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| So I bought a "cluster" of pony tail "palms" (I know they are not palms) yesterday. I don't know if it would work, but I thought it might be suitable for having out on my deck in the summertime, and in the house in the cold weather. I've always loved the looks of these plants/trees.
What I bought was actually four plants clustered together. I suppose their thinking was that they would become a larger, multistemmed plant. Can I separate them, do you think? I think I'd rather have a single ponytail or two, and then maybe keep two of them together. I don't know how to separate....or if it would kill them if I did so, but thought I would ask. This cluster of four nice looking plants was only $5 where I got it. Angie |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by kaktuskris 5 (barharbor75@yahoo.com) on Mon, Jan 16, 12 at 16:13
| I bought a group of over a dozen in a 4 inch pot last year. Yes, they can be easily separated, but I would wait till Spring to do so. Then, I would take them out of the pot, remove as much soil as I can, and gently pry them apart. Of course I would repot them in a clay pot with fast draining potting mix, if they were mine, and put them in a sunny window. Good luck with them. Christopher |
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- Posted by cactusmcharris 4 / Interior BC (My Page) on Mon, Jan 16, 12 at 18:02
| Angie, And after you repot them a la the fashion Christopher describes, wait a few days before watering your baby Beaucarnea recurvata plants - this will give time for any root / caudex wounds to heal over. |
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- Posted by grullablue 5 (My Page) on Fri, Jan 20, 12 at 22:39
| Thanks for the replies! LOVE this plant, but would love it even better if they were single specimens.... I will take the advice, and wait until spring! Angie |
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I bought mine a few years ago. It was three plants in a 4 inch pot. I separated and potted them individually.  This pic is from early summer. I repotted them since. Rob |
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| Whip, what size are those two pots, and how many years ago did you get the plants? Those trunks look huge! I have 4 small ones in a 4" pot and can't wait till spring to repot them |
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| The terra cotta pots are 4-5 inches. These guys were tiny when I bought them. I've had the plants 4-5 years. If I get a chance, I'll take some pictures of them in their new pots. Also, I was at Lowes yesterday, and they had one gallon size for about $12.00. Nice looking plants. |
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- Posted by cactusmcharris 4 / Interior BC (My Page) on Fri, Jan 27, 12 at 9:44
| Rob, I didn't know how good a Lowe's (or Home Dodo) deal could be until I see y'all talk about the $5 Adeniums and $12 gallon-Beaucarneas - wow, I have one and would have bought two more. I'd encourage you to get a B. stricta, too, if you ever get the chance. - it's an awesome plant, too. |
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| Jeff, I thought about buying the gallon Beaucarneas. The ones pictured above are some of my oldest plants. Oddly, I feel like I'm cheating if I buy a bigger one. Deburn,
Rob |
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| Rob, thanks for posting those - they look great. I have 4 in one pot, that I bought from Lowe's on clearance about 9 months ago, but didn't repot or anything, so they've stayed more or less the same size. I also wasn't giving them enough light. I'm definitely going to repot them in the summer. I got lucky and got 2 fairly large ones for 2.50 each from HD which are in much better shape. I love their leaves; they're almost springy |
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| Deburn, Post pics once you repot them. I keep mine outside in the summer. Slowly acclimate them to the sun. The more light the better they do. Rob |
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| Deburn, I found a pic of when I first got my Ponytail Palm. This was right after dividing and re-potting. This was maybe 5 years ago, and I believe that's the same pot I posted in the first picture.  Rob |
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| "I thought about buying the gallon Beaucarneas. .... Oddly, I feel like I'm cheating if I buy a bigger one." I get it .... thought I was the only one. ;-) I very often purchase small plants and grow them through several repots before passing them along to someone and moving on to something different. With bonsai, it's just the opposite. I buy or collect something very large ...... in relationship to the very small it eventually becomes after some manipulation and a considerable amount of reduction. Best luck! Al
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| I just wanted to say that I have had a cluster such as yours for 5 years more or less. It was pretty small, the bulbs where maybe the circumference of a quarter. Up until last year I kept them in the arrangement, bad idea. Some bulbs grew bigger than others and stunted some growth. One ended up dying altogether, that was when I decided to separate them last year. The three that survived remind me of the three lil bears. The biggest has a bulb the size of a softball, the smallest is the size of a golfball, and the middle is right inbetween. It is a very hardy lil plant. I also at times have left it in low light conditions for months without a problem, but when I put them outside in the summer they flourish! So obviously more light is better but they will survive with very little light. In case you didn't know their bulb is made to suck up water and it stores it there. It prefers to live in dry soil, I believe it is indigenous to desert like conditions. It can go 2 weeks without water but I water it when the top of the soil is near bone dry. This usually takes a week and a half in non summer months. |
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| Smurfishy, If you have one that's softball sized in 5 years, your doing something right. I've had mine about that long, and the biggest caudex is just a bit bigger than a golf ball. |
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| I have a ponytail palm that's about 25 years old. The caudex was about the size of a softball when I bought it. It's over six feet tall now, and the caudex is about 12 inches in diameter, almost filling its three gallon pot. This thing seems to be virtually indestructible. There is very little "soil" in the pot (gritty mix, actually). I only water it and give it a light feed in both summer and winter. It has grown slowly but steadily over the years. Five years ago when I adopted two wild and crazy kittens I gave them the PT as a sacrifice to try to keep them away from many other plants. They thundered through the house each morning, climbing the PT and leaping off it onto one another. The trunk was torn up by their antics. (You can probably see the scars in this photo.) I assumed the poor thing would eventually die, but it soldiers on. It seems to love summers in full sun outdoors, but it survives winters at a north window. I took this photo today of one of the cats who used to torture the PT, Hobbes. He's in his favorite spot "hidden" by the PT's leaves at a window where he can watch the bird feeders. He's much more mellow these days, but he still likes to play jungle.
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