Exotic plants have attracted gardeners throughout time. One of the brightest representatives of the class evergreens is a yucca. This plant, which belongs to the agave family, is native to the humid subtropics of North America. This requires the owner to create similar conditions: the climate must be dry and hot. However, not everyone has the necessary knowledge about the rules for caring for this plant at home, reproduction features, etc.

Appearance

This plant may have single or branched trunk. Also, yucca differs from other plants in that the leaves cover not only the branches, but also the trunk. They are slightly elongated and form a pointed shape at the end. Throughout its life, yucca blooms very rarely. Its flowers are quite large and have a white tint. For many, they are associated with bells due to original form. Many gardeners choose this plant not to enjoy their flowering, but to enjoy the unusual appearance. After all, yucca strongly resembles a miniature palm tree.

If you are going to grow yucca in pots, it is recommended to install them on a window located on the south side. In this case, it is undesirable that direct sunlight falls on the flower. In the absence of a bright place, yucca can be placed in partial shade where she will also feel good. However, one should not count on the formation lush green crowns.

With the onset of summer, it is recommended to take the flower to the balcony or it can be transported to the country house, where it should find a place on the street. Here the yucca will receive the maximum amount of light. Plant care is simple, but first it does not hurt to get acquainted with the features of planting this plant.

I would like to repeat once again that yucca is a photophilous plant. Therefore, in the room where it is grown, it is necessary to maintain a fairly high temperature. This flower reacts with active growth if the temperature in summer is within + 20+25 degrees Celsius. With the onset of winter, the plant is recommended to be moved to a dark place where the temperature should be maintained within + 10-12 degrees. It is important to take care that at this time of the year there are no sudden changes in temperature, even though the plant will be at rest at this time. If the air temperature in the room drops below critical levels, the plant will not be ready for this and will die.

Watering and spraying

Watering is one of the important activities that determines how strong and healthy the plants will turn out. Yucca is not very demanding on moisture, so frequent watering she can be harmed. Be sure to take care that on the surface of the soil the water didn't stay stagnant for a long time. She also does not feel better if she remains without moisture for a long time. In winter, it is watered much less frequently. Usually, watering once a week is sufficient to meet water needs.

Useful in the summer is spraying plants, which must be carried out very carefully. When moistening the leaves, care must be taken to ensure that they are protected from sunlight. Otherwise, it will cause burns. It is also important to avoid getting water into the rosettes of leaves and between the trunks of adjacent plants during the operation. In winter, the leaves are sprayed more often than in summer, since at this time the level of humidity in the room decreases. This measure is effective if the procedure is carried out in winter at least once a day.

When growing any plants at home, caring for them involves fertilizing. And yucca is no exception. It is best to schedule fertilization for the warm season when the plants enter the stage of active growth. Fertilizers will not do any good if they are applied to the soil too often. Usually it is enough to carry out this operation every two to three weeks. You can improve the quality of the soil by introducing manure, humus or peat into it. The best effect can be achieved if, in the process of caring for plants, use special fertilizers for agave.

planting

There are several ways in which you can propagate yucca at home.

1. Pieces of the trunk 15 cm long;
2. Cut and rooted tops;
3. child sockets.

As a substrate where the planting material will take root, you can use sand or mixture based on sand and peat. When the material is ready, the plant must be planted in a pot, after filling it with a soil substrate, which must necessarily contain pieces of charcoal. Also, drainage must be provided in the container, which can be used as pieces of rubble or broken shards. The latter are best suited because of their lower weight. Also, many gardeners grow yucca from seeds.

Reproduction of yucca by top cuttings

When the gardener has the first adult yucca bush, it can be used for propagation at home. It must be borne in mind that it must be a flower with a height of at least 30 cm. One of the possible methods of propagation of the yucca palm is using a cutting taken from the top.

