Hello -

Ponytail palm showed dark brown tip leaves in about late December. The pot is about 12 inch nursery pot it came in from store. I tested the soil with a meter and it read the bottom half of the pot was 4 (9 being soaked, 0 dry) .I took the plant out and at the time the roots were white/healthy. I let the plant dry out.

A month later (2 days ago) I checked it and soil was thoroughly dry. I pull the plant out today and the roots are like weak straws, some of them actually come off from the process and are very weak.

I am unsure what to do. I am going to get a smaller terra cotta, and new soil mix today.

Moisture meters are not to be taken literally, that is until you have calibrated them against some other independent assessment. The number they give you is good in a relative sense, ie. 7 is more moist than 4, but it can't be used to determine when to water until you pin down what the number actually means, using the finger test or a chopstick or something else.

As for the plant in question, let me try to get the story straight. You got it in a 12 inch pot, measured 4 with the meter, and inspected visually. Did the visual evidence support the number you got from the meter? Would you say the soil was almost dry at that point? Then you let a month pass without watering, and the roots were giving way at that point. Right? This would suggest the plant was overwatered in the retail location before you got it, and nothing you did would have changed or reversed that.

At this point pot up the plant in the new pot, using soil that is about 50% pumice/perlite/gritty equivalent. If the soil you bought doesn't have enough rock in it, mix in some more. Be sure not to water immediately after potting it up. Wait a week or two.

Provide the strongest light you possibly can if this will be an indoor plant. Like right in front of your sunniest southerly-facing window (assuming you're in the northern hemisphere). Given room temperature conditions (high temps around 65-70°F) and strong light, you might end up needing to water every 2 weeks. The meter can be useful to figure this out, but only if you have a sense of what number correlates with the soil being almost dry based on some other indicator.

Thank you for the info -
To follow up;

"As for the plant in question, let me try to get the story straight. You got it in a 12 inch pot, measured 4 with the meter, and inspected visually. Did the visual evidence support the number you got from the meter? Would you say the soil was almost dry at that point? Then you let a month pass without watering, and the roots were giving way at that point. Right? This would suggest the plant was overwatered in the retail location before you got it, and nothing you did would have changed or reversed that"

I purchased in September. I watered it 1-2 times from purchase to January. The meter did ring true as the bottom half the soil was moist but the top wasn't. The inspection today showed the clustered center root ball was moist, but the surrounding roots were dry/weak. A good amount of the root network fell off the bottom half of the root system.

The part about the retail overwatering does seem true as when i purchased it i did notice slightly darker caudex base.


**EDIT -
I did not place in original post that I had thoroughly watered it 2 days ago as the soil was completely dry.

Thank you for the clarification.

The only part that really matters (at least in my opinion) is the soil at the bottom. The top half is always going to be drier, at least if you water deeply like I would recommend, and that's partly why it can be a challenge some times to figure out what's going on underneath. Because the top layer will feel dry long before the bottom layer is actually dry. That said, the important aspect is to wait until the soil is dry or almost dry at depth. There is no advantage to allowing the soil to sit bone dry for any extended period. However there is an increased risk of rot if you do not allow it to dry out enough often enough.

The roots falling off the bottom half would tend to suggest that's exactly what happened here. It's not necessarily anything devastating for the plant. If you allow it to dry out all the way before you water, that will help. At this point you need whatever's left in terms of healthy roots to heal and renew. These are very resilient plants when given strong light and a good wet-dry cycle. Maybe when you repot you might remove any roots that seem affected, beyond whatever falls away from the plant without help. Don't go in there and totally bare-root the plant necessarily (potential harm without potential benefit) but be attentive to the roots upon repotting, keep the good ones and discard whatever's obviously affected.

Baja_Costero said:Thank you for the clarification.

The only part that really matters (at least in my opinion) is the soil at the bottom. The top half is always going to be drier, at least if you water deeply like I would recommend, and that's partly why it can be a challenge some times to figure out what's going on underneath. Because the top layer will feel dry long before the bottom layer is actually dry. That said, the important aspect is to wait until the soil is dry or almost dry at depth. There is no advantage to allowing the soil to sit bone dry for any extended period. However there is an increased risk of rot if you do not allow it to dry out enough often enough.

