Yucca room - care and cultivation in Q&A

Yucca or dracena

Very often they ask how to distinguish yucca from dracena? There are species of dracena that look very similar to yucca, for example, Dracena aletriformis Dracaena aletriformis or species Dracena fragrant (massagena) Dracaena Massangeana (not variegated). The differences are as follows:

has small denticles along the edge of the leaf: noticeable roughness along the edge of the leaf, if drawn from the tip to the base
yucca leaves are tougher, denser, stick up straight on young tops
the edges of the leaves in yucca are usually straight, in dracena often with a slight waviness (the leaves themselves are softer)
top of the leaf ends with a spiky spike
are reddish, sometimes quite intense shade, dracen roots are always white
with the same crown size, the yucca trunk is always thicker than that of dracena

How to care for yucca

Question: Tell me how to take care of the yucca, different sites advise different things: will its trunk grow, or only leaves?

Natalie: Yucca loves sunlight, personally, she stands on the southern windowsill, which is not shaded by trees. In winter, there is always not enough light and the south window is just right. But in summer, sometimes you may need shading in the hottest hours - at noon on a sunny day. In the center of the room, yucca should not be placed at all, if it is large and grows in a tub or a large pot on the floor, then it must be placed at the window. It is necessary to water it so that the earth is not wet, the upper layer of the earth must necessarily dry out. Water should not remain on the pallet, but spray very well 2 times a day, but only in the heat, or if there is a battery nearby. At other times, there is absolutely no need to spray.

Yucca is too susceptible to overflow - it easily rots, so at the bottom of the pot make a drain and high enough, 2 fingers thick.

Care for Yucca at home - in the Encyclopedia of Houseplants section.

irina-bahus: Mine stands on the south window, I can't stand it on the balcony. Don't go hard with the watering and everything will be fine. A friend gave me a handle about 10 cm from the rotten trunk of her yucca. For three years, my "handle" has become more than a meter, the trunk has begun to settle. You have to transfer twice a year. Yes, and in winter, when the central heating, I spray all the flowers every day, and yucca too. I don't search in the summer, but mine is once a week - it stands in the kitchen.

Regarding the growth rate of yucca: it will grow from a small handle, but the trunk is not growing in height soon. On my yucca, the trunk was formed after two years, now it is 5 years old, the trunk is a little more than 20 cm, and the yucca itself is 2 meters.

barsuchok: the trunk grows very slowly in height, the foliage grows faster.

Question: transplanted Yucca after an overflow about 2-2.5 weeks ago. It stands unchanged, she has a leaf inside, so I go up every morning and see if he has grown up or not, if he has grown up, then the crisis has passed. And another question - is it important which room, south, west?

irina-bahus: Actually, it's not about the room, it's about the amount of light. There should be more light on the south, but if a house is blocked, a tree or something else, it can turn out the other way around. My yucca stands on the southern windowsill, it seems not to complain, but one of the forum members (Oksana) has a luxurious yucca in the entrance, where there is absolutely no light. Maybe daylight lamps are on there all the time, and fine. I usually determine that there is very little light when the plant either begins to sharply stretch towards the light, unnaturally stretch, or completely stops growing.

Gray: From personal experience there was exactly such a story and with my yucca I can say the following:

2-3 cm depth for transplantation normal deeper I do not advise - the trunk will bend!
Very careful watering! Better to underfill than pour!
No drafts!
Optimal temperature regime (within the limits of possibilities and real conditions of detention).
Do not cut off, do not cut off the yellowed sheets, let them fall away themselves.
Since the landing is not deep, prop up with 2-3 bamboo sticks, or plastic just non-iron metal has its own property of oxidizing, ruin the soil!
Most important coverage! Preferably in winter from 16 to 22 hours backlight!
If it is not near the battery, it is better not to spray it yet! From spring to September it is better to take it to the balcony, but remove it from the direct sun. During this period, I do not spray at all!

Yucca in Encyclopedia

Yucca

leaves dropped

Question: My yucca leaves do not stick up as they should, but hang down a little (like dracena) I spray, water after the ground is completely dry!

Natalie: If you have a large yucca, that is, the leaves are long (more than 20 cm), if it feels good, and there are no signs of ill health, then this drooping of leaves is normal. They droop as if from their own weight. However, if short leaves droop (up to 15-20 cm), especially if they are sluggish, then this is from excess moisture in the ground. You just feel like you're not pouring, but try digging up the ground and touching inside - how wet it is. In rare cases, in the heat, the leaves may droop from overdrying. Therefore, you need to rely only on the state of dryness or moisture of the soil inside the pot.

Question: A week after the purchase, the yucca began to dry the leaves, then droop and dry the leaves. For some reason, the small branch simply fell off, although it was green. What am I doing wrong?

