Repotting Beaucarnea recurvata

[Fairview]

Any pointers, advice, pitfalls to avoid in repotting would be appreciated. Lowes had them discounted 50% plus the 10% veteran's discount. Could not resist. Gonna be a pain wheeling them in and out of the garage during freezes this winter.

Thanks

Frank

Screenshot_20240829_170432_Gallery.jpg (477.88 KiB) Viewed 305 times

[BronxFatty]

I'll offer what I know from what I have read and from what the You-Tube videos suggest: Quick-draining mix that doesn't retain too much moisture... and use a pot slightly bigger in diameter than the caudex base. Videos tell viewers that these plants will rot if kept overly moist, and they need to dry out between waterings. Store plants in a warm area and give them good light, sun if you can, when inside a home for the winter months.

BTW, there are dozens of re-potting and cultural videos on You-Tube that cover Ponytail Palms.

Hope this helps, and good luck and happy growing.

[meridannight]

These are not root-sensitive in my experience, so standard repotting sense applies. Just get a good well-draining potting mix and up the size to last for the next 2 years, is my recommendation.

[Fairview]

@meridannight The water drains out from the bottom as quickly as I add it to the top. Roots are visible through the drainage holes.

In your opinion can I lightly cut the roots to help tease them apart. I think it's beyond the definition of root bound.

Thanks

Frank

[meridannight]

@meridannight The water drains out from the bottom as quickly as I add it to the top. Roots are visible through the drainage holes.

In your opinion can I lightly cut the roots to help tease them apart. I think it's beyond the definition of root bound.

Thanks

Frank

I always advise to disturb the roots as minimally as possible. But, yeah, if the plant is very root-bound sometimes you have to cut them apart. Should be fine with a Beaucarnea. I have repotted several of these and they don't seem to notice root disturbance.

[Fairview]

@meridannight The water drains out from the bottom as quickly as I add it to the top. Roots are visible through the drainage holes.

In your opinion can I lightly cut the roots to help tease them apart. I think it's beyond the definition of root bound.

Thanks

Frank

I always advise to disturb the roots as minimally as possible. But, yeah, if the plant is very root-bound sometimes you have to cut them apart. Should be fine with a Beaucarnea. I have repotted several of these and they don't seem to notice root disturbance.

Before and after pics. Not as bad as I thought it was however the roots were making the death circle at the bottom of the container.

Thanks for the info.

[meridannight]

Yeah, that wasn't too bad as far as being rootbound. Those are nice sized plants, and you have a good head start with them. Let us know how they do next summer.

[Agave_fan]

I understand your comment regarding the pain of moving larger plants inside during freezing temps which is why I started experimenting with some of these plants.

I had a b. recurvata similar to yours (previously posted about in a beaucarnea thread and my dioon thread) that was suggested could get down to 10F so I experimented by placing it in a raised bed. It handled some rough winters with covering so I replaced it a couple years ago with a larger beaucarnea which was labeled as guatemalensis. This one had a much larger and nicer trunk and three arms and was just a more impressive plant for the high visibility location.

The guatemalensis with burlap covering around the trunk and plastic tarp over the top has made it through the last two winters including this past Jan where we had four consistent days of freezing temps getting down as low as 12F. I am sure the lack of issues had a lot to do with the larger more developed base/trunk which is around a 38" circumference right now .

I am not suggesting that you take the chances that I do because others on this thread have reported losing beaucarnea when temps dipped into the 20s, I just wanted to share my experience that so far, the two beaucarnea I have gambled with outside here in Texas did well.

Attaching a few photos of the plant I purchased labeled as b. guatemalensis. The plant has grown immensely in the last two years and I am a bit disappointed that all the leaf growth has covered the arms and that beautiful trunk. Anyone trim their beaucarnea?

[Fairview]

@Agave_fan How do you tell the difference between the beaucarnea?

Once they make the trip from patio to garage they are going on this.

[Agave_fan]

@Agave_fan How do you tell the difference between the beaucarnea?

I don't. This is why I mentioned it was 'labeled as guatemalensis"

I do not have the expertise to tell these species apart and the information out there for telling the difference (length of leaf, edge sharpness, new red base leaf color, twisting of leaves, branching, sheen/gloss, depth of color, drape/hanging, smoothness) is sworn for some to be the bible and labeled as inaccurate by others.

I purchased this from a cactus/succulent shop which I have been going to for over a decade and which is typically pretty reliable on ID but.... any time you have a business with a dozen or more employees, labeling mistakes can happen.

The plant just stood out as different to me based upon the trunks and bark but this could simply be due to age/size. The leaves to me looked very similar to my recurvata, just longer and they stood tall longer on new growth before finally dropping under the weight of the long leaves. I really wish the leaves were shorter as they hide the arms and bark which was why I fell in love with the plant to begin with.

I have a couple b. gracilis on the way and these should be pretty easy to tell apart based on the leaves but as far as whether this is truly a b. guatemalensis, I cannot say with certainty.

I have not seen a dolly like yours before. Silly question but how do you move items on it? Is there a handle that attaches or do you have to bend and push it?

