Ponytail Palm

Hello there- I've got a ponytail palm that has always been in a container, probably root bound but has thrived. It's about 3 or 4 yrs. old and lives outside on my pation.It's been losing its leaves (theyre turning orange-ish yellow and fall off) I'm trying to understand what this means. Too much water...not enough...? Thank you for your help and thank you Mitch for your very kind and helpful email. Thanks for making me feel welcomed.

Poneytail Palm will thrive on neglect and grow to the size of it's container. Is it getting enough light? How often do you water?

Yes it gets full sunlight, watering is
intermittent, not on a consistent schedule. I know some loss of leaves is normal,maybe I'm not watering it enough?

How often are you watering? Probably not a watering problem if you are watering the same as before and its just now getting yellow leaves. It could either be that the container is now too small for the size it has become and/or you need to hit it with some high nitrogen fertilizer. I would use some high N fertilizer and wait a month or so. If the new leaves aren't looking vibrant green and the older leaves are still becoming yellow and dropping, I'd say its time to transplant.

Good luck!

Thank you plantnerd! I for one am GLAD your a 'plantnerd" lol!!! I'll try the fertilizer as you said. Blessings

Hi Lillys,
I'm not sure how large your plant is in relation to the diameter of the pot, they can almost fill the top of the pot. However if you want the plant to look its best, it should have some room to grow. If there is less than 1.5" between the trunk and the pot, I would find a larger pot, something that might give about 4" of room all the way around, for the plant to grow. I know this would be a large increase in size, but you probably would not need to change it again for about 5 or 6 years. (the pot doesn't not have to be very deep) Try to find a good potting soil that drains well to pot it in. For nicer foliage feed with a plant food fairly high in nitrogen probably bi-monthly. (I would use a dry orgainc plant food)
If you don't want to repot the plant it will probably survive for several years in the pot that it is in, but the leaves will probably be smaller and fewer as time goes by, they need very little to survive, but if you want it to really LOOK NICE you should probably repot it using some fresh potting mix, and room to grow.