Yucca plant out of control

My Yucca plant is about 7 feet tall and has grown straight up with no other branches. The bottom 4 feet or so is woody stem with no leaves.

I am wanting to cut it back because it has no more room to grow and is starting to curl along the ceiling. If I cut it back, will it die? I would like to somehow create some new branches and my other yucca plant has done this on its own.

How can I get it to branch out without killing it? If I cut if back, will it die?

Thank you.

 

Do you know how to airlayer? I can't say how your tree will do, but I see it as the only thing to try. You'll probably want more than 2 hands - it's easy but 3 hands make it easier... What you do is, as many feet down from the top as you would like to grow new roots (for your new shorter tree), cut a 1" wide ring around the trunk right through the bark to the green cambium underneath. Dust the ring with hormone rooting powder and blow off excess, then wrap a (large) orange sized ball of well-wetted-then-squeezed-out sphagnum moss around the ring, cover with clear plastic (this is the part where 3 hands come in handy while keeping the sphagnum in place) which is tied tightly (not digging in tho') at top and bottom of the 'orange' with a piece of tape vertically where the wrap ends. Now, keep the tree out of direct sun so condensation inside the ball (don't water it otherwise) doesn't grow mold, continue to water as always (no more), and keep an eye on the layer. Within a few wks you should see (hopefully) the ball fill up with new roots, and once it has (vs a couple of straggly things), cut the trunk directly below it (unwrap the ball of course) and you'll have your new shortened tree to plant. Don't necessarily discard the old one - again I don't know yuccas, so I'm just guessing - because chopping it might possibly (anyone know?) stimulate new growth to pop out somewhere.

 

well, after you are done air layering, the yucca should sprout out a new shoot from the side and grow again ( may take a long time to occur)