Free Pony-tail palm. Pick-up only.

Throw in the box of wine and I'll come pick it up. How does it do in -20f winters?

 

I think that is an elephant foot not a pony tail. A pony tail has a rounder base that makes pups and the leafs are less corse. I have an elephants foot that I bought 35 years ago in a 4in pot, I've had to top it a few times in the last 12 or so years, it has so many leads now that I'm thinking I may need to thin it out. It is a house plant, a few years ago it busted out of it's 20 gal. plastic pot. A friend helped me spread a tarp on the living room white carpet to repot it into a huge shallow ceramic pot, it makes very few roots and the ones it did have were very thin, I lost a number of them in the repot, I thought I might loose the plant, it took about 2 years to bounce back after that. It's real close to the ceiling again, a friend topped his and put the top in a pot of moss, it's growing, think I'll give that a try and have some to share.

 

thanks for the site, all these years I thought they were 2 different plants...

 

It seems to enjoy turtle fertilizer.

 

And I thought *mine* was big. I just topped mine for the first time ever this past year after growing the silly thing since the late 80s. Now there are three new leads sprouting from the top. I have to drag the beast back and forth in the spring and fall. At some point, that will have to stop I guess. Same with my staghorn fern. What does one do with a plant when it gets too big to manage? Maybe I'll get lucky and the end of the world will come before I have to deal with it.

 

U offering to dig it up?
Why not top it severely and mount the trunk with orchids, I have a neighbor friend who has one substantially larger than your pictured plant and is LOADED with all kinds of orchids... Rumor has it you're coming to Redlands this year Dale... can it be true...?

 

I am all for the "wrap a chain around it and yank it out with a tractor" method.

 

+1. We'll also need video coverage, of course.

 

+2
wooT!

 

+3 on the video

PITA for sure, and they will cut you up

 

You're drinking boxed red wine now?
Or is that for the Tortises...

 

Dale, not sure if it's rooted like a 'regular palm', meaning fibrous and stranded roots versus a taproot, in which case the top will bend and or snap before you rip the roots out of the ground. If you're lucky it will be shallow rooted.
I recently removed a 7-8 ft phoenix roebellini and I had illusions of a chain and pickup pulling it out.... no chance, the trunk snapped and I had to dig around the fibers to eventually get it out of the ground.

Which ever method of removal you choose should make for some interesting pictures.