Such unpretentious plants as the original yucca are quite rare. Moreover, it can be propagated at home in different ways.
Externally, an adult plant is very similar to a palm tree, but belongs to the agave family. The homeland of this plant is Mexico, where the climate is very arid, so it easily tolerates winter air in apartments, dried out by heating radiators, and does not need spraying. But good lighting is very important to preserve the decorative appearance of yucca. In summer it is better to take it out into the garden or onto the balcony, in winter it is better to place it closer to the south or west window. With sudden changes in temperature in the room, yucca can shed its leaves; it also does not like drafts. During the growing season (spring-summer), abundant watering is required, but the pot must have good drainage. Stagnant water causes root rot. In winter, watering is carried out less frequently, but still, not allowing the earthen clod to dry out, otherwise the plant may die. In spring and summer, the plant needs to be fed with regular houseplant fertilizer a couple of times a month. Yucca needs to be replanted approximately once every 2-3 years; as it grows, store-bought palm soil is suitable as a substrate.
With proper care, yucca produces shoots within the first year after planting. They should be removed, even if you do not need new yucca specimens, so it will grow better and form the crown correctly. To obtain new plants, shoots that have reached a length of about 10 cm should be cut off with a sharp knife. They easily take root in the wet sand of a mini-greenhouse, especially in spring and summer. A mini-greenhouse can be made by covering a bowl with layering with glass or polyethylene. Roots will appear in about 20 months. To prevent the offspring from getting sick, the mini-greenhouse should be regularly ventilated and moistened.
It is better to divide yucca in the spring, as there is a greater chance for the plant to survive, and only if it grows into several trunks. First, you should water it generously, so that you can remove the root from the pot without damaging it. Then we cut off pieces of rhizome with formed stems. To prevent fresh cuts from starting to rot, they are sprinkled with charcoal or ash and dried in the shade for 2-3 hours. After this, the young plants are planted in a suitable substrate for rooting.
If a healthy yucca trunk is bare, you can also get a young plant from it. It is cut with a sharp knife and placed horizontally in a mini-greenhouse with wet sand and pressed in slightly. In a humid environment, dormant buds awaken on the trunk, shoots grow from them, which over time grow their own roots. Now you can carefully remove the trunk from the sand and cut it so that each resulting part contains exactly one shoot. Then all sections should be powdered with charcoal and dried for 5-10 minutes. All that remains is to plant the resulting young plants in their own pots.
If you want the yucca to grow not with one trunk, but to have several fan-shaped tops, then when the plant is already large enough (30 centimeters in height), cut off the top with a sharp knife, leaving some of the leaves, and sprinkle the cut area with charcoal . New shoots will grow at the cut site, and the cut top is perfect for obtaining a young plant. It is first dried in air for a couple of hours, and then placed for rooting in damp sand or just a glass of boiled (to avoid the proliferation of pathogens) water at room temperature. If the lower leaves begin to rot, they need to be cut off and the water changed. When roots appear, the cutting can be planted in a permanent place.
Since yucca almost never blooms at home, seed propagation is rarely used. But if you bought seeds or got them from yucca growing outdoors (of course, this is only possible in warm latitudes), then why not give it a try? True, the seedlings will sprout only if the seeds were fresh. They are soaked for a day in a piece of cloth soaked in warm water, and then planted in a mixture of leaf, turf soil and peat, taken in a 1:1:1 ratio. Then the bowl is covered with polyethylene or glass to create a greenhouse effect. Twice a day, the crops are ventilated and condensation is wiped off from the inner surface of the shelter, and moistened as the substrate dries using a sprayer. In about a month you can expect the first shoots.
In indoor culture, yucca reproduces very easily. This unpretentious plant can be propagated in several ways. Having an adult plant, it will not be difficult to quickly obtain many young specimens.
Yucca cuttings and propagation by shoots are carried out in the spring in April-May. At this time of year, rooting occurs especially quickly. It is also convenient to divide the rhizome in the spring when replanting the plant.
It is important to sow yucca seeds immediately after collecting them. They must be very fresh. They cannot be stored, as their germination capacity is lost.
In apartment conditions, yucca can be grown by seeds or vegetatively. There are the following methods of vegetative propagation of this plant:
It is not easy to achieve yucca flowering indoors. Therefore, the seeds of this plant can only be bought or collected from yucca growing in open ground. Only fresh seeds will germinate, which must be soaked in warm water for a day before sowing. They are wrapped in a piece of cloth and covered with a 1 cm layer of water.
