A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Yuccas in big trouble !!!

I hope someone can help please. I have two 5ft potted Yuccas, bought in December last year when they were pristine !!! not so now, I put them on my balcony and subjected them to some pretty nasty winter storms, they began to look well, ragged, so brought them into the house, and a couple of weeks later they are looking even worse - yellowing, brown and crispy leaves, oh dear ! is there any hope at all ??? indoor temp around 65f. Grateful thanks in advance...

Katerina,
I always thought Yucca's were outdoor plants.
Is this your plant???
Adams Needle/Yucca

If it is, they are VERY WINTER HARDY, we have them here in my zone 5 and are green in the winter and peak thru the snow.

So, leaving it out should have been ok!

I think bringing it back into the house is when
you might have run into your trouble...
It was able to go dormant for the cold weather,
and by pulling it back in, it might have gotten shocked..

Altough when in the spring *here* the Yucca's do go thru a period of looking quite ragged because they have the dead or dying branches that survived the winter, that are now dying and making room for the new grows.

The only one negative thing is (*and I'm not 100% on this) but leaving the pot on the porch part where the roots can get cold from underneath isn't always so good for a plant...it freezes the root system.
But again, Yucca's are pretty hardy????

So, what to do????

I am a great experimentor so, if you would like to do one thing with each or pick one....
Up to you...
but if you have 3, I'd leave one indoors, and pull off the dead yucky looking leaves and leave by a cooler window...not toooo much water either.
And put outside come spring time.
The other, I'd put out side, and in a protected area, and put some chopped leaves around the pot or put into a compost pile or somewhere's where the bottom of the pot has no air between it and the soil/ground.
Or into a side garage area or somewhere's out of the winter elements, so it can go dormant...
Leave it so it has light though.

Anything sound like it could work for you???

Also, if there's anything I wrote you didn't quite understand, don't hesitate to ask again,
sometimes I get side tracked and might miss a spot of info here and there..

Weezie

I clicked on my email notification box,
so I'll keep an eye on the topic...

Would also love

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply - I shall certainly try out your suggestions. I am told that the type of Yucca I have is Elephantipes ??? it has a trunk, does that make sense ? I actually did not give you this information initially - sorry !, it does look very similar to the ones you show on your link though.

Fingers crossed and I hope they can be saved.

Thanks again.

Katerina,
The name you gave me
Spineless Yucca (Yucca elephantipes)
Those should stay either indoors
for growing zone's 3~8......
It's suited for outdoors in zones 9~11.

Do you know your growing zone where you live??
*I see you have Gozo, Malta? I assume it's
pretty warm there???
I did a google search and it had alot of travel to there, looked heavenly!!!!

Weezie

Hi there

Thanks for your note. Yes, those are definitely the ones as shown in your latest link !

We would be in zone 11 here in Gozo, I'd say, very hot summers, but mild damp winters, however, we've had a pretty cold winter this year, more significant is the wind, we live in a hilltop village and have clocked up force 9 winds which my Yuccas have not enjoyed. But I am hoping they just might recover...

Those should grow ok outdoors,but think would do better in ground.the winds if cold could do damage to the foliage,but new would grow back.I have a spineless yucca.it was crammed growing with a double trunk in a 5 gallon pot.Its in the ground now.its bout 9 feet tall.

If you do a forum search for yuccas.I answered one recently and I posted a page about cold hardiness for diffeent yucca.I got just TOO MANY windows open,but you'll see all yucca posts.in spring your yucca's appearance will improve you can remove some of the ratty looking foliage.


and thanks for stopping in!And being your climates my kinda garden stuff I like.....what else ya growing?See any Brugmansias there?I just Them :rolleyes: