ponytails. I've had one for about a 1 1/2 years...so I'm still rather a newbie. I just love mine. They are such a different plant, and just down right cute! Being that they thrive on neglect is a big plus for a houseplant in my house, lol.

Mine is currently about 18 -24" tall, not counting the foliage. I'd like it to stay that size, as a bonsai. It's planted in a somewhat shallow terra cotta dish. I took it outdoors last summer and it put on quite a bit of growth. Of course, I was fertilizing it...and I won't be doing that nearly as often after reading this thread and PlantFiles.

From what I gather from all the info I've been able to get (there isn't much I've been able to find), to keep my Ponytail small I should keep it in the same dish, only fertilize maybe twice per year, and occasionally remove it from the dish and cut back the roots. Does this sound like a good plan? I water very infrequently, I go by the size of the base of the trunk...and if there are any browned leaves near the trunk. When I water I soak, soak, soak.

This plant always makes me smile, could y'all please let me know if what I'm doing or planning to do is going to cause harm?

Thanks so much!
Heather

Hi Heather,

From what little I know about bonsai, you are on the right path. If you constrain the plant to a small pot, then the plant grows a lot slower. For bonsai trees and shrubs, the recommendation is to root prune and top prune every year which keeps the plant slow growing and compact. I have not pruned mine yet, but have been thinking about it. I know when a plant is pushing its way out of a pot and I want it no bigger, then I pull it out, trim about a third of the roots from the bottom and a little off the sides, add fresh mix to the bottom of the pot, and put the plant back in. Keeping it in a shallow pot forces it to remain compact. The downside of this is you have to water a lot more.

You may want to buy a book or two on bonsai for additional information.

Great information everyone. Thanks. How long before I get a "trunk"? Right now everything is green on top of the ball.

Andy, thanks for pointing me to Plant Files. I enjoyed seeing all the Pony Plants. It helped me decided how tall I would like my to grow.

Thanks HC. It's probably time for a root trim about now. I'll have to work my courage up first though.

Heather, no fertilizer......If you cut the stem it will likely produce 2 or 3 stems so let it get tall enough that pruning will give you something big enough to root and start another plant. Also, the more you cut off, the more it will want to sprout.
Nanna, I suspect that they all grow differently. Mine produced a trunk right away, a friends stayed very short.
When you look at the ones growing outdoors 'in the wild', pay close attention to the environment. It's hot and dry.
That's another bonus of pictures in PlantFiles.
Have fun.
Andy P

Amazing, Andy.
I recall you'd posted a photo of this a few months back, and it was close, then!
Looks like the pot 'burped'!!

I didn't see that anyone had asked yet...what size is that 'popped pot'?

I topped mine off a few years ago, and the top *did* root, but then the wind knocked it off the deck and into some brush and it was a lost cause;(

Mine grew 6 new 'heads'...I love the look of it that way.

Accck!! No, no, no, I don't want to prune it! Get out of here with those clippers Andy!

It has one main trunk and I like it that way. The top of the main trunk was cut before I got it and it has foliage sprouting from 3 different places.

Here's a pic from when it was first brought home, I don't have any recent pics.

Do you really think I should or need to prune it?

No way would I prune that one, heathrjoy!!
Fabulous!
Is the trunk as thick as it appears to be??

Nan, the old pot is 10 inches wide and tall. The next will be 12 or 14 at most and 10 or 12 inches tall. I will prune the roots, too.
Heather, I misdirected my pruning comment. Hcmc mentioned top pruning. Yours does not need pruning.
I like that pot.
Andy P

Ok, here's a pic I just took. It may not look much different in the pic, but it did grow a bunch. I had 2 or 3 huge spikes of foliage coming out of the top...you can see 2 in the pic...just above and to either side of the trunk, one is very light green because I just pulled it apart last night. It had been over a foot high, lol.

The trunk, just above where it swells is about 8" around. Also, my guess on it's height was off, I'm so not good at that. The over all height is about 24" to the top of the pot.

It kinda reminds me of Cousin It, LOL!

That looks great. Give it a decade or two. Those stems will stretch up, getting more impressive every year.
I suspect that it's already over 10 years old, maybe 20. What do you think?
Andy P

Whose are you talking about that is 10 or 20 years old? Not mine? Can't be. I got this at Lowe's, pot and all...stones glued to the top, LOL. The only reason I got it was because my DSIL gave me a gift card for my b-day that year.

Heather, I suspect it was an older plant that got chopped down, re-potted and wholesaled out to Lowes.
You don't get a thick stump like that in a year or two. My 2 cents.
Andy P