• for harvesting, the branch must be cut with a sharp knife or blade. Don't make too many planting material- the plant will feel worse if it has few green leaves;
• after harvesting the cuttings, the cut points must be lubricated with crushed coal. After waiting a little, you can later see how new branches will begin to grow from the healed wound. As a result, such a manipulation allows you to get a spectacular branched yucca;
• after harvesting the cuttings, it is necessary to give them time to dry. This usually takes about two hours. Then they need to be placed in wet sand. Until the time comes for transplanting the plants to a permanent place, they must be kept moist. To do this, the top can be placed in a glass of water, after adding activated charcoal to it. Even before rooting, individual leaves may die. This point needs to be tracked and removed. When the root system develops well enough, you can transplant the plant into a pot.

Reproduction by a piece of the trunk

The operational method of breeding yuca is use of stem pieces. This method is more suitable for those gardeners who have repeatedly propagated this flower. First you need to very carefully cut off part of the trunk and place it in wet sand. This must be done in such a way that the planting material is located horizontally. By keeping the sand moist, you will soon be able to notice how roots and buds begin to form on the handle. As a result, this method will allow you to get several new yucca seedlings.

Reproduction at home by offspring

The offspring that this flower can often produce can also act as good planting material. First you need find the right container filled with wet sand. Then it is necessary to carefully separate the offspring and place it in the soil substrate, fixing it vertically. After some time, a small tree will grow out of it, which subsequently needs to be very carefully looked after. Therefore, you will have to prepare a pot filled with oily garden soil for transplanting.

Plant pruning

The benefit of pruning is that it allows you to form a lush and branched crown of the plant. To do this, you will have to remove part of the top of the bush - by about 10 cm. The cut point must be treated with crushed coal or garden pitch. Such an operation can only be carried out in relation to those palm trees that have been able to take root well and have reached a height of 60 cm.

In order for a flower to grow well after transplantation, it needs not only proper care, but also a high-quality soil mixture. To do this, you need garden soil, to which you need to add sand in the amount of 1/3 of the volume of the prepared mixture. To the bottom of the pot lay broken shards, and a piece of permeable geotextile is placed on top. After that, the container is filled with earth, but only up to half the volume. Having completed the basic preparations, they proceed directly to transplanting palm trees.

Plant diseases

Yuka is no different from other garden crops, so she needs to provide appropriate care. Deterioration in the condition of the palm can be observed as a result of damage fungal or bacterial infections. This can be determined by the appearance of dark spots on the leaves. Subsequently, in the absence of measures, this can lead to softening of the tissues and their decay. In some cases, this process may also affect part of the trunk.

In this state, care will involve removing the affected areas with a sharp knife. The same must be done for damaged leaves. Unaffected parts of the yucca bush should be treated with a systemic fungicide. During this period, it is necessary to reduce the frequency of watering. The same diseases can also affect plants grown in room conditions. In this case, you need to take care of them in a similar way.

Yucca is resistant to many insect pests. However, it poses a great danger spider mite which she can contract in hot weather. To combat it, it is recommended to use a weak solution of tobacco tincture, which needs to be sprayed on the trunk and leaves.

Conclusion

Although yucca rarely pleases with its flowering, however, many gardeners are interested in unusual decorative look. Therefore, many who had the opportunity to enjoy the view of this plant often set out to plant it on their site. This is quite simple to do if you follow the agricultural practices of growing yucca.

Home care is just as important. Special attention should be given soil mixture preparation, since before the moment of transplanting the yucca to a new place, optimal conditions for its growth should be created. Also, success in this business largely depends on the right planting material. It is best to use cuttings, which in most cases take root well and grow into a strong, healthy plant.

Introducing home care for yucca with photos and precise recommendations. We tell you how to properly care for a palm tree: soil, watering, reproduction, transplanting, pruning and other nuances and other growing features.

Yucca flower: lighting, humidity, temperature and soil

In room conditions, of all types grown: yucca elephant and aloe. The first is much more popular and can be found more often in homes, offices or shopping centers.

