I have had this tree for over nine years. It was quite small when I got it and has now grown significantly. It has reached the tallest point in my house. I would like to know what kind of tree it is and also how to cut and replant it. I am affraid to attempt cutting it the wrong way and it dying. Also the tips of the leaves as you can see are always drying. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Thank you in advance. Shelly
I'm still trying to decide if you have a Dracena or Cordyline there I'm going with Dracena but care is pretty much same for both. You can cut the top off at pretty much any point and within a couple of weeks it will re-shoot. I'd recommend doing it when you are going into spring and give it a good fertilising at the same time. The brown tipping can be reduced by misting the leaves.
Nope, what you have is a lovely Yucca, most common of house plant Yuccas, and yes you can cut, reroot the cutting and multiply your plant.
You may be right, the soft and droopy look of the leaf and spindly trunk made me think otherwise. (Yucca are not house plants here by the way although they do alright they are way too fast growing). The ribbing and soft look of the leaf makes me wonder what variety of Yucca it may be. I doubt it's a Y. elephantipes as the leaf is not quiet right. Enlarge the middle photo and especially on the older leaves you can sort of see where the leaf has about 5 sections where it is creased, something I'm not familiar with in Yuccas. I have a few varieties of Yucca here and still think the leaf more resembles a Dracena, only because I've never seen a softer leaf Yucca even if grown in shade. (sorry to disagree).
In door Yuccas look exactly like the ones on the pictures, the softened appearance is typical too. The botanical name escapes me...
Thanks for responding to me. You both were a great help. I have a few different kinds of plants and just love growing and taking care of them. The only thing is I'm not familiar with the types of plants so I can't identify them. When I have a chance I will take pictures of the others and maybe you can help. By the way, when I cut my tree in the spring, do I have to reroot it in water first or can I replant it right away in the soil? Again thanks so much for taking the time to help me.
I would try both..cut, and let the wound dry then plant.. sometimes rot can take over if left water... but do what works for you ( I mean the plant :) ).
Brown tips is a classic sign of too low humidity or too much water. I doubt its the latter as it would be easily dead by now therefore it must be humidity, which makes me think it must be a Dracaena, who are known to suffer from too low humidity when kept as indoor plants (unless you happen to have a tropical climate...in which case chances are you wouldn't have them inside anyway). Yucca's don't normally require misting at all. One of my Dracaena's had brown tips as up until recentely as I always thought it was a yucca too!
Does anyone know if Yuccas are sensitive to any chemicals that can appear in normal tap water? Just thought that might cause brown tips....perhaps.
I don't think they are, I have seen them get black spot from water sitting on the leaf. I'll attach a photo of one in my yard for comparison it gets mornining to midday sun but we have high humidity and it's in front of an air conditioner getting blasted 6 months of the year. It's a variegated one but demonstrates what I meant when I was talking about the leaf. I wonder if the leaf edge is sharp on yours? Yuccas are pretty notorious for causing papercuts. I have seen them used as shade and once or twice indoor plants here but generally you'll find them in gardens in full sun, so I'm not really familiar with the plants look if it's spent it's entire life indoors. The thing that threw me was the flateness of the leaves of shellydubeau's plant and the "pleating" effect on the older leaves something I'm not familiar with in Yuccas. I have a few trunking varietes and Yucca elephantipes would have to be the one as others have finer leaves. As JenRi says don't mist them, you'll just cause problems however the brown tipping is a definite water issue again as JenRi pointed out something showing a lack of humidity which doesn't normally effect Yuccas all that much. For propagating if it's a Yucca then you should strip the bulk of the leaf off now and let the trunk harden a little before chopping it up in mid-spring if you get cold winters. They are pretty easy just cut sections at around a foot in length, don't need to let them dry but can leave the pieces overnight. Use fresh well drained potting mix, and water every 2 days avoiding watering the pieces themselves too much. Keep them in a warm shady position until their roots have filled the pots then poy on. I used to propagate these, the photo is one of my first cuttings :} Removing the leaf allows the pieces to re-shoot quicker and better. The top can be planted with leaves on just makes sure there's some bare trunk left on it though. I am about to chop a trunk out of mine to help it branch out more. Dracena are a litlle different in propagating where larger pieces and even drier environment is needed, or they can be put into a bucket of water for a week or two and they will root like that.
