ponytail bonzia

Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:33 pm

Hello , I've read threw most of the forums on this sight and I was not able to get the answers my question so i'll try asking here and hope to hear back from someone. Last spring I bought a bonzia tree (ponytail) at a garden shop here in florida . He's doing really great and I love it . My question is . I have at the top of the trunk little branches of baby truck like growing, they look very healthy . My question is can I cut them little branches off and try to get grouth out of them ? And also I still have the little pepples on the soil of my bonzia's and I read that they should be removed when bringing it home. Why? Does it harm the bonzia? And one last question I have a reg. Bonzia and he's just a little baby I bought at a flea market this past summer and He gets dried out and his follage starts to turn brown and dies off so I but him an my autraium with peat moss and some air plants, is that a good ideal to keep him moist or not. I would any help I can get and anything else that might be helpful Thank you
Linda

Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:21 pm

Linda,

I've read threw most of the forums on this sight and I was not able to get the answers my question so I'll try asking here and hope to hear back from someone. Last spring I bought a bonzia tree (ponytail) at a garden shop here in florida . He's doing really great and I love it .

If by "ponytail" you mean Ponytail Palm it is not really a traditional bonsai specimen. That is why you are not able to locate information about it here. Sorry I cant answer your question, but I would be conservative about cutting it back until I knew how it would respond. Perhaps a houseplant forum would be a better bet.

I still have the little pepples on the soil of my bonzia's and I read that they should be removed when bringing it home. Why? Does it harm the bonzia?

Grit in the soil is good. Even a topdressing of pebbles is OK. Problems arise when they are glued to the surface of the soil in a sheet. This makes judging the condition of the soil difficult and inhibits thorough watering. They are put there as a shipping aid, not for the health of your plant.

I have a reg. Bonzia and he's just a little baby I bought at a flea market this past summer and He gets dried out and his follage starts to turn brown and dies off so I but him an my autraium with peat moss and some air plants, is that a good ideal to keep him moist or not.

If the pot is small it will require more frequent watering, it is up to you to manage them appropriately. I check my trees daily in the summer. One trick that people who grow small bonsai (mame) do is to take your small pot and bury it up to the rim in a larger pot that is filled with sand or fine gravel that is kept moist. This moderates the temperature swings that can occur in small pots and takes some of the pressure off you in regards to watering constantly.

Norm

Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:06 pm

Hi Linda,

Welcome to The Helpful Gardener. I feel Norm has done a great job of answering most of your questions so I won't repeat those.

I have at the top of the trunk little branches of baby truck like growing, they look very healthy . My question is can I cut them little branches off and try to get grouth out of them ?

I'm not sure what you are describing. Let's make sure we know which plant you are referring to. Using common names can be confusing. Beaucarnea recurvata is the only pony tail plant that comes to mind for me. Is this your plant?
http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50195839/B ... urvata.jpg

Newt

Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:42 am

No , mine has got a truck like a tree and the leaves are like curly sues

Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:15 am

Linda, how about a picture?

Newt

Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:55 am

I'll try and get one up today , I did some reserch on this and I'm thinking from the pitures i;ve seen it;s a ( palm ponytail ) i;ll get pics up soon ,
thanks Linda

Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:43 pm

Linda, palm ponytail and ponytail palm are the same plant I described and gave you a link for. Do you have a link you can post so I can see that too?

Newt

Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:15 pm

No I don'e have the link the only one I have is this one http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50195839/B ... urvata.jpg
This one do's not look any thing like mine . I will get a pic soon.

Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:57 pm

Linda, here's a bunch of pics of different sized pony tail plams.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q ... rch+Images

Does your plant look like any of those?
Newt

Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:48 am

Yes the I have is 1st roll 2nd one in from the left . I would put the pic up of it but I have no ideal how to .

Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:25 am

Linda, that's great news! To post the picture it must be at a URL where all that shows on the page is the picture. Then click on Img above the reply box you are typing in, paste the URL and click Img again. This is the one you selected. Another option is to have your photo at a site like photobucket and copy and paste the link as you've already done.

So back to your original question.

I have at the top of the trunk little branches of baby truck like growing, they look very healthy . My question is can I cut them little branches off and try to get grouth out of them ?

It sounds like you either have flower stalks starting to form or have new tufts of leaves starting at the top of the plant. If they are flower spikes you are very fortunate as they rarely bloom when grown in a pot. If it does bloom you can collect the seed and plant those. Offsets aka new plantlets will form at the base. These sites explain how to propagate from those.

Here's some sites with growing and propagating info on them. Hopefully someone else will have more info on propagating these plants.
http://www.briansgarden.com/questions/010908q.html
http://www.emilycompost.com/ponytail%20palm.htm
http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week191.shtml
http://www.maasnursery.com/ponytailpalm.htm

Btw, did you ever discover if the pebbles are glued down to the top of the soil?

Newt

Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:29 pm

Yes , that is the pony tail I have. The little things i;ve said was growing is at the very top They don;t look like they are going to bloom . They look like new branches starting, and they have the curly long leaves on them. and YES the pebbels are glued on the top of the soil.
Thanks for the links i;ll check them out and thanks alot for your help
Linda

Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:39 pm

should i take the pepples off or leave them ?

Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:53 pm

I would say to remove them though I haven't seen a picture. Without them you will more easily be able to check the soil to see how wet or dry it is. If your pony tail is as large as the picture I posted, it's quite old and it would be a shame to overwater it.

Newt

Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:57 pm

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ponytail bonzia

ponytail bonzia

finally pictures