Sow yucca seeds in a container (pots) with soil. A mixture of turf and leaf soil with peat is suitable as a substrate for sowing. The components of the earth mixture are taken in equal parts. The seeds are pressed into the soil and sprinkled with a small amount.
For successful germination, the soil must be kept moist by spraying water. The entire container is covered with glass to create stable high humidity.
During seed germination, the container must be ventilated daily. and wipe condensation from the inner surface of the glass. The temperature should not be lower than 20°C. In such conditions, seedlings appear after 1 month. As they grow, young plants are pricked and then planted in separate pots.
Sometimes it makes sense to cut off the top of the yucca so that the remaining plant can branch out and form a lush crown. The cut apical cutting must be dried in air for several hours. It is then rooted in sand or water.
When rooting in sand, the lower edge of the yucca cutting should be buried shallowly in the sand.. It is advisable to place it under film or a glass jar, and keep the sand moist.
It should take 1.5 or 2 months for young leaves to begin to appear - a sign that the roots have already grown and the cutting can be planted in a separate pot.
It is somewhat easier to root the top of the yucca in water. It is advisable to take boiled water so that the cuttings do not rot. After about a month, roots appear, after which the cuttings are planted in the ground.
Old yucca specimens gradually lose their lower leaves and their trunks become bare. Often such ugly and elongated plants are cut into cuttings in order to grow new ones from them. The stump of an old plant should not be thrown away. New shoots are gradually formed on it.
Sections of a yucca trunk with several buds are dried and rooted in sand or water.. From one fragment you can get one large plant or several small ones.
To grow one specimen, the cuttings are buried in the sand or placed in water with the lower end. Gradually, roots will form from below, and a crown will begin to grow from the upper buds.
You can place the cutting horizontally in the sand and bury it halfway. With such rooting, a young plant with roots will develop from each of its buds.
After this, all that remains is to cut the cuttings so that each piece has roots and leaves, and plant them in separate pots. Stem cuttings in which it is impossible to determine the top and bottom are rooted in the same way.
You can get a young plant from lateral cuttings of yucca. To do this, cut a cutting more than 10 cm long, dry it in air as an apical cutting, and then root it in sand or water. It is important to maintain the temperature at least 20°C so that the cuttings take root after 1.5 months.
Only a very grown adult plant that has 2 or more trunks can be divided. To do this, the plant is removed from the pot and the rhizome is cut so that each trunk has a part of the rhizome with roots.
All yucca sections must be thoroughly rubbed with activated carbon so that rotting does not begin after planting in the ground.
After drying for 2 hours, the trunks with roots are planted in separate pots.
In apartment conditions, yucca is rarely propagated by seeds. This method is quite labor-intensive and time-consuming. It takes at least 2 years for a seed to grow into a flower of sufficient size.
Vegetative propagation in an apartment is more preferable. It allows you to get a decorative yucca in just a few months.
When the top is rooted or the rhizome is divided, a large young plant grows very quickly. And when propagated by stem fragments, several small young specimens can be obtained from one segment.
How to propagate yucca? At home false palm grows about four meters in height(read about the benefits and harms of yucca growing at home). Plant propagation is carried out in various ways, each of which deserves special attention.
This method used in rare cases, because yucca does not bloom indoors. You can purchase seeds at a flower shop, or by receiving them from a plant growing in a climate zone that is comfortable for it. Obtaining seedlings can be provided that the planting material is fresh.
The seeds are wrapped in a piece of damp cloth and kept for 24 hours. After the expiration date, they are sown in the prepared soil mixture. It should consist of equal parts of turf, leaf soil and high-moor peat. The container is covered with polyethylene or glass on top to create a greenhouse effect.
At least twice a day, crops must be ventilated and accumulated condensation must be removed from the surface of the glass or film.
The substrate is moistened with a spray; it is not recommended to allow the substrate to dry completely.
Shoots will begin to appear in thirty to forty days.
If desired, you can ensure that the yucca has two or three fan-shaped tips. This is done when the false palm has grown more than thirty centimeters in height. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top part of the plant. There should definitely be a few leaves left on the trunk.
Slice sprinkle with crushed charcoal. After a while, where the cut was, young shoots will appear, and the top is used to obtain a new false palm tree. It must be air-dried for two hours, after which it is immersed for rooting in moistened sand or a container of water. Just before use, the water needs to be boiled and cooled.