At home, they do not bloom in 99.9% of cases (little light), but garden views possess insanely beautiful inflorescences with a delicate aroma that do not leave indifferent every flower lover.

In terms of care, there are no significant differences between the species. Some growers believe that aloe yucca is more capricious than elephant yucca and requires less frequent watering. Read more about them in a separate article at the end of the article.

HUMIDITY. For good flower development, the relative humidity of the air must be at least 40%. At a lower level, spray the air near the plant in the morning and afternoon. It is especially important to spray in winter, as the air is often dried out by heating appliances.

Rinse the palm under a warm shower in the bathroom about once every 15-20 days to wash off the dust. In other cases, the flower does not need spraying the leaves.

• IMPORTANT! If, when watering, water is glass in the pan, then it must be poured out as excess moisture contributes to rotting of the roots, and stagnant water is very dangerous for a flower. An excess of moisture is more destructive than a lack.
• If after 3-4 days after watering the soil has not dried out, then loosen it. Loosening will speed up the drying of the soil and destroy salt deposits. The signal for overwatering is mushroom mosquitoes(small black flies).
• Pay special attention to watering palm trees during cold snaps in spring (heating has already been turned off) and autumn (not yet turned on). At such times, the soil dries out longer, and if the plants are watered prematurely, the roots can rot.

How to transplant yucca at home?

Let your flower always be healthy and beautiful, and care for it easy and pleasant!

May 14 2018

Yucca - home care

Houseplant with the name Yucca (Yucca) is very popular with flower growers. This evergreen beautiful flower looks noble both in a city apartment and in a solid office, it is not a shame to present it as a gift. An adult plant evokes enthusiastic looks and a desire to have such a flower at home. If you have this exotic, or you are thinking about acquiring it, our article will help you with advice on how best to care for this southern beauty. We’ll make a reservation right away that you don’t need special knowledge and special requirements for the comfortable maintenance and care of Yucca at home.

Yucca is a native of Central America, its arid regions. Visually, it looks like a Palm tree, especially in its natural habitat, when the leaves from the lower tiers dry up and fall off, the trunk becomes woody and only a bunch of hard leaves remains on the top. But this is not Palma.

There is some confusion about the classification of Yucca. At first, Yucca was attributed to the Liliaceae family, then to the Agave family, and now to the Asparagus family. Moreover, Yucca is now simultaneously on the list of representatives of both. In general, the confusion is complete. In addition to the Palm, it is also often confused with other, similar to the Palm, indoor flowers - Dracaena and Cordilina. Experienced florist make no mistake, he will immediately see the difference. But for beginners, this similarity is slightly confusing.

Large copy of Yucca

In nature, Yucca grows as a fully or partially leafy large shrub from two to eight meters tall. indoor views grow up to a meter or two. Its tree-like stem is crowned with green or bluish dense leaves sticking out in different sides or slightly drooping, pointed lanceolate or xiphoid. The length of such a leaf can reach up to a meter, although indoor specimens have leaves no more than 50 cm in length. There are stemless species of Yucca, the crown of which consists of one or more rosettes.

Yucca blooms amazingly beautiful, throwing out powerful vertical peduncles, abundantly strewn with buds. Large flowers, up to 8 cm long, resemble cup-shaped bells. Flowers are most often white color, but in nature there are creamy greenish, yellowish or pinkish tones. The fruits are of no interest, they look like dry boxes. True, some species have juicy edible fruits. But unfortunately, at home, not every grower falls to see the flowering of Yucca. It grows pretty fast. From a small plant in a few years it can turn into a large bush or tree. What should be done to make the plant feel "at home" and at the same time maintain its compact decorative shape and dimensions acceptable for your room? Let's try to figure this out.

Species and varieties

There are over thirty different types of Yucca. They differ mainly in leaves and size. In some species, the leaves are lanceolate, while in others - in the form of a sword. In addition, the edges of the leaf plates in some species are covered with long stiff hairs, in others - with thorns, and in others they are smooth. In indoor varieties of Yucca, in addition to ordinary green leaves, there are variegated leaves with bright white or yellow stripes. The most popular species are: filamentous, ivory, gray-gray, glorious and aloe-leaved.