Natalie: Chances are your yucca was suffering from systematic waterlogging. The leaves of the yucca are dense, so they look like drying out from the overflow, but this is a deceptive impression. Transplant, examine the roots, if you do not have drainage in the pot, do. Just transplant before watering when the ground is dry. Firstly, it is easier to scatter the old earthen lump, and secondly, to check if the plant has been flooded - normally, the soil should be dry before the next irrigation. Drain high - about three fingers high, so it is better to protect yourself from overflow. Do not tamper with the new soil - it will lie down itself. If the lighting is good, then the yucca can be sprayed less often, in a day, in two. Yuccas suffer much more from lack of sun in winter than from dry air!

Irina-gorsh: I advise you to feel the trunk carefully. A big problem is softening the barrel, an alarm. Look deeper into the soil, maybe only the top layer is dry, and the bottom layer may not have time to dry. I have a yucca in a small pot, and I pour it once a week and then sparingly, yuccas often suffer from overflowing.

sweety: When my yucca leaves began to droop, I changed the watering mode - I practically did not water at all! Spilled phytosporin-m (diluted pasta). But I previously transplanted it into fresh soil for a yucca. The roots were cleaned, but not washed - rinsed in a bucket with diluted phytosporin. The drainage made 10 cm (I have a high pot). After the transplant, I did not water for a week.

Question: At first the yucca leaves were juicy green and stretched upward, but now they are lethargic and pale. But recently the baby fell off. Rotted the process right on the trunk. What can be done?

Pukhlik: Dry with an earthen lump! Take the flower out of the pot on the newspapers, and change his "diapers," if it is an overflow, and I think he is for sure.

Elena: An additional reason is the lack of light - if there is little light, the overflow occurs faster, more often, since with a lack of light, the processes of photosynthesis and growth slow down, metabolism slows down and the need for moisture decreases, and you continue to water as if it "worked" in the light.

Yucca has

a void in the trunk

Question: When transplanting yuccas (due to waterlogged land), I found a large void on the trunk under the bark. A month or a little more has passed, and now the lower leaves turn yellow and at the same time new healthy leaves appear.

Irina-gorsh: If new leaves grow healthy, then it does not bend. If the conditions for yucca are normal (in short: in winter - coolness, more light, including sunlight and infrequent watering), everything should be fine. For the future, if flooded, do not grab the transplant right away, especially in winter. It is enough, depending on the root system, to take a stick selected in width (the thinner the better) and pierce it to the base of the pot in many places. The earth will dry out quickly and will "breathe" in a day. Another thing is if the root system has already begun to bend, and there are external signs of "something wrong" with the plant, then when transplanting, remove the "dead" roots without touching the "living" and plant them in another land.

Question: I felt the trunk, well, it seems to be hard near the ground, but in those places where the kidneys have died, it is not that soft, it seems to be empty.

Berry: If the trunk is hard (even with an air gap) - not all is lost, the main thing is that there is no rot, that it is not soft. You need to provide it with good light and observe.

Natalie: The bark of the yucca becomes looser or dries up from changes in moisture, in this case soil. If the soil is always evenly moist, then there will never be swelling, the bark fits tightly to the core of the stem. In one case, the bark will swell, if the yucca is heavily flooded, rot under it, the plant dies. In another case, the bark begins to peel off, but the soil will have time to dry out, the rot does not form or dries up, the trunk develops, but the emptiness remains. There is always an alternative - to cut off the tops and root, grow a new plant.

The yucca is reproduction

Question: I have a yucca dying from waterlogging of the soil, I am trying to multiply: I rooted two offspring in a pot (without roots), covered them with polyethylene. I don't know if it is possible to make cuttings from the trunk and root it too?

Anna: Just put the handle (the severed top) in a jar of water. Do not pour a lot of water to cover the trunk by 1 cm no more, so as not to rot, and periodically add water (it evaporates). In a week, the yucca will have roots. Wait for the small lateral roots to grow about 3-4cm and plant in the ground. The main thing is not to overflow from now on. But in winter, you need to light up to root the yucca!

Alice: Yucca reproduces vegetatively quite easily, but only if it is light and warm, and the plant's biorhythms are on the rise. Try not to just prune the yucca in autumn or winter, the best time to breed is from late January to June. You can also in July, if there is no heat. If the temperature is above 27S, it is also not good, the handle will not have enough strength to absorb moisture when the leaves quickly evaporate. Therefore, if you cut off a large branch of yucca for rooting, some of the leaves need to be cut off, leave 4-5 maximum.

How to save yucca

Question: I poured yucca and it began to rot. How can you save what's left?