When the lower leaf plates rot, they are cut off and the water changes. After the roots appear, the top is planted in a separate pot.
Propagation of the yucca palm by stem cuttings. If you look closely, you can see dormant buds, which are located on the lignified trunk of a false palm tree.
There are a lot of them and each, when certain conditions are created, is capable of producing new shoots.
All nutrients received by yucca from the soil are redirected to the development of the crown, so as long as there is a top on the trunk, the shoots will not wake up.
After cutting the crown from the plant, young leaf plates begin to form under the cut. This feature of yucca can be perfectly used for propagation. This the process is done like this:
The best period for cuttings is from February to April.
When to plant and how to grow yucca from a shoot at home? Lateral shoots regularly appear on the trunk of the false palm tree, which can be used to propagate the plant. For these purposes they are cut along with a small piece of bark and placed in a sand-peat mixture for rooting.
The cut on the trunk is disinfected using activated charcoal or charcoal. Within thirty days, roots appear.
Upon reaching the yucca trunk diameter more than seven centimeters, it is cut off. This is done in order to form a correctly shaped crown on the palm tree. We must not forget that after the procedure is performed, the growth of the plant stops.
Need to cut as high as possible from the base of the trunk. The plant needs to be well watered every three to four days. The cut part is placed in a moist substrate for rooting. Thanks to the pruning method, the owner forms the height of the plant he needs.
Yucca prefers soil with neutral acidity Therefore, the plant must be planted in a specially prepared soil mixture consisting of leaf soil, turf soil, peat and humus, taken in a ratio of 2:2:1:1. You can buy ready-made substrate at a flower shop. Soil for cacti, palm plants or dracaenas is ideal for these purposes.
You need to choose a tall pot, since for good development the plant needs drainage. The layer height should be at least three to five centimeters. Broken brick, small crushed stone or other materials are useful for this purpose. A layer of soil is poured over the drainage, then the yucca is placed and sprinkled with substrate on top.
The plant should not be buried more than three centimeters. The substrate is carefully watered, after which the pot with the plant is placed in its permanent place.
How and when to plant yucca outside? Planting and care in open ground in the garden.
There are many types of yucca. In addition to plants grown at home, there are also garden varieties that grow well in open ground.
Plus, this palm tree blooms very beautifully, for which it is valued by flower growers. The necessary conditions for planting yucca are as follows::
The best time to plant yucca is spring, when the threat of night frosts has completely passed and the temperature does not drop below seven degrees. Until the right weather arrives, yucca can grow on a window or in a greenhouse. It is not recommended to plant immediately, as the false palm tree requires gradual hardening.
To do this, they begin to take her out into the open air every day, gradually increasing the time she spends on the street. The size of the hole for planting should be twice as large as the root system.
It is not recommended to plant yucca in the fall., especially if the climatic conditions are harsh. The plant will not have time to take root well before frost and will die from the cold, even if it is provided with good conditions.
If the plant has several trunks, then they can be planted. It's done like this:
To transplant a false palm tree, select a larger flower pot. It must be strong. Best to use ceramic products. It is ideal if the old container easily fits into the chosen one. Any time of year is suitable for transplanting at home, but most often this is done with the onset of spring.
Yucca needs to be prepared for the procedure. A third of the leaves are cut off, the palm tree is removed from the pot, and the root system is immersed in room water for at least one hour. When replanting, you need to make sure that the roots do not break, otherwise they will begin to rot.
The false palm is very responds well to feeding with various types of fertilizers.
If you follow the planting rules, you can grow a beautiful plant that will look great in your home interior.
Video about yucca: care and propagation of yucca, how to plant yucca at home, how to root.
This video explains how yucca is propagated at home by cuttings.
Video about how yucca grows and how to breed it.
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Yucca is an ornamental plant that many gardeners are happy to grow to decorate their homes due to its unpretentiousness and luxurious appearance. To get several young and healthy specimens, you can reproduce using one of several most effective methods. Below are the features of yucca propagation step by step (with detailed photos and instructions).
It is carried out using several methods, each of which will allow you to achieve luxurious flowering. The main condition for effective cultivation of yucca is not only the correctly chosen method of propagation, but also its competent implementation. Let's look at each of them in detail.
Seed method. It is quite difficult to achieve flowering from yucca when grown from seeds in closed ground, so it is advisable to use either a product purchased in a specialized store, or the seeds of a plant that “lives” in open ground.
