yucca – Xtremehorticulture

Watering Yucca in Winter

Leave a Comment / cacti, frequency, mesic, too much water, watering, xeric, yucca / xtremehorticulture

Q. Should I turn off the water to my yuccas during the winter? Yucca rigida with golden barrel cacti beneath it. Y. rigida is a native to the southwest and, along with golden barrel another native cacti to the southwestern deserts, can be watered less often than yucca not native to our deserts. Examples of Yucca not native to the soutwest include Y. gloriosa and Y. filamentosa. A. It depends on the yucca and where it came from. Some yucca come from dry regions and others come from wetter regions. I would not irrigate as often yucca native to the southwestern US. Examples include Yucca rostrata sometimes called Adams Yucca or Beaked Yucca, Y. schidigera and Y. elata as well as others. I would water them once during the winter months of December and January. These are xeric in their water needs. That is the time to give them a good soaking. Confused yet? Ask your nurseryman which yucca it is before you buy it. Put Yucca native to the deserts of the southwest together so you can irrigate them at the same time. Yucca elata, soaptree yucca, is also native to the deserts of our area. Plants surrounding it, golden barrels, are also native to this area. The landscaper did a good job of grouping plants together with similar watering needs. But yucca native to the southeastern US (such as Yucca gloriosa sometimes called Spanish Dagger and Y. filamentosa sometimes called Adams Needle as well as others) should be irrigated once every two or three weeks during the winter. Water these as you would any other landscape plant. They are mesic in their water needs. Put non desert yucca together so it is easier to irrigate them because they should get watered more often. Probably Yucca rigida, a desert native. Probably watered too often.

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Spanish Dagger (Yucca) and Curve-Leaf Yucca are Not Cacti

Leave a Comment / Spanish dagger, yucca / xtremehorticulture

Q. I have a five-foot yucca tree that I cannot get to be disease free after two years of trying. I have tried the following chemicals; Bayer Advanced complete Insect Killer, Bonide Thuricide and Bonide Tree and Shrub Insect Control Systemic. Any suggestions on how to save it. Judging from the picture and your problems it might be Spanish Dagger, a native of the SE part of the US. Spanish Dagger, Yucca gloriosa, does not handle the heat and should not be planted in south or westerly landscapes. Not sent to me by the author. A. Judging from the picture you sent to me your yucca tree is Yucca gloriosa, a.k.a. Spanish dagger. Spanish dagger is a yucca native to the SE that gets brown spots on its leaves that resemble disease but it is either planted in the wrong location or planted incorrectly or both. This plant is both mesic (high in its water use) and not a desert yucca native. Looks like Yucca recurvifolia (aka Y. pendula) another yucca native to the southeastern and southern US that may scorch if planted in a hot location. Readers picture. Spanish dagger is an Eastern coastal native from South Carolina to Florida. If planted in our desert Southwest, this yucca will look diseased if it’s planted on the West or South sides of a home, surrounded by rock, or watered like a cactus. Because it’s a native of the southeastern United States, Spanish dagger should be planted so that it gets shade in the afternoon; on the East or north side of a home landscape in afternoon shade. Also, plant it with compost amending the soil and surrounded by other mesic plants to help moisten the soil.

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What Causes Brown Leaves on Yucca?

2 Comments / desert plants, what causes brown leaves, yucca / xtremehorticulture

Q. Why are the tips of my yucca leaves turning brown? Brown leaf tips on yucca. Can be from soil or irrigation problems. A. This is pretty common on yucca in our climate and soils unless they are grown in filtered sunlight and the soil has been prepared well before planting. They always tend to have brown tips. In the case of your plant, judging from your picture, it does seem excessive. When we see brown tips on the foliage of desert plants it usually means a watering problem, a soil salt problem or lack of drainage. This particular yucca is native to the Chihuahuan desert so infrequent irrigation is critical to its health. Most of the soils in the Chihuahuan desert are better than our landscape soils created by the builders of our homes. Regarding your irrigations, compare your watering with how these plants might be watered in their natural habitat. This is a guideline for how you should water. They won’t need watering that often so if you are watering more frequently than every two or three weeks in midsummer, I would suggest this is too often. If this plant is on the same irrigation circuit as other landscape plants, and these other plants are not a desert plants, then I would suggest the plant is being watered too often. The volume of water you give the plant is not as critical as the frequency it receives water. In other words, you can give it a large volume of water and not hurt the plant as long as you wait long enough before the next irrigation. Giving large volumes of water may waste water but it seldom keeps the soil too moist for the plant between irrigations. If this plant is watered too often, remove it from that irrigation circuit and water it by hand every few weeks. It will like a couple of deep winter irrigations, a spring irrigation, a couple of midsummer irrigations and a fall irrigation and that’s about it. If the applied water is close to the trunk, then the trunk could be rotting. Keep frequent irrigations away from the trunk. However, it is okay to water in a large basin beneath the plant if it is done infrequently. If there are other plants around it, it is probably getting enough water from its neighbors. But I would still give it an occasional drink to be on the safe side.

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