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Homeland Yucca – Central America, Mexico, southern United States. It would seem that such a heat-loving plant will not grow in the harsh climate. But planting garden yucca and caring for it have already become familiar to domestic exotic lovers and landscape designers, who have appreciated the high decorative properties of the culture. Oddly enough, some species have proven to be quite resistant to conditions, and hibernate with minimal or even no shelter.
Yucca garden and its medicinal properties
In fact, the garden is called yucca, which can be grown in home gardens. This is not one of over 30 existing species, but simply a statement of the fact that the plant can withstand the winter in the open field.
Description of yucca
Yucca (Yucca) is an evergreen plant belonging to the Agave family, originating from Central America. There are more than 30 species, among which are rosette and tree.
Rigid xiphoid leaves, gray or green, grow from 25 to 100 cm in length, 1-8 cm wide. Depending on the type, they are collected in a rosette or arranged in bunches on the tops of the trunks. The edge of the leaf plate can be smooth, serrated, covered with threads. The tips are pointed, sometimes turning into a rather large spine; in different species, the leaves can be straight and drooping.
The flowers of the plant are collected in a panicle with a height of 50 to 250 cm. Each contains up to 300 white, cream, greenish-cream, yellow buds. The shape of the flowers is bell-shaped or cup-shaped, the size is up to 7 cm, the smell is strong, pleasant. Each bud hangs on a small stem.
The fruit of the plant is a capsule or fleshy berry, edible in some species. In conditions, seeds are almost impossible to obtain.
Medicinal properties
Yucca is used as a medicinal plant in folk and official medicine. It is unusual for us to make decoctions or lotions from its leaves, however, the healing effect of the culture has been scientifically proven. Of the contraindications, only individual intolerance and urolithiasis or cholelithiasis can be called, in which you need to consult a doctor before taking the drugs.
Medicinal properties of yucca:
- leaves are used for the manufacture of hormonal preparations due to the presence of steroidal saponins and aglycones in them;
- saponin is also used to make tablets for the treatment of arthritis;
- leaf extracts are used in the treatment of atherosclerosis, inflammatory processes, normalization of metabolic processes;
- yucca preparations treat allergies;
- flower extract contains selenium, zinc, carbohydrates;
- roots are rich in saponins, folic and pantothenic acid, vitamins E, K, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, trace elements.
The chemical composition of the plant allows it to be used to treat a wider range of diseases than official medicine uses:
- saponin steroids have antifungal and decongestant properties, lower cholesterol levels;
- antioxidants neutralize the action of free radicals and other harmful substances;
- mucus, due to its enveloping properties, is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases;
- anthraquinones have an astringent and laxative effect.
Cooking application
Yucca flowers taste like artichokes, are part of exotic salads and side dishes. They are put in omelettes and soups.
You can often come across the assertion that in Latin America, yucca root is widely used, which is boiled for a long time, and is sold on almost every corner. This is not true. People who are far from exotic cuisine are misled by the consonance of the names yucca and yuca. The latter is nothing more than edible cassava, belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family, as the inhabitants of Central America call it.
Economic importance
In the USA, yucca is grown as an industrial plant, making strong fibers from it for the production of wear-resistant jeans, ropes, burlap, fishing tackle, and paper. A natural red dye is isolated from the root.
Yucca in landscape design
We use garden yucca in landscape design without much imagination. Of course, this plant already looks exotic in flowerbeds, rockeries, slides, in landscape groups and as a tapeworm. Meanwhile, in America, with the participation of those species that can grow with us, they create simply fantastic compositions.
Yucca can grow where there is no watering or the soil is so poor that other crops cannot stand or lose their decorative effect. It is important that the soil is not clay or blocking, and the plant has enough sun, otherwise it will rarely bloom.
Types of garden yucca
Yucca can be grown as a houseplant. Many species reach such a size with age that it becomes impossible to keep them in a city apartment; a greenhouse or a spacious winter garden is needed. Tree-like plants are especially popular.
Garden yucca usually forms a rosette that is located at ground level and can be covered for the winter if necessary. In the southernmost regions, where even in winter the temperature rarely drops below 0⁰ C, many species can be grown. But in the rest of the territory, only Yucca Glorious, Gray, and most often Filamentous are planted.
Yucca Nitchataya
Under natural conditions, Filamentous Yucca (Yucca filamentosa) grows in the eastern and southeastern United States. It is located on sandy or rocky dry lands adjacent to the coasts, extends to fields and roadsides, and other places open to the sun.