[nsp88]

I just wanted to share my experience that so far, the two beaucarnea I have gambled with outside here in Texas did well.

What general part of Texas are you in?

[Agave_fan]

The Austin area

[BronxFatty]

Interesting to read about the cold weather tolerance of Beaucarnea recurvata. The B. guatamalensis is supposed to be very similar to B. recurvata, except the former has red tinted leaf bases and slightly wider leaves....but both are essentially the same trees.

First time grower......I recently purchased a B. recurvata having a caudex base about 10 inches in diameter. The trunk had been chopped and a few new lweaves are starting to sprout from out of the side of the mainstem, around the location of cut. The cut was probably made a while ago and at this point the stem's fibrous pith has dried out and can be crumbled away. There is no evidence that the cut is starting to heal over and eventually cover the old wound with new bark. Should I remove as much of the dead, fibrous material as possible? Do freshly made cuts need to be sealed over with melted wax, glue, etc?

After pruning, or cutting back the trunks, how do these trees seal their open wounds? Will new bark eventually roll over the wound?

Thanks for tips and suggestions. BTW, my Ponytail Palm will spend the Zone 7b winter in my house, and under a high-intensity CFL.

[Agave_fan]

Interesting to read about the cold weather tolerance of Beaucarnea recurvata. The B. guatamalensis is supposed to be very similar to B. recurvata, except the former has red tinted leaf bases and slightly wider leaves....but both are essentially the same trees.

First time grower......I recently purchased a B. recurvata having a caudex base about 10 inches in diameter. The trunk had been chopped and a few new lweaves are starting to sprout from out of the side of the mainstem, around the location of cut. The cut was probably made a while ago and at this point the stem's fibrous pith has dried out and can be crumbled away. There is no evidence that the cut is starting to heal over and eventually cover the old wound with new bark. Should I remove as much of the dead, fibrous material as possible? Do freshly made cuts need to be sealed over with melted wax, glue, etc?

After pruning, or cutting back the trunks, how do these trees seal their open wounds? Will new bark eventually roll over the wound?

Thanks for tips and suggestions. BTW, my Ponytail Palm will spend the Zone 7b winter in my house, and under a high-intensity CFL.

Yes, some claim all guatamalensis have the red leaves, some that suggest the leaves flush out red and turn green, some that suggest that the red is at the very base of the leaf and others that claim some guatamalensis never demonstrate the red coloration at all in the leaves. With this varying information, I would suspect that anything that did flush out red that is not sun stress is more likely guatamalensis but lack of red does not exclude the species.

I am not certain exactly what you are describing with the cut and removing the dead fibrous material, can you share a photo of this?

Some places will actually make cut/slices into the top of the base of these plants to trigger it into sending up multiple trunks. I am not suggesting this is your situation, just that it is done by some nurseries/growers to trigger multiple trunks from the base.

I have no experience or expertise to advise on whether you should seal this area but my gut reaction would be not to seal it, I would let the plant do its thing and repair itself. My only interference would be to do what I could to keep the area from excessive moisture and the plant in proper conditions while it recovered. I also would not remove anything dried for fear that it could be part of the healing process but again, without a photo, not quite certain of the situation. Personally, I would probably do a light dusting of sulphur over the area as a fungi preventative if this were a rather new injury. I might even use a mixture of Sulphur with a little Indole-3-Butryic Acid (similar to what is naturally produced by many plants, especially fibrous ones) to see if this might promote faster healing of the area. I would keep a close watch to make certain the area does not become soft, discolored or odorous where I would need to take immediate surgical action to try to save the plant. Otherwise, I would be pretty hands-off in a diligent monitoring state.

There are people on here qualified to give more accurate advice that might even have direct experience with something like this, I can only give my uneducated spidey senses reaction of what I would do.

[Fairview]

I have not seen a dolly like yours before. Silly question but how do you move items on it? Is there a handle that attaches or do you have to bend and push it?

Yup, bend and push the pot. It will be about 2' off the ground. These are about a 1/3 the price of a furniture dolly which is why I'm going to try one.

[Agave_fan]

After pruning, or cutting back the trunks, how do these trees seal their open wounds? Will new bark eventually roll over the wound?

Sorry, I did not see this the first time around. Are you cutting back the trunk to be able to get this into your house for the winter or are you trying to promote more branches? If you are going for a larger caudex, I would not cut unless necessary to get it into the house.

Either way, the wound should dry up and seal itself but again, secure it so that there is not moisture to the area while it is healing. I always make a slanted cut on plants that are outdoors so that rain does not settle/pool on the dried up top but most of the Beaucarnea trunks I have seen cut in stores and nurseries have been sliced straight across so not sure if there is a specific reason to do that with this plant or they just assume that there will be no overhead water/rain and it looks more appealing? Although I have not cut Beaucarnea, I have cut many other things like columnar cacti and yucca and I just allow the cut area to heal over naturally or with a light dusting of sulphur or sulphur and Indole-3-Butryic Acid and I have not had one issue I can remember. The larger the diameter of the cut, the longer it takes to dry/heal over.