At home, mainly two types are grown - elephant and aloe. Less often - filamentous and gray. We are sure that all types of this plant will decorate your home. Let's get to know them better.

Yucca Elephant (Yucca elephantipes)

It is named so because of the wide massive base of the stem, which appears in Yucca in old age, which resembles the foot of an African elephant. This type of Yucca is very unpretentious to the conditions of existence. Grows slowly. It is accustomed to the arid climate of a city apartment, undemanding to the soil composition and does not take up much space indoors. In addition, other indoor flowers that are resistant to dry soil can be planted in a wide pot with Yucca, for example, or. Against the background of Yucca, pots with, Spathiphyllum, Benjamin's ficuses look great. or also decorate this floral arrangement.

In the south of Russia, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, it grows in open ground and does not require shelter for the winter. IN middle lane Russia is grown with shelter. Sometimes grown at home. This almost stemless plant grows as a shrub with beautiful bluish-green leaves, which have characteristic white or yellow stripes. The length of the leaves reaches 70 cm, the width is up to 4 cm. The tip is pointed. The edges of the leaves are slightly lowered, they have numerous twisted white threads. The root system is well developed. The peduncle is very large, rising above the rosette to a height of up to one meter. Yucca blooms with drooping yellowish-white flowers up to 8 cm in length.

This species is less common in indoor floriculture. It is more demanding on the content, takes up more space. It grows slowly, but over time, expanding, mature plant takes the form of a ball with wide leathery leaves. In the summer, Yucca Marginata blooms. On the inflorescence, up to 45 cm long, many bell-shaped flowers of creamy white color with a light purple tint are formed.

Yucca gray (Yucca glauca)

This species of Yucca has a strongly shortened stem. In height does not grow above two meters. The bluish-green leaves are collected in dense rosettes about 90 cm wide. They are leathery, fibrous, up to 60 cm in length. At the edges they are white or gray with flaking fibers. In summer, it forms a paniculate inflorescence up to one meter in height, on which many small creamy-white flowers with a greenish or brown tint appear.

Yucca care at home

The presented types of Yucca will perfectly fit into the interior of your apartment, plant it with greenery, and will not require you to big sacrifices and time. Just follow the basic rules for growing it, which we will now introduce you to.

Lighting and pot location

Light-loving Yuccas are best placed on flower stands near the eastern or western window sills in the apartment. The place should be sunny, well lit throughout the daylight hours - the growth, development and appearance of your flower will depend on this. For this reason, you should not put the pot on the floor - the light will not be enough. It is necessary that the stand for it be flush with the windowsill.

If you put a flower pot near the southern windows, then at noon you will have to shelter Yucca from the direct rays of the sun with light curtains or blinds so that its leaves do not get sunburn.

If the window sills in your apartment are wide, and the Yucca bushes are still young, then you may well keep them on the windowsill. Just make sure that in the summer the sun does not burn them, and in the winter - the leaves do not touch the cold glass.

In winter, the plant will lack natural light from any window. You will have to take care of this in advance and purchase a fluorescent lamp or a phytolamp to turn it on if necessary at a distance of 50–60 cm from the flower in order to artificially extend daylight hours for Yucca up to 12 hours a day.

Airing the room in autumn and winter is also necessary for a flower, but do not forget that drafts are contraindicated for it.

Temperature

The temperature of the flower content should be kept around 22-26 gr. The usual temperature of city apartments is quite suitable for him, in which the flower develops well and has a healthy appearance. In winter, it is desirable to lower the temperature to 16-20 gr. During heating season Yucca begins to suffer from hot air. Its leaves begin to stretch, thin out, the turgor weakens. Try to reduce the temperature in the room by airing or using split systems. Close the batteries with improvised means. Avoid sudden temperature changes.