Veta: If the roots are rotten, then only try to re-root the top.

Freya: Get out of the pot immediately anyway! If at least something remains from the roots - cut off everything rotten, sprinkle living residues with charcoal, dry, plant in suitable soil, drain well. The soil for planting is dry, do not immediately water. On the second day, pour (not much) water with heteroauxin or zircon. Cover with a bag (only fix the bag on the stem, not the pot!) If the roots have rotted everything - try to root the top, as mentioned above.

Question: Yucca roll hard to the side, you have to prop up with a wand. I thought the roots rotted, but I don't know. Moreover, at her trunk, the bark does not fit tightly. But at the same time, new leaves appear normally.

irina-bahus: If you don't like the tilt at all, try tying to a stick and gradually straightening. But look at the barrel first. He has to be solid. Water the yucca really carefully, in no case pour. Better to let it stand dry. It is not necessary to spray it. But if the earth is wet, you can take it out of the pot, dry the earth a little and put it back. At the same time you will see the roots.

Leaf tips dry at yucca

Question: The ends of the leaves dry at the yucca, it's from a lack of humidity, right?

svPooPs: Dry tips - lack of humidity only if hotter than 26 degrees. Then it is possible and even necessary to spray, once a day. But I spray mine much less often and she does not complain. The main thing is not to fill it. Water once every 1.5-2 weeks so that the earth is sure to dry out. Dry leaves at the bottom are normal. But there are dry ends, from overfeeding with fertilizers, if the soil has become an alkaline reaction (then hard water and fertilizers), and if the leaves hang over the battery, from which hot air comes.

Question: In a year and a half, my yucca has grown by only 1-2 leaves. And they write that it is a fast-growing plant, and for some it gives up to 2-3 new leaves per week! What am I doing wrong?

IrinaP: One of the reasons is the little pot. Have a good habit after buying a plant not to wait long with a transplant, a maximum of two weeks. Store land is not the best soil for yucca, peat is very hygroscopic. The systematic waterlogging of the yucca for the time being passes unnoticed, just the plant fights with all its might so that the roots do not rot, for the growth of an insufficiently powerful healthy root mass. Make up your soil: Take garden soil (bake in the oven), add coconut substrate and zeolite for looseness, about a fifth of the volume of the pot. Yucca needs to be watered 1 once every 1-1.5 weeks (approximately).

Ferret: If a yucca sits in a small pot, it must be watered every day, but the ground must have time to dry out. This is watered in large pots once a week. But you don't need to delay the transplant, after the purchase - transplant in a week! And feed after transplantation weeks after 2-3. But don't over dose.

irina-bahus: In general, it is believed that yucca loves free pots. In any case, its root system is very powerful. But another reason for the yucca's slow growth is a lack of light. This is a southern plant, in addition to eating from a pot, she needs good light.

Yucca - leaves turn yellow

Question: The leaves of the yucca turn yellow - at first the leaves began to lose color, they became very light. They do not dry, do not get wet - nothing, grow as usual, only very light in an outlet. I did not change the place - it stands on the north window, without getting sunlight on it for the fifth year. And only now it is brightening.

Natalie: There are two options:

The first is a lack of light. At first, the yucca was small, and there was enough lighting for the entire bush. For five years she grew up, stretched out in height, and she began to lack lighting. The best way to confirm this is to rearrange it to a bright place, the leaves darken and grow large in just a week.
The second - if the leaves brighten from the inside of the outlet, and with yellowness, it may be poured - dig up the ground and try to determine the moisture content of the soil inside the pot, it should be dry for the next watering.

Leah: And my yucca turned yellow in the shade, it stood in the far corner of the room, and as soon as it was transferred to the windowsill, the lightening stopped, and it turned green again. I have the south side, however, the balcony is glazed, but still very light, and all summer it stands on the balcony with a slight shading, grows and pleases.

Question: Young leaves turn yellow at the yucca, first one, then it dries up, and then the whole process. I have it 2 meters from the window (in summer on a glazed balcony), I water it as it dries (in summer - every other day). I rarely fertilize, somewhere once a month (Pocon-generator of greens, it seems). A pot with a diameter of about 25 cm, the height of the trunk is about a meter. All the young shoots that were when buying have already fallen off. He was left alone on a large trunk and alone on a small one. But new little ones don't come out. When transplanting in the spring, I found that the trunk was very buried in the ground (7-8 cm), I dug it up a little. Now she bends down and does not keep well in the pot. Maybe this is the point and it needs to be buried back?

