Transplanting Beaucarnea recurvata

[Walt]

Approximately nine years ago I planted a one gallon size pony tail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata) close to the front entrance way to my home.

At the time I had no idea some pony tail palms could get so huge (I've seen some around here with massive trunk bases).

While my ponytail palm isn't huge yet, I am somewhat concerned that down the road a few years it may become a concern for me.

Hence, I'm thinking about digging up the pony tail palm and transplanting it somewhere more suitable on my property. However, I have no idea how well ponytail palms transplant, how much rootball, etc., would be needed.

Right now my pony tail palm is about 15 inches from my foundation and exterior wall and feel now is the time to dig it up while I can still access it 360 degrees. I have an ixora shurb to one side plus the entryway to another side. I feel now that the larger I let the ponytail grow the more problem I will have in the future.

My thoughts at present are that, if the ponytail doesn't transplant well and there is a high risk that that the plant would die, than I would then elect to just let it keep growing in its present location and then, when it starts impacting on my foundation and exterior wall, I would remove it -- thus killing it.

On the other hand, if the ponytail has a high success probability of transplanting, then I would prefer to dig it out now and transplant it, since it will now have the entire spring, summer, and fall to acclimate to it's new planting site.

I'm open to advice from anyone having knowledge, first hand or second hand, as to how well ponytails transplant and the proceedures of the transplanting itself.

This photo shows the base of my ponytail palm and the room I have to work with:

This photo shows an overall view of my ponytail palm and how it is growing/bending away from the roof overhang. It's leaning to the east, BTW.

This photo shows the front view of my ponytail palm. If palm stays as a single trunk, it will probably never impact on the house and entryway, but the size of the trunk base is my concern:

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Walt...they move easily...the base is actually flat, not rounded on the bottom as it would seem.

Your Beaucarnia looks like B Guatemalensis, which doesn't get the huge swollen base like B Recurvata. I'd leave it.....

[Walt]

(STEVE IN SO CAL @ Mar. 19 2008,09:58)

QUOTE

Walt...they move easily...the base is actually flat, not rounded on the bottom as it would seem.

Your Beaucarnia looks like B Guatemalensis, which doesn't get the huge swollen base like B Recurvata. I'd leave it.....

Steve: I did a Google search on B. guatemalensis and I found at least on photo of one that looked almost identical to mine, so I would agree that may be what I have.

Since you say they are easy to transplant I will let mine stay where it is for awhile and just monitor the trunk base growth.

When I bought my plant at my local Walmart about nine years ago it was just marked ponytail palm, so I just assumed it was B. recurvata.

It was when I saw these two local ponytails below, it gave me pause for concern about the location of mine. Further, I found another ponytail palm (I don't have a photo of it right now) that is even larger (base is tremendous) than the two pictured at the below links.

http://thumb2.webshots.net/t....MG]

http://thumb2.webshots.net/t....MG]

[Tad]

when you go to dig it, they somtimes tend to flare underground, so be careful not to dig toclose to the base to start with, dig wide and then slowly work back towards the base, till you see the "wood" try real hard not to nick them or scratch them, very easy to do and they end up getting big scarred out ugly spots which take a while to heal over, that and they are 99 percent heavier than the look! i have some big ones in my yard, I am not making this stuff up.

[Alicehunter2000]

How well do these guys handle freezing temps. I have heard they can handle some freezing and others have said they turn to mush if they freeze. Anybody got experience with freezing temps? How low?

BTW, nice pics.........Tad, I guess picking one of these up would be like picking up almost pure water.......and we all know how much water weighs.

[Tad]

a brand spanky new case 580l back hoe was used to move the one in my yard we had it on a pallet and the back hoe had pallet forks, it was all the back hoe could do to lift it a few inches off the ground, we creeped at a snails pace travelling about 9 miles in 2 hours to get that monkey where it sits the pallet is still beneath it buried to this day!

my grandmother estimates it to be at least 80 years old. it was a single, before the 80's freezes.

[Walt]

(palmotrafficante @ Mar. 19 2008,13:47)

QUOTE

when you go to dig it, they somtimes tend to flare underground, so be careful not to dig toclose to the base to start with, dig wide and then slowly work back towards the base, till you see the "wood" try real hard not to nick them or scratch them, very easy to do and they end up getting big scarred out ugly spots which take a while to heal over, that and they are 99 percent heavier than the look! i have some big ones in my yard, I am not making this stuff up.

I will leave well enough alone for now, but if/when I do dig it up I will start digging well away from the trunk base. Sincer my soil is basically all sand, I may use a hose to wash the sand away at first to visually establish the extents of the sub soil trunk.

[Walt]

(Alicehunter2000 @ Mar. 19 2008,14:37)

QUOTE

How well do these guys handle freezing temps. I have heard they can handle some freezing and others have said they turn to mush if they freeze. Anybody got experience with freezing temps? How low?

