It looks like this topic has been brought up before and i have tried to come up with a solution for several weeks now but still am at a loss. I'm hoping someone might have a suggestion for me. The thing that's baffeling me is that the little stem is doing so well, but the large stem is suffering. We're located in the Okanagan Valley with warm summers and mild winter months. The plant's home is next to a south facing window with lots of sunlight when the blinds are open. The plant did very well throughout the summer months, the large stem started to show signs of yellowing leaves in the mid winter. I began to water more frequently which seemed to have made it worse and i've been trying to give it a chance to dry out a little bit more over the past few weeks, though i'm not convinced this is the problem, since the smaller one is doing quite well still. Does anyone have any suggestions what i could try? We have our inside temperature set to about 70 and i'm leaving the blinds open as much as possible. The house is fairly dry though. Does anyone mist their yucca through the winter? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all =)
WAY more light. This plant is typically grown outdoors in full sun. So gradually move it to the brightest location you can find. If you've already got it there I'd suggest putting it in the shade outdoors to allow it to recover.
Thank you - i will move it to a brighter spot in this room for now. When can a yucca be moved outdoors this time of year? (It's still just below freezing here at nighttime). Is there anything else I should be doing for it right now?
Mine are inground and endure light freezes, so don't worry so much about cooler weather. Follow what saltcedar tells you, and you should see improvement soon. Just don't let it get bone-dry outdoors. Potted plants are both more susceptible to freezes and more likely to dry out when kept outdoors.
Re: Urgent help for my yucca - Update We've moved our yucca outside, it's standing in an mostly shaded area (unfortunatley every part of our backyard has some sun for part of the day). The temperatures have been fairly steady and have not gone below freezing since it has been outside. I've included updated pictures. I don't get the sense that the plant is recovering yet... the leaves are now turning a very light, almost white color. (Again, the longer plant only). I was wondering if it might be getting too much sun now? (It usually get some sun in the morning hours of the day). I am tempted to move it back inside, or am i being impatient? I really don't want to loose this plant and am worried about worsening it's condition rather than helping it. Does anyone have a suggestion/opinion?? Thank you all so much!
That looks like sun scald right now. Those leaves won't recover, but I do not believe that will kill the plant. It'll just make those leaves ugly. Eventually, your Yucca guatamalensis will thrive in full sun. It will be fine in dappled sun or high shifting shade as long as the light is bright. For another ugly but temporary measure, you could prop something over top of it, a canopy of some sort. I cut large palmate palm fronds and tied a trio over a much shorter shrub I just transplanted. I know I'll remove them within the next month, but for now I want a gradual acclimation to full sun. I've also put slatted lawn chairs over shrubs. If you put long stakes in the pot and tied a large handkerchief corners to their tops, that would do it for now. Frankly, I'd just let them adapt. Sunscald is forever, and recovery with new growth will be soon. When I transplanted mine from an illegal dump under dense oak canopy to my sunny back yard, I put them out knowing they would be scalded and still would recover completely. I had great incentive to keep them because it was the new homeowner who bought my first home that dumped them there. If I were to look at the lowest leaves, I'd probably find the scalded ones. Each time they've been transplanted I've lost some lower leaves. For me this is one plant that I could hack at with a rusty bread knife and it would still do well.
Thank you thanrose. I will go through the garage to see what i can use for a temporary canopy. Our winters here are faily mild (considering that we're in canada) but we have occasional deeper temperatures (-10) and longer lasting snow. The yuccas planted outdoors here seem to survive just fine, but they are much closer to the ground (no stem - i'm thinking this is a different variety?) Should i consider planting it outdoors?
Too cold to plant it there. I'm in central Texas and it freezes to the ground here most years. (-4c to -7 most years.)
Is there a specific routine to follow once moving it back indoors? I have a very bright north facing window that would make a good spot in the winter time, alternatley to the south facing window where it was before. the north window is much larger and the has no blinds... I appreciate everyone's input. I'm still very new to plant care/gardening
