Yes, leaves turn reddish with some direct sun. If it progresses to brown, it may have gotten burned. If plants have been inside, and are then suddenly exposed to significant direct sun outside, that can burn leaves that would have been fine with that exposure if that's what it had been getting all along. Going from inside to direct sun outside usually requires a gradual acclimation to avoid burning leaves.

That's good to see. Thanks for including the photo, Tiffany. That's a nice-looking planter you have there. What's your top dressing?

TY! It's aquarium gravel, only on the top. DH made the planter for me. ;)

I never thought of aquarium gravel. Doh! Good idea. It looks really nice.

In my experience, ponytail palms are highly resistant to sunburn. Other plants develop a similar reddish appearance when they're receiving adequate lighting. Some people like to think of it as a plant's version of a suntan. Both of your plants look very healthy and happy. Way to grow!

My ponytail is getting red from the inside as well. I was wondering if it was stressed because I just repotted it into a smaller bowl. It was very very green and now its getting that red tint from the middle and just like someone else just said, its not yellow or brown or burnt anywhere.

Red on mine grew out over the summer. I still think it was because it had some pale leaves due to previous over-watering that then got a lot of direct sun when I bought it. We're those center leaves on yours a bit pale before they turned red? Does it get direct sunshine? Did you change the medium when you reported it? Is it wetter in its new container? Is it cooler now than it was? Temperature might also play a role.

in any case, red appears to be perfectly normal and healthy, and not an indication of any decline in health. Many succulents turn red in direct sunlight when the weather begins to cool. I suspect it's the same mechanism.

Ruby ponytail—Beaucarnia Guatemalensis. ♥️. The red is different depending on the amount of light the plant gets.

FWIW: The green pigment, chlorophyll, is nature's sunscreen for plants.

If the expression of purple foliage not a genetic trait, the most common cause of unnaturally purple leaves is a deficiency of phosphorus (P) because P is required to make ATP and ATP is needed to turn sugars to starch and to load sugar into phloem for transport. No P - no ATP - no move sugars/starches - anthocyanin (purple pigment) builds up - plant turns purple. The most frequent cause of a P deficiency is cold soils, which is why so many plants planted out too early turn purple.

A P(hosphorous) deficiency is not the only suspect cause of purple leaves. Nearly any environmental condition that puts the brakes on growth and the accompanying use of sugars, but does not limit sugar production (photosynthesis) can cause anthocyanin buildup and purple leaves.

If only the outer edges of the leaves are purple, it may be a K or Mg deficiency. If the center of the leaves are also purple, it could be too much Ca in the soil or the result of too much water in the soil blocking uptake of P, Ca, and Mg.

Do not apply a fertilizer with the middle number higher than either of the other two numbers (N & K) to containerized plants. There is never a need for that much P (relative to N) in container culture unless you're supplying only N in another form. Plants use about 6 times more N than P and the massive doses of P in 'bloom-booster fertilizers' cannot do any good.

Al

An update on my plant pictured above 7 yrs ago.

This is my fav view:

Strong work, Tiff!

Al

Thank you very much! I ignored the traditional advice by giving it an enormous pot, plenty of water and morning sun. I have no doubt these plants are amazing survivors, but I don't want a survivor-looking plant.

A pic with more light, from this morning.

Well said. : )

I think people conflate thriving and surviving, conditions that a plant survived with pics of thriving plants. Then they do the neglect tactics (bad plan), their plant looks terrible, and then come to places like this to ask why it's not thriving. If you advise to give it more space, light, water, everyone else pops up to say their plant doesn't need those things.

It was pics of those plants that are "surviving just fine" that caused me to want to do the opposite of the usual advice. I don't want leaves that are half brown, or that go straight down the side of the trunk and look like the plant is melting. I like the upright version of the foliage and I do trim an occasional tip, but I think my plants' leaves are much more green and healthy.

The same thing happens a lot with succulents. They see pics of pampered plants, treat them like "natural habitat / survivors", and then wonder why their plant doesn't look pampered.

I agree. A green thumb is not something that automatically comes if you grow plants long enough, expecting it to at some point be bestowed upon you. No, it is not something you simply wait for, it is something which must be sought if it is to be achieved. Our efforts can't be expected to amount to more than an exercise in futility when we use the same thinking to solve our problems as the thinking which brought those problems to our door. Change might not always bring growth, but without change there can be no growth.

I posted a thread a while ago (14 yrs) about how the willingness to change how we approach plant care. That could be read as 'change with the times' as new knowledge and techniques become available, or it could be that a change to a more productive and rewarding method will offer greater return and rewards from our gardening experience. Find it here: You Gotta Change, Man!Please comment if you have anything to contribute. It'll be just like a new thread.

Al

I certainly could use help with my pony tail palm. Some of my plants are 52 years old and I usually have wonderful looking plants, but I am not doing well with this pony tail palm. I repotted it when I bought it, and I have repotted it again this summer because I was wondering if the soil was not good as the leaves are thin and getting red. I've tried watering it once a month, then once every two weeks, but see no difference in watering schedule. Our summer has been one from hell with rain almost every single day. It's outside but sheltered from the rain and getting as much sun as I can possilbly get for it. It has grown but it does not look like other pony tail palms. I wish I could include a photo but I'm not there tech wise yet.

Some of your plants are old, but:

* How old is your PTP and how long have you had it?

An image of the plant and the pot it's in is pretty important. Maybe you could send me a message with an image or work on figuring out how to upload one.

* If your plant is anywhere near 50 years old and has only been repotted twice, root congestion will have been taking a horrible toll on the plant's potential in terms of growth rate, vitality, and its ability to defend itself against disease pathogens and insect herbivory.

* Did you really repot it (includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a chance of soil) or did you simply pot up. If the later, root congestion is still robbing your plants of an extremely large fraction of its potential.

* Do you fertilize regularly? with what? how often? Include NPK % of the fertilizer product, please.

* The new pot does ave a drain hole, right?

* How do you determine when it's time to water your plant?

* Do you have a water softening system that uses salt as the exchange medium?

If the soil you chose drains appropriately, lots of rain shouldn't be an issue. I have all sorts of succulents in pots and I don't need to do anything to protect them from long periods of rain, but the grow medium I use for succulents is designed to hold VERY little water between soil particles.

THAT is the water that causes problems with root function and root health.

Let's see your answers offer more insight into what might be going on, but an image is worth 1,000 words.

Al

My rare Ponytail Palm. This is what a healthy rare looks like. It's about 4 years old and actual color is deep green and dark purple leaves. My camera color corrects. The guy actually looks to have over parented his palm lol