Sometimes, the owner opens windows for ventilation in winter and forgets to take Yucca into the next room. A short time is enough to ruin the plant and then long time regret it. The lower temperature limit in winter for room Yucca is 8 gr. heat.

Humidity

Yucca does not require high ambient humidity. It suits the humidity of our city apartments - 40-50%. If the humidity is even lower and the temperature is high, for example, during the heating season, we recommend spraying the surrounding air and flower leaves with boiled or well-settled water at room temperature. Just make sure that the wet leaves of the flower do not get through window panes the sun's rays - the plant can get burned and lose its decorative appearance.

To keep the leaves clean and improve their breathing in the hot season, the crown should be wiped with a damp cloth. A flower with wet leaves should not be placed in the sun - it will get burned. Therefore, it is advisable to carry out this procedure in the evening, so that the crown dries overnight.

Watering

There is no single rule for watering Yucca. The amount and frequency of watering depends on the season, indoor or outdoor humidity (depending on where the flower is), the size of the flower and its pot. For example, a young plant just bought from a store and transplanted into a new pot should be moistened a little almost every day, and an adult flower growing in a huge pot can be watered once every two to three weeks. Let's give general recommendations on this occasion.

In summer, watering should be plentiful, but not frequent. Wait for it to dry upper layer soil 4-7 cm deep, only then water again. Use only settled or boiled water room temperature. If the air temperature is about 20–22 degrees, water no more than once a week. In autumn and winter, watering is reduced. One watering in 10-14 days is enough. The cooler the air in the room becomes, the less often the flower should be watered. If the temperature has stopped at around 18 degrees for a long time, one watering every 3 weeks is enough.

It is noticed that it is enough to pour 1 liter of water into a 5 liter pot. Yucca tolerates overdried soil more easily than its overflow. At any time of the year, do not allow excess water to stagnate in the pan so as not to provoke rotting of the Yucca root system. If the leaves appeared brown spots, and they began to curl up - which means that the roots began to rot from waterlogging of the substrate. In addition, waterlogged soil often causes damage to the plant by all sorts of pests.

If the top layer of the substrate remains damp for several days after watering, it is possible that the substrate has become very hard and does not allow water to pass to the roots inside the pot. In this case, you need to urgently loosen the soil with some improvised tool, in extreme cases with a fork.

Or perhaps the level of humidity in your apartment has increased a lot. The soil began to dry out more slowly. By maintaining the usual watering regimen, you risk ruining the plant's root system.

In hot weather, it is advisable to arrange a shower for Yucca. Rinse its leaves well from dust, but make sure that water does not fall on the substrate (cover the soil with polyethylene while bathing). After a shower, place the pot in a place where there are no drafts and direct sunlight. When the leaves dry, you can take the flower to its place.

fertilizers

Feeding Yucca is necessary condition her successful cultivation from April to August. The advantage is foliar top dressing with mineral liquid formulations. Just double them up big amount water than indicated in the instructions for the drug. Spray the undersides of the leaves with the product - Yucca responds well to this. Foliar top dressing is combined with the next watering of the flower. Purchase liquid mineral fertilizers for flowering indoor flowers in specialty stores. During the period of active growth, Yucca is fed once every 2 weeks. During illness, after transplantation and in autumn and winter, the flower is not fed.

If, at the time of plant transplantation, you used a special balanced soil for Palms or Dracaena, then Yucca will have enough nutrition for a long time, and you will not have to feed it until the next season.

The soil

Yucca prefers light, loose, but sufficiently nutritious substrates, in which leafy, soddy soil, peat, humus and coarse sand are in equal proportions. You can use ready-made soil mixtures. The composition is suitable soil for Palms or Dracaena with a neutral or slightly acidic environment. And you can prepare the soil yourself. In any case, we recommend disinfecting the substrate in any way before use - calcining or freezing to exclude the presence of infection and insects.

Transfer

After acquiring Yucca, do not immediately put it in the prepared place - give it some time to acclimatize to new living conditions away from other flowers. Transplant the flower into a new pot larger than the shipping container. Substrate also prepare a new one. Be sure to put it on the bottom of the pot good layer drainage - expanded clay or crushed stone, at least 5 cm. Transplant the flower using the transshipment method. Do not deepen the stem too much. Diving to a depth greater than 3 cm is fraught with rotting of the trunk and death of Yucca. After transplanting, water the plant and stand separately from others for a couple of weeks to observe it. Do not put the pot in the sun, in a draft, in a too hot room. After the expiration of the term, a healthy-looking Yucca can be rearranged to the planned place.

A planned transplant of Yucca into another, larger pot is carried out for young specimens once a year, for more mature ones - once every two to four years with partial replacement of the old soil with a new one. There are no special restrictions on the time of transplantation, but it is still better to transplant it in the spring. The reason for the transplant may be the root system of Yucca that has grown throughout the pot. When removing a flower from an old one and placing it in a new pot, try not to damage the root system. Otherwise, the flower may get sick, the adaptation process will drag on for a long time, if not worse.

Try to ensure that the new substrate with which you fill the voids in the pot is of the same composition as the previous one, then the adaptation time will pass faster. Another condition: within a month, the transplanted flower cannot be fed, cut or cut! Let him adapt to the new living conditions alone.

A large flower is not very stable. Therefore, it is planted in a large pot. To prevent acidification of the soil, rippers are added to it - vermiculite, perlite or expanded clay chips in a ratio of 5 to 1.

If the plant is too large and you do not want it to grow further, use an old pot when transplanting, and cut the root system of the flower by a quarter with a clean tool. Treat the cut points with crushed coal, it can be woody, it can be activated. In an old, but cleaned and disinfected pot, new drainage and part of the new soil are poured into 5 cm. The flower is set and its roots are covered with a substrate. Fresh soil should be both on top and on the sides of the pot. After transplanting, do not water Yucca for a couple of days, and then begin to gently moisten the substrate in portions, waiting for its surface to dry.

An adult plant that has reached a monumental size is problematic to transplant. Usually content with an annual replacement of the old soil from the top of the pot with new soil.

How to prune yucca

rest period

Yucca does not have a pronounced period of rest. She needs good lighting, moderate temperature all year round. environment, in moderate watering. If you take it out for the winter in an unheated room, keep in mind that the temperature is below 8 degrees. heat is critical for her.

Conclusion

We introduced you to different types of evergreen beauty Yucca, as well as the rules for caring for her at home. According to Feng Shui, Yucca is a symbol of fresh air, purity and perfection. She does not tolerate disorder either in the house, or in the office, or in her head. It is placed near the workplace of a person who often conducts business negotiations and signs important papers. We are sure that you will like this flower.

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Many designers use plants to create a unique design for office and apartment spaces. Thank you today flower shops there is a huge selection of traditional familiar to everyone and classic, and exclusive exotic representatives of the flora. They are in harmony with other interior items to give the space a unique shape. Very often in design solutions use the subtropical yucca plant.

Yucca is a perennial that successfully fits both in classic interior, and in a modern high-tech space. Such a wonderful plant originates in the subtropical zones of North America. By the way, yucca is very popular in the United States of America, and in a variety of industries. For example, excellent clothes are made from perennial fibers, the plant is used for the production of rope ropes and paper. Yucca is also used in folk medicine.

In total, the Agave family, to which yucca belongs, includes more than forty species of tree-like perennials. Outwardly, the perennial resembles a palm tree. Indoor yucca can reach a height of up to four meters (in adulthood). Therefore, spacious apartments with high ceilings or private buildings are perfect for its maintenance. Yucca blooms at home very rarely, and this can be achieved only after years of painstaking cultivation of the plant. But you will learn exactly how to care for exotic yucca in our article.

Types of yucca for home cultivation

Today on the shelves of shops you can find different variants yucca, most often offered elephant grade. The plant got such an unusual name because over time, the stem part of the perennial at the base becomes like the foot of the largest land animal on the planet. This type of yucca takes root better than others in room conditions and grows and pleases the owners for many years. The leaves of yucca ivory are somewhat reminiscent of hourglass. In the upper part they sharply rush to the sky, and in the lower part - to the earth. Although yucca elephant and perfectly takes root at home, nevertheless it grows very, very slowly.

Another alternative to the homemade elephant variety is considered yucca aloe. This plant is somewhat similar to dracaena: the same long pointed leaves and a "slender" trunk. Unlike the elephant variety, aloe yucca is very demanding on temperature regime in room. Therefore, the grower will have to constantly maintain comfortable conditions for yucca, otherwise it will begin to drop leaves, and then die altogether.

Many growers choose to grow not only well-known, but also rare varieties of yucca, which are not so often found in flower shops. These include yucca Trekul, Whipple, Sizuyu, Radiant and others.

Eight basic rules for caring for homemade yucca

Determining the age of a plant

Buying yucca is only half the battle. Much more important is how the grower takes care of his new "green pet" over the coming years. The first thing to do is to write down the exact date of purchase of the plant and the approximate age of the plant at the date of purchase. Determining the age of the yucca will help the owners, in accordance with all the rules, to take care of the plant in the future.

Transfer

In many supermarkets, yucca is sold in paper pots or plastic containers, so after purchasing the flower, it is worth transplanting during the first weeks.

• The first thing a grower will have to decide is the choice of a pot. What container diameter do you prefer? It depends on the root ball of the plant. The diameter of the pot should be two centimeters larger than the diameter of the lump. A pot for yucca should be chosen ceramic. It is stronger than plastic, also stable and durable.

Yucca transplantation is carried out only after the acquisition of the plant.. Subsequently, the plant is only transferred to a more spacious pot and new soil is added. The only exception is plant disease. In this case, the soil should also be completely replaced.

• The second thing the gardener will encounter during transplantation is the need to thoroughly rinse the roots of the plant from the remnants of the old soil. What is the best way to do this? Large pieces of earth from the roots can be cleaned by hand, and the rest is preferably washed under running water or simply soaked in a tank for two hours. A fully prepared plant can be planted in the ground.
• The third thing the grower will have to do is to properly plant the plant itself in a new container. You should not deepen the yucca much, a maximum of two centimeters. Depending on the variety (if the plant is large and multi-leaved), then you should immediately establish a support for it. A bamboo stick is perfect for this purpose.

Choosing a place for yucca

The next step is choosing a location for the yucca. As we mentioned above, the perennial is demanding on the conditions of detention. Therefore, it is desirable to place the plant closer to the southern windows of the house. Yucca will easily endure hot days, even if she gets an excess amount of sunlight. But the yucca desperately “protests” to the lack of sun: its leaves fall and shoots stretch out.

Watering

Strictly speaking, it is impossible to say exactly how the plant should be watered. It all depends on the variety and age of the yucca, as well as on the volume of the pot and the growing conditions of the plant.

It is better not to set any clear schedule for watering plants. It is much easier to navigate by the drying of the surface soil. If the ground is dry (at a depth of five to seven centimeters), this is a sure sign that it is time to water the plant. If the temperature in the room is kept at +19 degrees, then the yucca should be watered about once a week.

Watering mode: A pot of five liters should have no more than one liter of water.

At the same time, it is desirable that the water be either distilled or settled for 12 hours before watering. This soil moisture regime should be followed from mid-spring to mid-autumn. Then watering should occur less frequently so that the root system of the plant does not rot. The plant itself will best tell about excessive watering: the leaves of the yucca are covered with an unnatural brown bloom, dry out, and the growth of the perennial stops.

