I keep my few houseplants outside during summer. Moving them inside and wondering if I should pot up my ponytail plant? It's been in this pot for about 2-3 years I think. Pot is 8" high with top diameter of 9". There are some roots coming out of the drain hole, but not totally jammed up. Thanks for any suggestions.

I would repot, just to refresh the soil, trim some roots, but will hold off till Spring to do it.

You could probably place it back in the same pot after root pruning. These don't have extensive root systems and don't necessarily need large pots. I've seen a 6ft specimen in a pot thay wasn't that much wider than the caudex (base). It was a taller pot though, so it did have room to spread roots. But, I think I remember the owner mentioning it had been in that pot for years, she'd just root prune it every couple years and back it'd go.

Planto

Thanks. We had a much older one in my old workplace and it was also in a taller pot (to accommodate the weeping leaves which hung down to the floor) and as I recall the caudex (new word for me) was huge and not that far from the sides of the pot. I took on the responsibility to water the plants between visits from our Plant Lady and she told me to be pretty stingy with the water because the caudex stored water for later use. Sounds like repotting in the spring with some root pruning should do it for this guy. How much does one prune on the roots?

No more than half, but a third of the root ball would be fine.

Planto

Thanks so much. Newly discovered forum for me, which I intend to make good use of - my luck with house plants is abyssmal, so I thought I would take it one plant at a time until I get the hang of their needs.

You're welcome! I am by no means an expert myself and always have something to learn. I'm glad you decided to come on over to this forum, there are lots of helpful and friendly folks here.

Sometimes the plants we try are not easy to begin with and we think it's a black thumb or other cause, when the plant was just fussy to start with. I'm sure that your houseplant thumb is greener than you think and it may just take some time to figure out what works for you!

Plants I would recommend if you don't already own them are 'Golden Pothos,' 'Heart-Leaf Philodendron, and 'Spider Plant.' These can tolerate a wide range of conditions and should help you with gaining confidence in your ability to take care of houseplants.

Your 'Ponytail Palm' looks happy from what I can tell. They also are known to be easy.

Planto