[Agave_fan]

I have not seen a dolly like yours before. Silly question but how do you move items on it? Is there a handle that attaches or do you have to bend and push it?

Yup, bend and push the pot. It will be about 2' off the ground. These are about a 1/3 the price of a furniture dolly which is why I'm going to try one.

I just took a peek at your dolly and I am not certain I have any pots that I move indoors that would work well on something that was only 6.5" in size even if I thought I could center it and bend and push this to where I needed it to go.

Let me know how it works for you when you use it and what types of pots you moved with it (solid ceramic/terra-cotta/plastic ect.) as I do keep some of my large heavy ceramic pots on Devault Enterprise caddies (six wheels) on my veranda for limited moving around when cleaning and this would be a less costly option if they work for just moving plants around a bit when necessary.

[BronxFatty]

Thanks for the quick and logical suggestions and answers to my trunk-chopping questions.

When I bought the plant just last week, the trunk had already been chopped back, the cut section was shriveled slightly, and the fibrous interior was in the process of drying out. A new sprout was starting at the side near the top of the cut.

When I got the plant home and after inspecting the area where the original trunk was chopped, I observed no evidence that any of the barky tissue was rolling over the exposed fibers to "heal" the cut. With pointed toenail cutters I carefully removed the dried out fibers, and tried to hollow out the cut stem, making it easier for the live "bark" to seal. The interior fibers broke away easily and the dried portion extended down the trunk for at least 2 inches below the top of the cut. Cleaning out the fibers, hoping to find some green tissue, I dug away into the chopped portion, Now, the chop was slanting downwards toward the base.

I think at this point, and because my growing season is about to end, I will leave the cut alone after dusting it with cinnamon. I'll do as you suggest to prevent any rot from starting, and play the wait-and-see game. In Nature, plants seem to heal and seal without human interfering in the process....but, they can also rot, too.

The original grower told me he chopped the tall trunk back to make the plant easier to handle. The base is massive, at least 10" in diameter and the weight of the plant including the container + substrate will break my back, or worse, give me a hernia.

I'm too old for this!

Thanks!...for the help.

[Agave_fan]

When I bought the plant just last week, the trunk had already been chopped back, the cut section was shriveled slightly, and the fibrous interior was in the process of drying out. A new sprout was starting at the side near the top of the cut.

When I got the plant home and after inspecting the area where the original trunk was chopped, I observed no evidence that any of the barky tissue was rolling over the exposed fibers to "heal" the cut. With pointed toenail cutters I carefully removed the dried out fibers, and tried to hollow out the cut stem, making it easier for the live "bark" to seal. The interior fibers broke away easily and the dried portion extended down the trunk for at least 2 inches below the top of the cut. Cleaning out the fibers, hoping to find some green tissue, I dug away into the chopped portion, Now, the chop was slanting downwards toward the base.

If you are referring to the top of the trunk where it was cut, I do not believe this will seal over with bark? I think it will just harden off but not certain it will ever be burl-like where the bark covers the top.

A lot of people use cinnamon for it's anti-fungal properties. I have never used it because when it first came to my attention years ago that people were using this and I did some research, I found a paper describing fungal diseases of the cinnamon plant itself and how they use copper and sulphur to treat so I just decided to just stick with my sulphur which I had been using for years and which was a lot cheaper.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[BronxFatty]

Didn't know that about using cinnamon dusting for fresh plant cuts. Now, I'm going shopping for copper fungicides.

Do Beaucarneas go through or have a dormancy period? I would guess that in Zone-7b growth would slow to a crawl during the shorter days, with lower light levels, and less frequent waterings. I will move my plant indoors for the winter month and try to give it as much light as possible. Temperatures inside my house will probably not go below 65*F (night) with 70*F day temps.

Just asking.....

[Agave_fan]

Didn't know that about using cinnamon dusting for fresh plant cuts. Now, I'm going shopping for copper fungicides.

I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with cinnamon and like I mentioned, some people swear by it. I just didn't see a benefit to paying the higher cost over sulphur. Perhaps there are some benefits I am not aware of.

I don't use copper anymore (haven't for a long time), I pretty much rely on the sulphur powder and I do like another product that uses bacteria to control and/or reduce some diseases and fungi called Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide. I have used this on everything from hawortha to pilosocereus to monstera. I think it works better in soils that stay a bit moist so it is always in my monstera routine.

Beaucarnea are said to have a fall/winter dormancy like many other plants but to be honest, I have not paid attention to growth during this time as I do nothing with the plants other than cover them for a freeze, I do not even provide supplemental watering during our droughts. I am am purposely tough on some (not all) of my plants.

I think your plan of action sounds good, move indoors, provide plenty of sun, reduce watering.

[BronxFatty]

Ok...cancel the copper fungicide and look for sulfur to kill pathogens on open cuts. Great news.

OK, so I'll proceed by my instincts and assume the Beaucarnea will slow down once I bring the plant into my home for the winter months. To be on the safer side, I'll reduce watering, taking my cues from the plant. I'll stick the plant under a high-intensity CFL, bathing the top leaves with light.

Thanks for the interest and helpful suggestions. I'm almost sure the Beaucarnea will do fine.