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Ponytail palm.
Ponytail palm. Photograph: Getty Images
Ponytail palm. Photograph: Getty Images

Ask Alys: my ponytail palm is lopsided

This article is more than 7 years old

Alys Fowler suggests how to revive this houseplant

I rescued a ponytail palm that had several growing points at the top of the trunk, but only one had leaves. This is flourishing, but the others remain leafless and dead-looking. The plant seems healthy overall, but it looks lopsided. What can I do?

One side is flourishing, which is a great sign. The simplest trick would be to cut off the top just below the good growth. Seal with wax if you can and wait several weeks, making sure that the plant doesn’t dry out completely around the base, but keeping watering to the bare minimum. I’ll bet good money that new growth will then appear evenly around the top of the plant.

Ponytail palms (Beaucarnea recurvata) are multiheaded because someone pruned them in the nursery to promote bushy growth. You’ll do the same when you hack the head off (you may need to use a saw to do this cleanly).

You can take a gamble that the healthy part of the top you cut off will re-root if you pot it up. This can be a slow process and the leaves may die back, but it often works. A little rooting hormone wouldn’t go amiss. Don’t let it dry out, but don’t overwater or it will rot. Good luck.

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