I'm new to having a ponytail palm, having received one as a Christmas gift this past year. It's been an indoor plant since that time, receiving mostly indirect light. I made the mistake of putting it outside in full sunlight for an afternoon. Some of the leaves now have some obvious sunburn damage. Other than this, have I caused irreparable damage to my plant? I've since brought it back inside but am upset at myself for not doing research before making such a drastic move.
If you spend 5 minutes in a closet and walk out into the sun, you'll be getting a dose of what you did with your plant. It will forgive you, but only if you treat it better. The light receptors of all houseplants need to be gently adjusted from in-going-out and vice-versa. From inside; to high shade, then dappled shade, to east sun, thence full sun, one week each step. Ponytail is not a full sun plant outdoors, but needs a good window indoors, but not a south window. Reverse the process in autumn and apply systemic insecticide (like Bayer tree or rose formula) and spray with Neem or any hort oil at the beginning of the inbound cycle. Expect that it will replace all the leaves every year with the eldest (lowest or inner-most) dying one at a time. Let them fall off to keep the trunk scars clean. If it's in ordinary dirt, don't feed it. Repot every ~5 years or so in ordinary top soil, NOT using "potting mix/soil" which has too much ground up newspaper. Water it indoors once a week with a volume of water equal to 15 to 20% of the soil in the pot. Outdoors, hose it down once any week it doesn't rain. This process is intended to keep the plant the same size, ~or so.
Thank you so much for these helpful tips. She's definitely my favorite of all my plants and I'm bummed I acted without thinking it through. Other than the sunburn she's treated quite well. I'm glad to hear that this isn't damage I can't pull her through.