Yucca filamentata is an evergreen perennial stemless shrub. The basal rosette consists of dense linear-lanceolate bluish-green leaves 30-90 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, with a pointed tip. Threads hang down along the edges of the plate, because of which the plant got its name.
The flowers are drooping, white, with a yellowish or greenish tinge, 5-8 cm long, collected in panicles 1 m or more high. Some old specimens boast a 2 m peduncle with numerous lateral branches. The fruit is an oval capsule up to 5 cm long with small black seeds (6 mm).
In Our Country, Yucca Filamentous is most often grown, planting and caring for which is not difficult, and allows you to leave the plant without shelter in the Middle lane.
There is a variegated form variegate with yellow or white longitudinal stripes. Distribution received two varieties:
- Yucca Filamentous Color Guard is distinguished by yellow leaves up to 70 cm in size, bordered by a green stripe. White flowers are large, about 6 cm, collected in a panicle up to 120 cm high. Yucca Filamentous Color Guard grows much more slowly than the original form, but this is typical for all variegated plants.
- Yucca Filamentous Bright Edge is characterized by a more modest size, but it grows faster than the variety described above, gives a lot of offspring. The leaves are blue-green, with a wide yellow border, which is often mixed with pink and crimson hues. The peduncle reaches a height of 90 cm.
There is another taxon – Yucca flaccida, which some taxonomists consider a subspecies of Filamentous, and not an independent species. The plants are very similar, only the first one is a little lower, the leaves are softer and weaker, often hanging under their own weight.
Yucca Glorious
The most thermophilic species grown in Our Country is Glorious Yucca (Yucca gloriosa). This evergreen plant at a young age forms a basal rosette of leaves from 36 to 100 cm long, 3,5-6 cm wide. Their color is dark green with a bluish tinge, the edge is slightly wavy, serrated at the base, with a yellow-brown edging. The leaf is narrowed at the ends, wide in the middle, ends with a spine.
With age, Yucca Glorious forms a trunk, which under natural conditions in the southeastern United States can reach 5 m. But more often it grows up to 1,5-2,5 m, while in home gardens you can rarely see a shoot exceeding 1 m.
The older the plant, the higher its loose peduncle – from 60 to 150 cm. The buds are bell-shaped, white, cream or greenish, sometimes with a red-violet border. The fruit is a capsule 2,5-8 cm, with black seeds 5-8 mm.
There is a variegate form with leaves edged with a light stripe and several varieties common to America, which are extremely rare in Our Country.
Yukka Sizaya
Homeland Yucca Sizoy (Yucca glauca) – Mexico and the eastern United States. This species is an evergreen shrub that forms a basal rosette or trunk up to 40 cm high. Gray-green, 40-70 cm long leaves are thin, drooping, linear, about 0,8-1,2 cm wide. Their edge is whitish, decorated with twisted threads.
The peduncle is 1-2 m high, according to reviews in natural conditions it can reach 3 m. The buds are white, greenish or yellow, up to 7 cm in size. The inflorescences can be highly branched, it was they, and not leaves of different colors, that served as the reason for breeding different varieties.
A box 5-9 cm long contains black oval seeds up to 9-12 mm.
Planting yucca garden
Although the yucca is an undemanding and resistant plant, in one place it grows up to 20 years and does not like transplants. Therefore, site selection must be taken seriously. Garden yucca is planted in the sun, otherwise it will rarely bloom, and the bush will become loose, stretch out and lose its decorative effect. In varieties with variegated leaves, light stripes will disappear.
On the one hand, yucca is undemanding to soils; it can grow on sandstones or stony poor soils. On the other hand, dense earth is contraindicated for it, and in a place that is constantly suffering from excess moisture, the plant will simply die.
Yucca must be protected from the wind. It can break a tall, strong, but overloaded with buds peduncle. In winter, cold winds coupled with a sunny location cause damage to the leaves, especially if the plant is not covered.
It is best to place the yucca in a rockery or on a gentle slope – this will prevent the roots from getting stuck and increase the outflow of water after watering or rains.
Planting time for yucca garden
Yucca is planted in the spring, after the temperature stops dropping below 10⁰ C even at night. This usually happens not earlier than May. Then the plant will have time to take root before the cold weather.
Planting yucca in autumn in open ground is allowed only in the southern regions, where positive temperatures are not replaced by stable frosts for a long time. But earthworks should be carried out as early as possible, as soon as the heat subsides – at the end of August or September. The plant takes root for a long time.
Soil Preparation
The main requirement for growing yucca in open ground to the soil is permeability, which ensures the outflow of moisture and oxygen access to the root system. Loose earth containing a large amount of sand or stones can not be improved.
On dense or blocking soils, they dig a hole with a diameter of at least a meter, a depth of more than 50 cm. The soil is completely changed there. A fertile layer of soil is mixed with sand, brick chips, fine gravel. If the top layer is too thin, salty, or cannot be used for another reason, it is replaced with rotted compost, soddy soil, or a mixture of humus and peat. Drainage from broken brick, expanded clay or gravel is laid at the bottom and covered with sand.
Acidic soil is brought in accordance with the requirements of the plant by adding chalk or lime. At the same time, it is better not to use dolomite flour – it has the ability to improve soil fertility, which yucca does not need at all.
Preparation of planting material
Before planting in the ground, all dried or damaged leaves are removed from the plant. The root is inspected and cut out affected by rot or broken areas.
If the yucca was dug up in advance, it is soaked for at least 6 hours by adding root or other growth stimulant to the water. When buying a container plant, you should ask where it was kept. If outdoors, you can water and plant the next day.
A plant standing indoors must first be hardened, exposing it to fresh air during the day. First, staying on the street lasts 1-2 hours, then gradually the time increases to 6-8 hours. Only then can the plant be planted.
Planting yucca in open ground
To facilitate care in the open field, planting yucca should be carried out in accordance with all the rules. The main ones are:
- do not deepen the root neck;
- the planting hole should be about 2 times larger than the size of the plant root;
- on dense blocking soils, it is imperative to arrange a drainage layer with a thickness of at least 10 cm.
A plant is installed in the center of the prepared planting pit, the roots are carefully straightened, covered with soil or prepared soil mixture, squeezed and watered abundantly. Check the position of the root neck and mulch with dry peat. Decorative powders cannot be used to decorate the soil under the yucca – they compact the soil and limit the access of oxygen to the roots.
Garden yucca care and transplant
If the place is chosen correctly, and the root neck is not deepened when planting, it is easy to care for the plant. Here it is important not to overdo it, the culture is unpretentious even for the conditions of Our Country, excessive care can only harm it.
Watering mode
Immediately after planting, the plant is watered abundantly, the earth is loosened every other day. Moisturizing should be carried out as the soil dries out so that the root does not begin to rot.
A rooted plant needs infrequent watering, the soil must dry completely between moistening. Water must not enter the outlet – if this happens, the top may rot, which will require cutting it. If you do not notice the problem in time, the yucca will die. Therefore, watering should be done only under the root of the plant.
So that rains do not cause rot, the soil must be loosened. In hot weather, the plant actively loses moisture, and it still exists in the soil, but does not have time to reach the vegetative organs. This happens especially often if the yucca has grown and covered the soil from drying out with leaves. The plant should be sprayed with warm water, trying to prevent moisture from getting into the center of the outlet.
How to feed garden yucca
It should be noted right away that the plant does not like organic fertilizing. Green fertilizers, infusions of mullein, bird droppings and grass should be excluded from the “diet”. In general, you need to feed the plant carefully. If you overdo it, the leaves will grow large, juicy, there will be no flowering, or the panicle will grow small. In addition, yucca will decrease winter hardiness.
A young plant must be fed after planting or transplanting, but only when new leaves appear. It is best to use fertilizer for indoor succulents. In extreme cases, you can take a complex with a low nitrogen content, and dilute it 2 times. Depending on the size of the plant, pour from 1 to 5 liters under the root. The first top dressing is given in May, the second – after the end of flowering.
How to prune yucca garden
Pruning is an important point when caring for a yucca flower in the open field.
Annual Care
In early spring, when the plant is not in the active vegetation stage, the root rosette is cleaned of old, dried leaves. They are carefully cut off or cut off, wearing gloves so as not to injure your hands on sharp edges.
The dried peduncle is removed in the fall as low as possible, but so as not to injure the green leaves of the plant. To do this, use a pruner, and if necessary, a garden saw.
Pruning an old or damaged yucca
Pruning can rejuvenate an old yucca. It is easy to do this only with species that form a stem, and not a basal rosette. Yucca Glorious grows it at an age when it can winter on the street only in the southernmost regions. In other regions, the plant cannot be insulated so that it does not freeze out due to its size. Gray does not always form a trunk. Filamentous does not form it at all.
But all really old yuccas, whose age is approaching 15-20 years, after the annual removal of old leaves, rise above the ground, ugly tilting the outlet due to the exposed lower part of the plant. Perhaps, from a biological point of view, this cannot be called a trunk or an escape, but it looks very similar. This is where you need to cut:
- to rejuvenate an old plant;
- to save a frozen yucca or one whose top has begun to rot;
- in order to return the decorative effect to the plant leaning to the side.
Yucca Glorious or Gray, which has formed a small trunk, is easy to cut. So it is better to consider the option when instead of it there is only a short piece of the stem freed from the leaves. It is this problem that domestic gardeners most often face. Plant pruning is done in the following sequence:
- 2-3 days before the operation, the yucca is watered.
- A sharp knife is sterilized.
- The “trunk” of the plant is cut so that the wound surface is even, clean and runs perpendicular to the direction of growth. A torn edge, splitting of the shoot or peeling of the bark is unacceptable. The hand must be firm, the movements must be confident and fast.
- The wound surface is sprinkled with crushed activated charcoal, allowed to dry until a callus forms, and treated with garden pitch.
Here a natural question arises: where to make a cut? If the top of the plant is frozen or rotted, it is not needed in any case. Cut as high as possible, so as to remove all the affected tissue and a little healthy.
When the yucca is rejuvenated, and they want to leave the old plant and root the new one, they estimate the height of the “trunk”. The long one is roughly divided in half. The lower part is treated as described above, the upper part is left to dry for 2-3 days, then planted in sand, perlite or peat-sand mixture using growth hormone.
But it happens that the process is very short. If the top of the plant is rotten or affected by frost, there is nothing to think about. It is removed, capturing part of the healthy tissue, and discarded. When the growth point is healthy, and the shoot is short, there is reason to think, why torture the plant? Is it really old and needs pruning? Wouldn’t it be better to just leave the yucca alone?
After pruning, the old yucca not only forms several tops, but also actively grows child rosettes.
When to transplant yucca garden
The best time to transplant yucca varies by region. Culture does not like when its roots are disturbed and take root in a new place for a long time. Therefore, the plant needs to be given time to adapt. In the south, transplantation is done in the fall, and as early as possible, as soon as the heat subsides. If the operation is carried out in the spring, a sudden rise in temperature can destroy the plant. In a temperate and cool climate, on the contrary, transplanting yucca in the fall is undesirable. It is moved to another place in the spring to give time for rooting.
Plant transplantation is most easily tolerated at the age of up to three years. Therefore, if it became clear that the place for the yucca was chosen unsuccessfully or it cannot be there for another reason, you need to move the bush as soon as possible.
The roots of the plant can spread up to 60-70 cm, the earth ball should be dug as large as possible, this will minimize damage. In order not to shake off the soil when moving, the yucca intended for transplantation is placed on burlap, tarpaulin or other material. Transfer carefully. They plant the plant in a prepared hole, trying not to damage the earthen ball, to the same depth as in the old place. Watering, mulching.
Transplanting root suckers or the entire yucca colony will be discussed in the Propagation section.
How yucca hibernates
In the southern regions, the well-rooted Yucca Filamentous winters without any shelter. In the Middle lane, it requires light insulation only for the first 3 years. As we move to the North and beyond the Urals, the shelter for the plant is becoming more and more serious.
Yucca Sizaya does not withstand prolonged frosts below -20⁰ C. Moreover, the growth point suffers first of all. This must be taken into account when building a shelter and build on your own climatic conditions. For example, in the conditions of the Moscow region, without shelter, part of the leaves of the yucca will freeze out, it will take all of May and part of June to restore them. Therefore, the plant will not bloom.
View Yucca Glorious winters without problems in the southernmost regions. In the rest, it must be carefully covered or dug up and transferred to the room. This is easy to do with a young plant, but as the yucca grows older, the stem grows, and it becomes problematic to insulate and move it.
Preparing yucca for winter
If the filamentous yucca was planted in the “right” place – protected from the wind, on permeable, non-blocking soil or on a hill, southerners do not need to prepare it for winter. Other species should be taken care of as described below.
In cool regions, it makes sense at the end of the growing season – the first half of September or the last decade of August to feed the plant with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. They facilitate wintering and increase frost resistance. According to the sheet, yucca should be treated with epin, which activates its own protective properties.
It is better not to remove dead and damaged leaves in the fall – they will serve as additional protection for the plant from frost. If the peduncle was not cut in time, it must be removed.