The roots falling off the bottom half would tend to suggest that's exactly what happened here. It's not necessarily anything devastating for the plant. If you allow it to dry out all the way before you water, that will help. At this point you need whatever's left in terms of healthy roots to heal and renew. These are very resilient plants when given strong light and a good wet-dry cycle. Maybe when you repot you might remove any roots that seem affected, beyond whatever falls away from the plant without help. Don't go in there and totally bare-root the plant necessarily (potential harm without potential benefit) but be attentive to the roots upon repotting, keep the good ones and discard whatever's obviously affected.

I will trim roots tonight. Finding the appropriate soil will be hard this late in the day, would it be okay to leave it out and let it air dry over night?
Also, when I do trim the roots - do i just trim the ones that are dark and/or feel like weak straws?

*edit another important note; in the middle of this palm was about 5 ft from a wall heater which is also about the time the leaves went brown

It will be fine sitting out of a pot overnight. People send these plants bare-root in the mail, meaning they sit in a box for days with no soil or pot, and everything works out in the end.

I would not actually prune the roots unless you identify something that is wet and mushy and fetid. If they're dead or weak, they'll give way easily under tension. You can give the base of the plant a gentle shake, let a bit of soil fall, and maybe then you will be able to see more clearly if there's active rot or just the aftermath of some previous episode.

Do you have a sunny window that's not as close to the heater?

I have a spot that has a high end growing light - all my other plants thrive near it.

Baja_Costero said:It will be fine sitting out of a pot overnight. People send these plants bare-root in the mail, meaning they sit in a box for days with no soil or pot, and everything works out in the end.

I would not actually prune the roots unless you identify something that is wet and mushy and fetid. If they're dead or weak, they'll give way easily under tension. You can give the base of the plant a gentle shake, let a bit of soil fall, and maybe then you will be able to see more clearly if there's active rot or just the aftermath of some previous episode.

Do you have a sunny window that's not as close to the heater?

Hey again -

So, i repotted and moved the specimen to a bright location. The ponytail has two "towers" or large branches stemming from caudex.
One tower is fine. The other is questionable. I took some cuts off the tips to try and promote growth and it doesnt look healthy. I pressed the top inch of this stem/tower and it gives. It feels like a paper bag covering wood when I press it. The bottom of that stem is fine though, it's firm. As for the other stem its pumping out some new leafs and is firm.

That does not sound great, but I wouldn't take action if it stays as you describe (paper bag covering wood), doesn't soften, and doesn't advance rapidly down the stem.

Not sure where you cut to promote growth. From what I can tell in those last two pictures, somebody cut the top of that main stem (A circled in red here) in the past



and then 4-5 branches appeared at the site of the cut, at least one of which toward the back seem to be going strong, 2 of which toward the front (B and C circled in red here) died back or were cut off at the base.



Given that history, I don't think the two stems that died back or were cut are going to do any more growing, and I don't think there is any benefit to cutting them back to promote growth. The ones that are still going strong will dominate the plant in the future and this other stuff will seem smaller and less concerning in comparison. The important thing is that that main stem (one of two towers as you describe them) has leaves somewhere at the top of it.

When you say you pressed and it felt soft, are you referring to A, B, or C?

Baja_Costero said:That does not sound great, but I wouldn't take action if it stays as you describe (paper bag covering wood), doesn't soften, and doesn't advance rapidly down the stem.

Not sure where you cut to promote growth. From what I can tell in those last two pictures, somebody cut the top of that main stem (A circled in red here) in the past



and then 4-5 branches appeared at the site of the cut, at least one of which toward the back seem to be going strong, 2 of which toward the front (B and C circled in red here) died back or were cut off at the base.



Given that history, I don't think the two stems that died back or were cut are going to do any more growing, and I don't think there is any benefit to cutting them back to promote growth. The ones that are still going strong will dominate the plant in the future and this other stuff will seem smaller and less concerning in comparison. The important thing is that that main stem (one of two towers as you describe them) has leaves somewhere at the top of it.

When you say you pressed and it felt soft, are you referring to A, B, or C?

Hi again,

When i say they feel soft and have a give to them I am referring to the top bit of the stem tower. In this attached pic, I drew a red line right below where A) there is a slight give to the plant B) seems to be where the ponytail was cut off last time.

OK, I see now. I guess just wait and watch and see if it progresses, but it would appear that the stem is dying back. If the softness does not progress, you can cut below that point in spring if you like.