In order for yucca seeds to germinate, you must first soak them in warm water for a day: first wrap the seeds in several layers of gauze, then cover with a small layer of water (no more than 1 cm).
Advice. The seeds of the plant must be processed and immediately sown in the ground, since high germination can be achieved only from fresh specimens. Otherwise, growing strong, strong shoots will be very difficult.
Sowing of seeds is carried out in separate small pots with pre-prepared soil, which should consist of soil (leaf, turf), peat (ratio 1: 1: 1). The seeds are pressed shallowly into the soil, then sprinkled with a thin layer. All containers should be covered with transparent glass to create a greenhouse effect and placed in a room with an air temperature of at least +20 degrees. Periodically, do not forget to moisten the soil with water from a spray bottle. Also remember to ventilate the containers and remove any condensation from the glass.
Yucca seeds With proper seed care, you will get the first shoots within a month. When they are strong enough, they can be transplanted into a permanent container for full growth.
We present to your attention all possible vegetative methods of propagating yucca, which will allow you to achieve almost the same quality result:
Cuttings. Propagation by apical cuttings (this is possible only when the plant is fully grown). So, cut off the top, dry it slightly and root it in sand or place it in water. In the first case, the sand should be constantly wet, in the second, it should be covered with a glass cap. The first leaves/roots will appear on the cutting no earlier than 1.5 months after it is separated from the mother culture. After this, you can safely plant it in a permanent place.
Reproduction by layering. During the growth process, yucca forms side shoots - layering. With their help you can get new copies. Layers are cut off during each of the regular prunings. So, you will need a layer about 10 cm long. You should dry it slightly, then place it in water or sand and move it to a room with a temperature of at least +20 degrees.
Cuttings Rhizome division. It is acceptable to use this method of propagating yucca only when the plant is not just an adult, but also sufficiently branched (has at least 2 trunks). It is necessary to completely remove it from the pot and cut the rhizome into several parts. The root of each part should be dried for 2-3 hours, after which it should be planted in separate containers.
Advice. To prevent the roots of individual parts from starting to rot in the soil after transplantation, it is necessary to treat each rhizome with activated carbon before planting.
Reproduction by segments. Old plants lose some of their leaves over time, and the trunk at the bottom of the yucca gradually becomes bare. In this case, the best option would be to cut the plant, which has already become ugly, into small pieces, each of which has at least 2 buds, and place it in sand, digging it in lightly, or in water, after drying it slightly. From one such fragment you can get one large or several small full-fledged plants. When the piece grows in water or sand, you can divide it into several parts and transplant them into separate containers.
Reproduction by segments It is worth noting that the seed method of propagating yucca is considered the most labor-intensive and time-consuming of all the above: only after 2 years of hard work you will be able to grow a luxurious flowering plant.
Our acquaintance with the most effective methods of propagating yucca at home has come to an end. Each of the presented options is simple to implement and very effective. Good luck in your endeavors!
In the southern regions, yucca, a native of Central America, can grow in open ground, but in the middle zone it lacks warmth, so it can only be found in interior design. Caring for yucca at home should be based on the habits and preferences of the plant, established in its homeland.
In nature, yucca is a fully or partially leafy, large shrub. If the plant's foliage from the lower tiers dries out and falls off, the yucca is very reminiscent of a palm tree with a bare, woody trunk and a bunch of hard leaves at the top. However, it is incorrect to consider this culture, which belongs to the agave family, to be a palm tree.
Yucca has dense, pointed lanceolate leaves that stick out in different directions or slightly drooping. The edges of the leaf blades are covered with long, stiff hairs. In nature, the length of such a leaf can reach up to a meter; in indoor varieties, the leaves are more modest and often do not grow more than 50 cm. But in indoor yucca, as in the photo, the leaves can be not only green, but variegated, decorated with bright yellow or white stripes.
With such a harsh appearance, characteristic of desert and semi-desert plants, yucca blooms amazingly beautifully, throwing out powerful vertical flower stalks strewn with a mass of buds. The flowers resemble white, yellowish or pinkish bells.
Getting into the house as a fairly small plant, in a few years yucca turns into a large bush or tree that requires special treatment and care.
How to care for yucca in order to maintain its compact shape and small size suitable for the room? What needs to be done to make the plant feel like it is in its homeland?
Varieties that are most often grown as indoor plants are those that are naturally accustomed to an arid climate and plenty of sun. Such specimens withstand temperature fluctuations, are not afraid of dry indoor air, and are unpretentious to the composition of the soil.