Freya: Southeast is good, but 2 meters from the window is a lot, there, without exposure, a rare plant will generally feel good, but the yucca is clearly not one of them - it is not a "lower floor" plant, which is content with the fact that it falls. As a representative of quite arid areas, she is accustomed to growing in direct sunlight. To begin with, move it closer to the window, if not to the windowsill, then as close as possible! It can simply "not pull out" young shoots due to a lack of nutrition caused, of course, by a lack of light.

Natalie: Yucca should be standing on the south window. She lacks light, so the leaves turn yellow, but most likely you have not one reason, but two - also constant waterlogging. The barrel can be buried in the ground, but to prevent decay, dig it out of the ground, and so that the barrel does not roll, does not fall, tie the support. One important point: yucca on healthy powerful roots will never fall and fall. If it is cloned, the roots are weak, they have been poured, they are not enough. You can temporarily press the trunk with a couple of stones, but the main thing is to create conditions for building new roots, which the trunk will hold itself.

How to water a yucca

Question: The yucca leaves are light green and fall down, wilt. It stands on the floor by the balcony on the south side. I spray 3-4 times a week, I rarely water, because I'm afraid to pour again, about 1 time in 2 weeks. Recently fed. The barrel is solid .

Natalie: Catastrophically lacking light, if you do not move to a sunnier place, it will die a freak. Watering is perhaps too rare.

irina-bahus: And once every two weeks watering - you never know? It is better to navigate not by the number of days, but by the state of the earth. I water when the earth dries from above (well, it turns out at least once a week). You can still measure the acidity of the soil - suddenly acidic, sometimes the lightening of the leaves suggests that you need to spray iron chelate. And one more thing: there is usually a draft under the balcony door, maybe put it on the windowsill for now?

Natalie: To resolve the dispute - to water a lot or a little, I will say right away that it depends primarily on the density, porosity and moisture capacity of the soil, as well as on whether there is a lot of free land or roots in the pot. It is necessary to adapt to your microclimate in the apartment and the ability of "your" soil to absorb and evaporate water. Even if two plants were planted in the ground from the same package, the watering would still be different. Someone has more pot or drainage holes, someone has a higher temperature in the room, more sheet mass (evaporating surface), etc.

If roots in a pot occupy more space than free land, then watering should be more plentiful than if the roots occupy only a small space of the pot. And of course, in plants that do not tolerate overflowing, the soil must be checked not from above, but in the depths of the pot. Just to the depth of your finger - i.e. about 10-12 cm, if wet - do not water! Since it is technically difficult to do this, I propose to determine by the weight of the pot - just remember how much approximately it weighs when the ground is dry inside.

And you also need to distinguish the dying leaves :

if they just drooped - most likely, it's a matter of waterlogging ,
if they twist along like a tube, then either there is not enough moisture or light .

Yucca tolerates fairly dry air easily, but will hurt if it lacks light. Never spare the light for her - feel free to put additional lamps in autumn and winter, and in summer on the south window. When the lighting is lowered in the fall, the need for watering is also sharply reduced. Everything is so subtly connected that experience comes not with months, but over years. Forget about fertilizers in general, if you are new to floriculture, just transplant annually. There are as many holes at the bottom of the pot as possible, drainage is at least 2x cm. Measuring acidity will most likely not give you anything, since yucca is not so demanding on it, such as gardenia or azaleas, and the soil for palm trees is quite suitable in composition. But do not allow the formation of salt deposit on the surface of the soil.

Yucca from the store, what to do

Question: 2 months ago they gave me a yucca, I was afraid to transplant it in winter. The leaves began to turn yellow, and not the lower ones, but as necessary. They turn yellow, then dry out. Recently transplanted. The root system is good, not flooded, not dry, only the roots were intertwined: he was cramped. What's wrong with her?

Elena: Yucca is very photophilous and the leaves can turn yellow due to lack of light. Therefore, after the purchase, the yucca should be determined for a permanent place on the sunny windowsill, but the first two weeks should be given for adaptation: do not transplant and shade from the hot sun at noon. When the yucca adapts to your microclimate (a combination of temperature, air humidity, lighting), you need to transfer (without stopping the roots) to a larger pot, always with drainage at the bottom. And again leave alone for a month and a half, only then you can start feeding. All this time, you can look closely at the plant, after all, you can bring pests and diseases from the store. If there are any spots, pour phytosporine several times. While adaptation can be sprayed with stimulants and growth regulators.

irina-bahus: It could be an adaptation. Young leaves in yucca are always more light green than old ones, they then turn dark green. It is now, when there is little light, it is better to put it on the windowsill, in the most illuminated place. And water less often, and it is still good to loosen the ground so that the air is rooted. And, of course, two days is not the time for conclusions, we need to observe. By the way, those sheets that began to turn yellow will still dry out, so you may not react so sharply to this.

Yucca, frequently asked questions