I had been having problems with my yucca. The leaves were yellowing and dropping off. Well, today I discovered that the main trunk was all mushy and stinky and was oozing liquid. There were 4 healthy sets of branches on top which, on cutting, seemed to be ok. No sign of rot. Can they be grown into plants. If so, how? I have just stuck them into soil.

yes, the babies will root. putting them in the soil was the correct thing to do.

I'd let them dry off and calouse over before planting. You don't want to rot them from an open end. Then water VERY sparingly.

good point, margaret! i hadn't thought about that! i was given some babies in a trade...i don't remember if she'd cut them that morning or a day or two beforehand (i think it was a mix of both).

i planted them, watered them once or twice and then forgot about them (my bad!). they're doing fine tho...whatever rain (in aug/sept/oct) we got seems to have been enough. plus we had an extended fall, so they had more time to get some roots going.

if you're in one of the more rainy areas, you probably won't need to worry about watering them too often.

Thanks for all the advice.