Thanks for the pic Chungii.....what a beautiful yucca! Thanks also for answering my query on water sensitivity. The thing that's confusing me is that most big dracaenas (from those that have stems) look more like lollipops i.e. they have several stems which are mostly bare other than the top, where they have a spherical-ish head of leaves. In fact my local have one with leaves the same shape as yours....except it's 'lollipopped' lol. I've never seen one that grows with leaves up nearly all its stem....it looks more like Chungi's yucca when you look at the way the leaves grow!
Some of the Dracaena fragrans or Happy plants hold leaf pretty well. Going off the trunk and leaf base I'd say Yucca, it's the appearance of the leaf that put me off.
Re: Indoor Tree - cutting it back Hi Shelly, It looks like you have the same kind of plant I have, which I recently made new plants from. Mine sprouted like you would not believe and all are growing very well. (See a pic of one of them, attached.) Mine was multi-stemmed, and unlike yours, only had leaves on the top two feet of each stem/trunk. (I think it was never truly happy in my house, perhaps because of too little light.) Last summer the tops of each stem flopped over because the leafy "crowns" at the tops had grown too heavy for the stems, which were about 7' tall and quite thin. I cut all seven of them off and put them in pots with regular store-bought potting soil and, because I heard yuccas need lots of drainage, styrofoam packing peanuts on the bottom half of the pot. Incredibly, when I went to repot them again recently so they would be two together in one pot - which seems more aesthetically correct to me than each on its own - I found that the roots were so thick and strong, some had punctured right through some of the styro peanuts. They continue to put out new leaves quite happily. As for the trunks that I cut the crowns off, I cut them back to about 3' high. One trunk has two conspicuous, growing bumps that I suspect will erupt into new greenery; and two new bunches of green leaves came up through the soil around the trunks! To make a (very - sorry!) long story short, my indoor yucca has a heckuva will to live. If yours is anything like mine, it probably will too.
There we go definitive proof :} It's defintiely Yucca elephantipes as mine is in variegated form, the lack of light obviously softens the leaf. (apologies for even doubting.) Do they still give papercuts though with the softer leaf? That's what stopped me using them in pots I prefer Dracaena draco for the same effect without the bitey edges.
on the water issue: always let tap water sit for at least 24 hours before using it to water any plants! two reasons: 1) it allows the chlorine to dissipate and 2) it allows the water to get to room temp, so you're not shocking the plant in winter with really cold water or in summer with excessively warm water. using water straight from the tap tends to cause the leaf tips to brown up...so does underwatering in general, though, and being rootbound. there can be things (chemicals and/or minerals) in water that can cause problems. things like rust, excessive ammonia, etc. if you have well water, then it's more of a concern since seepage into your supply could contain various contaminants - like the neighbors treated their lawn with weed killer and it rained a few hours later and all that junk was washed into your supply. generally, with city supplied water, the main things to worry about are chlorine (which is easy to get rid of by letting it sit in a container uncovered) and ammonia (which is harder to deal with and you have to specifically test for it and then treat the water before applying to the plants). when it comes to ammonia, i don't know what levels are bad for plants...i do have to say that i've had some issues with plants that should not be a problem and i know the ammonia level in my water is up there (thank goodness i tested it when i first moved here...i'd have lost all my fish if i hadn't). i think what you have is a yucca elephantipes. it's absolutely beautiful!!! most of the issue with the browning tips is due to being rootbound/underpotted, i think. at the least, repot into something a couple inches larger and deeper...and you can certainly top it off and start a new plant going, too! (either in the same container or a seperate one).
The only bummer is over watering has the same effect too. They handle being rootbound fairly well it just induces some leaf loss. They tend to take off when potted up so I'd suggest a hard cut back during the pot-up. I have not had any problems with tap water here but there could well be different levels of additive in it to what you have. I am glad because I'd need a small pool :} More for interest I wonder, do you have flouride in your water? It's not in ours yet but it's sort of getting there when they decide if it's going to be beneficial or not. Probably not relevant here but just curious because there's a lot of disagreement as to it's usefulness. The most embarassing part about not being able to pick it as a Y. elephantipes is that I used to prop these at work for about 6 years.... hmmmmm.... whoops :{
I was in home depot today and saw the same plant called "Yucca Cane". I suppose that's the North American friendly name for it. :-)