BTW, nice pics.........Tad, I guess picking one of these up would be like picking up almost pure water.......and we all know how much water weighs.

From my experience, the pony tail palms I have (whatever the species is) can handle down to the mid 20s for short duration without damage.

However, I have another ponytail planted out in the open yard. I bought and planted that one the same time as the one by my house front entryway.

Back on January 5, 2001 we had a severe radiational freeze (the coldest in my 11 years living here). I bottomed out at 22 degrees with heavy frost. As I recall, the duration below 32 degrees was at least 12 hours.

The ponytail in the open yard turned to mush down to the heavier base. But the plant itself survived and regrew eight trunks. Today this ponytail isn't as tall as my other one, but it has eight solid trunks now and is about 6 feet in overall height.

In short, these are zone 9b plants from my experience.

[Kris]

Dear Walt  

lovely house & beautiful garden...i think as steve has said leave that baby as it is...if it does not clump or the base does not get big any further...its better as it is !

And if the trunk is flexible at the movement then give a slight support so that it does not bang against the the other roof which its fast approcahing..! since it will be difficult to bend or mend once its fully grown.

thanks for those lovely stills,

lots of love,

Kris  

[Walt]

(krisachar @ Mar. 20 2008,02:25)

QUOTE

Dear Walt  

lovely house & beautiful garden...i think as steve has said leave that baby as it is...if it does not clump or the base does not get big any further...its better as it is !

And if the trunk is flexible at the movement then give a slight support so that it does not bang against the the other roof which its fast approcahing..! since it will be difficult to bend or mend once its fully grown.

thanks for those lovely stills,

lots of love,

Kris  

Kris: Thanks for your reply, kind words, and advice.

I can surely tell you I don't want to move my ponytail palm. But as you can see from the two linked photos I posted earlier, I had cause for concern that one day my ponytail might grow too big.

I feel more confident now that my particular ponytail palm will not grow to such proportions as those two in my photos.

I will let the ponytail remain, and year by year I will assess as to whether it needs to be relocated. But now, at least from the advice I got here, they can be transplanted rather successfully.

Best regards,

Walt

[tropicalb]

Walt....

just a short story about how resiliant these plants are:

when i bumped my totally root-bound 5 gal ponytails into their current 15 gal pots, i literally dumped the plant on the ground, took a shovel and chopped the rootball in half, stuck the plant in a 15 gal pot and the plant acted like nothing had happened.

[Walt]

(tropicalb @ Mar. 20 2008,07:18)

QUOTE

Walt....

just a short story about how resiliant these plants are:

when i bumped my totally root-bound 5 gal ponytails into their current 15 gal pots, i literally dumped the plant on the ground, took a shovel and chopped the rootball in half, stuck the plant in a 15 gal pot and the plant acted like nothing had happened.

Burt: That is very reassuring to hear. I wouldn't want to lose my ponytail from transplanting.

Walt

[Mats]

(tropicalb @ Mar. 20 2008,07:18)

QUOTE

just a short story about how resiliant these plants are:

when i bumped my totally root-bound 5 gal ponytails into their current 15 gal pots, i literally dumped the plant on the ground, took a shovel and chopped the rootball in half, stuck the plant in a 15 gal pot and the plant acted like nothing had happened.

Yes, Beaucarnea are tough as nails.  Here's a couple photos of one that was dug and boxed.  That box is 6' x 6' x 16".

[Kris]

Dear Mats  

lovely stills & its indeed a beautiful plant...

thanks & love,

Kris  

[Alicehunter2000]

Whoe! Now That's a landscape sized Ponytail..........any idea how much is costs or weighs?

[Mats]

(Alicehunter2000 @ Apr. 10 2008,17:19)

QUOTE

Any idea how much is costs or weighs?

David, if I remember correctly, he wanted $3000 each a few years ago.  

Weight?  I don't have any idea.  He pulled those with a crane from a Newport Beach back yard.  Many homes in Newport have large footprints on postage stamp sized lots. Oftentimes you can stand between two adjoining houses, stretch your arms and come real close to touching them both.  So short of chopping them up and carting them out in a wheelbarrow, a crane was the only solution.

What amazes me about those plants are how little root mass was taken.  Like I said, those boxes are only 16" deep.

[Mats]

Here's a couple photos of a recently uprooted Beaucarnea.

.

.

[palmmermaid]

I had one in an area by my front door when we bought the house. I dug it up and threw in into the vacant lot across the street. It is still growing 7 years later!

Very hardy plant! And very heavy. All that ball underground is very heavy. We have one in our botanic garden that was saved from destruction. It must be at least 20 feet tall with a base 8 feet in diameter. Took a large crane and a flatbed truck to move the thing!