Question
I have a pony tail palm that has been in my possession for about two years.   The plant is approximately 48" high in 10" pot.   I have had no problems with this plant, it has been beautiful until about last couple weeks.

The ends of the leaves started to brown, and now a considerable number of them have died off.   I have had several changes in the plant which could have caused this.  I live in the midwest, and first sign of spring, I set it out side to wash it off.   It sat out a few weeks, being brought in any night there was a chance for frost.   I also started using a small bit of liquid fertilizer.   I believe I have used minimal amounts, according to the directions, but it could have been overkill.   The other change is I have added a systemic bug control I picked up at the local nursery.   I applied this before any signs of the plant having problems.   Reason for the bug control is I developed aphids on another plant in the house, so the nursery recommended I use this on all my other plants.   Which concerns me, if it is the problem.

Other than sitting outside in some rain, I don't think the watering has changed on this plant.   It did receive a fair amount of watering while outside, and it did get blown over a time or two during winds.   Any ideas?

Answer
Rob,

You have said nothing about the amout of light it was receiving. It has been my experience that brown leaves on a ponytail palm are cased by either too little light or too much water. You should consider this a desert plant, it needs lots of light and very little water. In the winter I water it once every 3-4 weeks and in the spring and fall every 1-2 weeks. When it is around 70 degrees once a week and around 90 degrees twice a week and I live in northern Indiana. I doubt that the systemic caused it although I would not use a systemic on a plant with no signs of insects. I do not find that insects spread that easily. They have certain plants they like and my first line of defense is to spray insects with rubbing alcohol. That kills them on contact and frequently solves the problem especially this close to spring when most of the plants will go outside. Outside they get healthy enough that they fight insects off on their own plus there are good insects that attack the bad insects so you don't have near as much to worry about then.

Back in the 70's they had something called No Pest Strips. Those kept insects at bay. No Pest Strips disappeared for several years but now they have come back. I have an enclosed back porch where I keep a lot of my plants so now I am keeping 3 No Pest Strips there and putting all the plants that tend to have insect problems there. That is just a suggestion, if you have an area that you can put up a couple of No Pest Strips and put your buggy plants in that area it may save you from other problems. If you have any questions feel free to write again. Good luck.

Darlene