How to cover a yucca for the winter
The more frosts are typical for the region, the more serious the winter shelter of yucca should be. The place where the garden plant is planted also matters. The windy area does not suit the yucca at all, but if it is placed there, at least a light shelter will have to be made even in the south.
light cover
Without waiting for the first frosts, yucca leaves are collected in a bunch and wrapped with a strong rope from top to bottom. Do not use wire or synthetic material. The lower leaves of the plant are left to lie on the ground and sprinkled with dry leaves of fruit trees, and then pressed down with wooden slats.
You can fill the soil with a layer of earth 15-20 cm, but this will require great effort both in autumn and in spring when opening the yucca. When covering the lower part of the plant with soil, all leaves should be raised up.
capital shelter
A young yucca under the age of three years and heat-loving species may not find enough light shelter even in the south and in the Middle lane. Those who decide to plant a crop in a windy area also need to carefully prepare the plant for winter. In the North and beyond the Urals, the shelter, all the more, should be capital.
First, a light shelter is prepared for the plant, then it is protected with a wooden box without a bottom. Yucca should fit freely in it, neither tilt nor twist the leaves raised up. If necessary, the shelter is reinforced with insulating material, for example, lutrastil or spandbond. A layer of fallen leaves is poured around and covered with a film, which is fixed with adhesive tape.
In the spring (mid-March), the yucca is opened by first removing the box and wrapping the bush with burlap or lutrastil. Around mid-April, the shelter is completely removed, and a week later the leaves are untied and the plant is cleaned.
Reproduction
Yucca reproduces well vegetatively. This is the most reliable and easiest way, besides, the plant gives a lot of lateral processes.
How to propagate yucca garden shoots
In open ground, yucca forms a bush. Over time, it becomes overgrown with daughter outlets, which can be located at some distance from the mother plant or come out with it from almost the same place.
This results in the following:
- bush thickens;
- the plant nutrition area decreases;
- root interlacing impairs the permeability of the soil.
Result:
- yucca weakens and shrinks;
- roots may rot;
- decorativeness is reduced;
- the plant may not have enough resources to bloom.
Once every 3-4 years, daughter sockets need to be planted. The easiest way is to dig up shoots that are no less than 15-20 cm from the mother bush. If everything is done carefully, the root system of an adult yucca will be minimally injured. The recommended planting density is 3-5 plants per square meter. m.
You can plant shoots in spring or autumn. Each time has its advantages and disadvantages. If you plant a yucca in the spring, it will better survive the previous winter due to the dense planting. But the root can be so injured that an adult plant will not have time to restore it and will miss flowering.
Here it is better to proceed from considerations of the safety of yucca, and not focus on decorative properties. It is better not to see flowers for one season than to lose the plant completely, perhaps not even one.
Propagation of garden yucca by dividing the bush
How to plant a garden yucca was described in the previous paragraph. Why separately describe the division of the bush? The fact is that some of the daughter outlets fit snugly against the mother plant. They can be separated only by digging the bush completely.
It happens that the old yucca even dries up completely after flowering, as it has used up all its strength to form buds. And a weakened plant cannot replenish its supply of nutrients, not being able to compete with young shoots. This serves as a signal to divide the bush.
In this case, the yucca is dug out completely, together with the child rosettes. They are separated with a sharp sterile knife, and seated in a suitable place. You need to dig carefully and deeply – after all, the root of only one plant extends to 60-70 cm, and there are several of them in an overgrown bush.
Otherwise, the division is no different from the propagation and planting of garden yucca by shoots.
Cuttings
Garden yucca can be propagated by root cuttings. Parts of the stem are not used, since the plant simply does not have it. Even Yucca Sizaya does not always form a short stem, only at an “advanced” age. Yes, and it is inconvenient to cut it – it is easy to make a mistake and destroy the plant, the operation is carried out only to save a valuable specimen, but it is propagated by daughter rosettes. Yucca Glorious, after the formation of the trunk, usually no longer winters in the ground, and becomes a room, not a garden crop.
The plant simply propagates by root cuttings. You can’t dig them on purpose – you can destroy the yucca, but when planting offspring or dividing the bush, there are many “extra” pieces of the root. Instead of throwing them away, you need to carefully examine them, choose those on which there are dormant buds.
Healthy, strong roots are chosen, cut into cuttings 5-10 cm long so that each has a growth point. The section is treated with crushed activated charcoal mixed with a crushed heteroauxin tablet.
