I recently repotted a ponytail palm (beaucarnia recurvata) that has had fading leaves for the past few months, maybe a year. Actually, there were eight separate plants in the pot. When I repotted it I separated the plants so that there are now five, and all of the "feet" are in contact with the soil. When I removed the plants from their pot I realized that they were so rootboud that they were not accepting water. I trimmed the roots as I removed three plants to a separate container. Question: Is there a solution I can spray onto the leaves to re-green them? They are not dying, but they were nutrient and water deprived for a long time. Or could I "hang" the plant and soak the tops occasionally in something that has iron in it to color up the leaves? Dale
Naturally the leaves of Ponytail palm are a faded or dull green, you can try giving them fertilizer and that will help if the are lacking and may make the leaves a bit greener.
Lack of water from being root-bound could have caused the leaves to become a more duller green color than usual. Give the plant (s) time to adjust to having better contact with the soil and see if the leaves don't darken up a bit. Some diluted fertilizer like James mention could also help.
Thanks for your replies! I am used to the leaves usually being dark gray-green, and because they are now lighter due to the stress (I think), I was hoping for a fix for the old leaves. I will fertilize lightly for the emerging leaves. Since the plant is fairly slow growing I was hoping that I could help the older leaves recover. Have you had experience with iron in solution sprayed on leaves?
