Beaucarnea sp?

[Walt]

I've been growing my ponytail palm from a small one gallon size I bought at WALMART about 10 years ago. The other day I noticed three small growths on the trunk, just below the fronds. What are these growths?

Also, just today a buddy of mine picked up a 20 gallon ponytail palm his neighbor threw out. He didn't want it so he asked me if I wanted it. Since it was a freebie, I took it. I noticed similar growths on this ponytail palm, too. I will post photos of it later.

The above photo shows the three growths I'm talking about.

The above photo shows an overall view of my ponytail palm. I was going to dig this plant up and relocate it earlier this year but never got around to doing it. I will have to do it before it gets too big and the base starts contacting the house foundation.

[fastfeat]

Walt--

They're just new branches trying to form, especially as the trunk grows more angled to clear the eaves. They're less likely to form if the trunk is closer to vertical.

You can break them off )(preferably after a little larger), let them dry out for a week, then root is some fast-draining mix. Or just rub 'em off occassionally as they develop.

[SubTropicRay]

Walt, the correct genus is now Nolina, just sayin'.

[Walt]

Walt--

They're just new branches trying to form, especially as the trunk grows more angled to clear the eaves. They're less likely to form if the trunk is closer to vertical.

You can break them off )(preferably after a little larger), let them dry out for a week, then root is some fast-draining mix. Or just rub 'em off occassionally as they develop.

fastfeat: I thought they might be newly forming branches, but wasn't sure. I wasnt' sure because I'm not that familiar with ponytail palms. I have another ponytail palm that was frozen down to the base back during the wicked radiational freeze of January 5, 2001. After the freeze it developed 5-6 trunks. So, I thought for a ponytail palm to grow multiple trunks one would have to cut off the top of the trunk or let nature do it, by freezing it.

The below photos show the ponytail palm I got for free yesterday. Although this plant is far smaller than my ponytail, it's already started to sprout little branches. Also, this plant has already flowered, whereas my larger plant has never flowerd (but I read you must have male and female flowering plants close by).

The root ball is solid as a rock from being constrained so long in a pot. I want to plant this ponytail in the ground in the next few days. Do you have any suggestions? Should I try to tease out some roots, prune the roots,stick it in the ground as is, etc.?

The above photo show my new ponytail palm I got for free, with a rock solid root system.

The above photo shows small emerging branches near the top of the stem.

The above photo shows two emerging branches growing out of the top of the stem.

[Walt]

Walt, the correct genus is now Nolina, just sayin'.

Ray, it doesn't surprise me. Riffle said in his book TTL: "The genus is considered by some taxonomists to be a subset of of the genus Nolina."

Walt

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Walt,

Plant it about an inch high and don't disturb the roots. Just remember, green side up! Probably the only way to go wrong with these is to plant them upside down.

[John Case]

Wal,

These plants are nearly indestructible.......just make sure the trunk is clear from the dirt. They randomly branch or not.....

finally, they get really big and heavy. Once they achieve some size, they are quite difficult to move.

good luck.

[MattyB]

SD Zoo

[Walt]

Okay, this morning I planted the ponytail -- green side up -- and also cut off the dead inflorescence!

I built a sand ring around the ponytail using excavated sand. The trunk base is slightly above the finished grade, with some original roots slightly exposed, so the planting depth is just about right.

I took this date stamped photo to compare in the future as to the progress and growth of this plant; I always do this for documentation purposes.

[Walter John]

I always thought of those new spurts as new heads of the plant, not new branches, that's just me. I guess they are branches though. I've got one to plant still, haven't sorted out where yet.

Here's a little fact sheet for the hell of it.

The Pony Tail plant makes an ideal plant for a tub specimen. Once known as Beaucarnea recurvata it is now generally accepted as Nolina recurvata. Related to the yuccas, this evergreen small tree has adapted to its dry habitat in Mexico where they thrive for many years as patio specimens on natural water.

In areas of high summer rainfall they do well when given some shelter. They can only be grown in the ground in a frost-free dry climate. Nolina recurvata can be grown as an indoor plant in temperate areas. The main precaution when growing these plants is not to be tempted to over water them. These plants can store up to a years supply of water in their roots. As they age they develop swollen bases with tapering trunks, sprouting long, narrow leaves, often quite pendulous.

These plants need to be provided with well-drained soil and, although they will respond to being watered during summer, they should be kept dry during winter.

They are relatively slow growing and the roots are not very extensive so they can remain in a tub for a considerable time.

[ariscott]

Walt... nothing to do with the ponytail palm, but I love your crinum

Regards, Ari

[Walter John]

my pony

[Walt]

I always thought of those new spurts as new heads of the plant, not new branches, that's just me. I guess they are branches though. I've got one to plant still, haven't sorted out where yet.

Here's a little fact sheet for the hell of it.

The Pony Tail plant makes an ideal plant for a tub specimen. Once known as Beaucarnea recurvata it is now generally accepted as Nolina recurvata. Related to the yuccas, this evergreen small tree has adapted to its dry habitat in Mexico where they thrive for many years as patio specimens on natural water.

In areas of high summer rainfall they do well when given some shelter. They can only be grown in the ground in a frost-free dry climate. Nolina recurvata can be grown as an indoor plant in temperate areas. The main precaution when growing these plants is not to be tempted to over water them. These plants can store up to a years supply of water in their roots. As they age they develop swollen bases with tapering trunks, sprouting long, narrow leaves, often quite pendulous.

These plants need to be provided with well-drained soil and, although they will respond to being watered during summer, they should be kept dry during winter.

They are relatively slow growing and the roots are not very extensive so they can remain in a tub for a considerable time.

I agree with the fact sheet except for this one sentence: " They can only be grown in the ground in a frost-free dry climate."

I can state empirically that that isn't so, at least not in my case.

I get frost many days each winter. In fact, my ponytail palms have seen lows of -3C (short duration) with no damage. But lower than that they start to damage. Also, my average rainfall is relatively high, about 1300 MM/year. And to top it off, my largest ponytail receives all the rain that sheds of my roof! Of course, I do have sandy soil and the water percolates down fast.

The ponytail in my photo in front of my house by the covered entryway has never been damaged by cold/frost. But my ponytail planted away from the house and in the open was turned to mush down to the base back on January 5, 2001, when my open yard temperature dropped to -5.5 C (my coldest low temperature ever). It was after that it regrew 5-6 trunks.

[Walt]

Walt... nothing to do with the ponytail palm, but I love your crinum

Regards, Ari

Ari, I love crinum lilies myself. I have two queen Emmas, the one shown and another one to the left, just out of the photo. The one not seen is my mother plant. The one seen is a sucker I took fromt the mother some years ago. This is the first year the sucker bloomed.

Just this morning I separated 15 suckers from the mother plant of various sizes. There were still two suckers left on the plant but I just left them on and will get them later. I potted all the suckers up right away, as shown:

[Walt]

my pony

Looks like it's about time to get that pony in the ground!