And yet, even such a hardy plant has weaknesses. For yucca, the main danger is excessive, especially in combination with cold indoor air.
If you doubt whether you need to water your yucca, it is better for the gardener to postpone the procedure for a day or two. The plant will tolerate short-term thirst without any problems, but will immediately let you know about excess moisture.
The frequency of watering and the volume of irrigation moisture depends on:
From spring to autumn, the soil is moistened frequently and abundantly as the substrate dries to a depth of 2–5 cm. Then watering becomes less frequent and sparing. The colder the room, the less water the plant consumes. Therefore, caring for yucca at home is constantly being adjusted. Irrigation moisture should not penetrate inside the leaf rosette. It is better not to pour water between trunks growing closely in the same pot. In both cases, there is a risk of rotting, which threatens the loss of the flower.
Watering is combined with, which is carried out from spring until autumn. It is especially important to support the plant during the flowering period.
Yucca is not afraid of dry air, but to keep the leaves clean and improve their breathing in hot weather, the crown can be wiped with a damp, well-wrung-out cloth. To avoid burns, after this procedure the yucca should not be exposed to the sun. It is more correct to “wash” the flower in the evening, since the crown will dry well overnight.
Yucca loves light and warmth, but does not tolerate cold winds and drafts. To make it easier to care for the flower at home, yucca find a place on the south window.
Large specimens are placed near the window. Plants also like this kind of partial shade. The main thing is that direct sunlight hits the crown for at least three hours a day, and the plant does not suffer from excessive dampness. In summer, the pot is taken out onto the balcony or veranda. If the year is warm and the owner of the flower is not afraid of its growth, then the yucca can be planted in the ground.
For indoor yucca taken out into the fresh air, as in the photo, a temperature of about 18–25 °C will be acceptable. But as night temperatures drop to 12–16 °C, it is better to return the pot to the house. The minimum permissible temperature for this crop is +8 °C.
Transplanting yucca, as well as other indoor crops, is a serious stress. Therefore, it is worth carrying out this procedure in two cases:
In the first case, small plants are transferred to a pot of slightly larger diameter, in which drainage is previously poured. Empty spaces are filled with fresh substrate, simultaneously renewing the top layer of old soil.
But how to plant and care for indoor yucca, pictured in the photo, if the plant already takes up a lot of space and the owner does not want to allow further growth?
To limit growth, the pot is not changed. And before transplanting yucca at home, the root system of the plant is cut off by about a quarter with a clean, sharp knife. The cut areas are treated with ground charcoal. New drainage and soil are poured into the pot. And then the plant is planted. Be sure to add fresh substrate on top. Annual addition of new soil is also limited in situations where the plant is already too large to be replanted.
After transplanting, the yucca is not watered at all for two days, and then the soil begins to be moistened very carefully and moderately, waiting for the surface to dry.
Yucca grows well in ready-made commercial substrate, but you can make the soil yourself by mixing sand and leaf soil in equal proportions. To provide nutrition, half the volume of humus is added to them.
As it grows, the yucca trunk becomes bare, and it becomes like an indoor palm tree. The taller a tree becomes, the faster it loses its decorative effect. Maintaining and caring for it is becoming more and more problematic. How to return the plant to its acceptable size and former attractiveness?
It turns out that if you cut off the top of a yucca with a bunch of leaves and trunk fragments of at least 10 cm, you can rejuvenate the old plant and get a new one. At the same time, caring for the yucca “palm” in the photo at home is not at all difficult.
The operation is carried out in the spring, when the growth period begins. Water the plant well beforehand. And after a couple of days, the top of the yucca is cut off with a sharp knife. The remaining stump can be trimmed, leaving the desired height. When the wet cut dries a little, it is treated with garden varnish.
The pot is moved from the shade, where the plant will spend about two months. In this case, the yucca does not need to be watered. Without a crown, the plant cannot consume water, which only becomes a source of disease and rot.
In the warmth, the previously dormant buds will soon become noticeable on the yucca stem. When new rosettes of leaves develop from them, the plant is transferred to the light and the usual care of yucca at home begins.
The top is not thrown away, since it is an excellent planting material for quickly propagating yucca at home. The lower leaves from the top are carefully torn off, and then the cuttings are dropped into damp sand, covered with a bag or film and placed in a warm place. Rooting takes no more than a month, and then the top with its own roots is transferred to a pot, where the yucca will grow further.