The wound surface is allowed to heal and planted in a peat-sand mixture or perlite. To do this, the cuttings are laid out on a moist substrate, pointing the dormant bud up, pressed a little, and sprinkled with a thin layer of soil. The surface is sprayed a little daily with warm water from a household spray bottle.
The cuttings will begin to grow in 2-3 weeks. At the end of the season, young plants are separated from each other and planted in a permanent place.
Seeds
This is the most difficult and unreliable way to propagate yucca. If it is possible to get a daughter outlet, it is better not to mess with seedlings. It is impossible to collect your own seeds, since pollination is carried out exclusively by butterflies that live only in the homeland of the plant. And no one can vouch for the quality of the purchased planting material.
However, the seeds can be sown in light soil, covered with a film and put in a warm place. The first 10 days the soil should be regularly moistened, the planting should be ventilated. After the emergence of seedlings, they dive into separate cups. Young plants are planted in open ground after 2 years.
Flowering yucca garden
The leaves of the garden yucca are beautiful on their own, but the flowering is simply amazing. Tall panicles, sometimes reaching 2,5 m, well branched and dotted with large white, yellowish or cream bells up to 6-7 cm in size look amazing. Flowers are pollinated only by moths Yucca moth (Tegeticula yucasella), their habitat coincides with the plant.
When the yucca blossoms
Young plants take root in about 3 years. Only after this, the yucca can bloom. At the end of June (later in the north), a peduncle appears. It grows very quickly, reaches 1-2,5 m and reveals white, yellow or cream bells hanging on a thin stem.
Flowering lasts about a month and is accompanied by a strong pleasant smell. Then the panicle begins to dry out and it can be cut off.
Usually yucca blooms 3-4 years after planting, but it can be delayed and throw out the first panicle after 5, even 7 years.
Why yucca garden does not bloom
If the yucca does not bloom for a long time, or does not throw out a panicle every year, there is reason to think about the reasons. It could be:
- improper planting, namely excessive deepening, then the plant not only does not bloom, but generally looks sick;
- lack of light – yucca blooms in partial shade, but not annually, variegated forms are especially affected by this;
- frost damage – the plant needs time to recover, and it may miss flowering;
- lack of nutrients – this rarely happens, only if a huge bush has grown with a large number of daughter outlets, or on completely developed poor soils.
If the yucca is rotten from overflow or planting on heavy, wet soils, you need to think not about flowering, but about saving the plant.
Diseases and pests
Yucca rarely gets sick, but can be affected by pests. Most of the problems are due to planting too deep, tight ground or lack of sunlight.
To make the yucca look beautiful, you need to find the cause of the trouble and eliminate it, you may need to transplant the plant:
- Brown spots appeared on the leaves – dry air, lack of moisture, cold strong wind.
- Light spots – sunburn.
- Falling leaves – the consequences of a plant transplant, or hypothermia.
- The lower leaves of the garden yucca turn yellow – this is a natural process, if not widespread.
- Decay of the growth point – improper planting, dense soil, overflow.
- Brown spots on the leaves have yellowish convex edges – anthracnose. Over time, the marks merge. The affected leaves are removed and destroyed, the yucca is treated with the appropriate fungicide. Watering is limited.
Among the pests, the plant is most annoyed by:
- Snails and slugs. It is necessary to reduce the watering of the plant, as these pests love damp places. Sprinkle the soil with a metaldehyde-based insecticide.Important! Some gardeners complain that the drug does not help. If you follow the instructions, the result is 100%. No need to save and you’ll be fine.
- The leaves of the plant are covered with convex brownish growths, similar to oblong ovals about 2 mm long. If it is difficult to clean them off with a fingernail, then this is a scale insect. At the initial stage, you can try to treat the plant with insecticides, for example, Engio or Calypso. With a strong infection, it is almost impossible to fight the scale insect on the yucca – it hides at the base of the outlet. You may have to destroy not only the affected bush, but also neighboring ones. It is good that the scale insect rarely infects the garden yucca.
- When overflowing, fluffy white lumps may appear at the base of the leaves – this is a mealybug. Plants are treated with an insecticide (for pests) and a fungicide (for rot, which usually accompanies waterlogging). Reduce watering, remove dried leaves. If necessary, thin out the landing.
Yucca can also be affected by other pests, this occurs infrequently and is treated by spraying with appropriate insecticides.
Conclusion
Planting a garden yucca and caring for it does not present any difficulties even in a cool climate. The main thing is to choose the right place and not to “strangle” the plant with your care – watering and fertilizing.