Lighting

In wildlife, yucca prefers to grow on open area. An excess of sunlight does not scare the perennial at all. Yucca is waiting for the same care at home. Therefore, the plant should be placed closer to the windows on the south side of the house. It will be great if in the summer the yucca will have the opportunity to ventilate on the open balcony.

day length a yucca should have at least sixteen hours a day. All year round: both in winter and summer.

If in the summer this can still be somehow achieved naturally, then in the autumn-winter period it is simply impossible. Therefore, the grower will have to use additional artificial lighting. Phytolamps are perfect for this.

It is worth noting that at first it will be difficult for the grower to determine the exact duration of the additional illumination of the plant in addition to natural lighting during the daytime. However, the yucca itself will help him in this. The plant reacts to excess sunlight with yellow spots on the leaves. If you notice the appearance of an uncharacteristic leaf color, you should immediately reduce the daylight hours for yucca.

Wintering

For the winter, the temperature in the room where the yucca is kept should be lowered to 12 degrees. What else should be done so that the plant safely survives the cold season and blooms on time? Do not fertilize the yucca during the dormant period, and also monitor the absence of drafts in the room. If everything is done correctly, then by the end of the fifth year of growth, the yucca will please with its flowering.

Hemline

As we noted above, it is worth feeding the yucca during the intensive growth of the perennial. This period falls on spring and summer. That's when you need to fertilize. This should be done no more than two or three times per season.
The best food for yucca is the one you can buy at your city's flower shop. Act according to the instructions, and you will not have any problems growing the plant.

One thing to keep in mind important point: fertilizer can not be applied in two cases. The first is when the yucca has just been transplanted. The second - when the plant is in an unnatural state for it (sick, affected by pests).

For the period of the disease, as well as immediately after planting, yucca should not be fertilized. Then it is worth sticking to the usual scheme of feeding the plant.

Diseases and pests

Yucca home is often attacked false shields. She settles on the inside and outside sheet. This can be determined by dried leaves of an unnatural color. It is important to prevent the development of the disease in time, otherwise the plant may quickly die. You can get rid of false shields if you use organophosphorus insecticidal preparations (for example, Aktellik).

Often, a pest of the family settles on the leaves of a plant. spider mites . moisture-free air in the room where the yucca is located can lead to the fact that a pest starts on the leaves of the plant. At the same time, the leaves themselves acquire unnatural yellow tint, yucca stops growing and slowly dries up. Insecticides will help save the situation.

One of the main diseases affecting yucca is stem rot. This fungal disease is associated with uncomfortable conditions for perennials. If you notice the disease in time, you can try to save the yucca by removing the dead parts. If the plant is largely infected, then it is better to simply remove the perennial from the apartment.

The exotic yucca plant will not only amazingly decorate the interior of the office and home, but will certainly please the owners with its magnificent appearance for many years. The main thing is to surround this brightest representative of the Agave family with care and warmth.

Yucca, thanks to its exotic appearance, has firmly taken its “place in the sun” not only in gardens, but also in indoor floriculture.

For long spear-shaped leaves, it is called the "Spanish dagger", "Adam's needle".

About 40 species of yucca are known.

In room conditions, the most popular for growing:

yucca aloe- a tree-like plant, in natural conditions reaching 4-6 m in height. The leaves are hard, sharply serrated at the edges, up to 45 cm long, dark green in color with a bluish bloom;

yucca ivory- in nature, this is a branching tree up to 8-10 m high. It got its name for a thick trunk resembling an elephant's leg. The leaves are light green in color and have thorns at the ends, leathery to the touch. A feature of this species is the direction of the leaves in the rosette: the lower ones are drooping, and the upper ones are directed upwards.

These species have a pronounced trunk, crowned with a "cap" long leaves. For this appearance, they are often called a false palm tree. Despite the subtropical origin, yuccas are unpretentious, they are quite easy to grow at home, subject to simple rules of keeping.

Yucca: home care - soil, lighting, temperature and humidity

The soil

The soil for growing yucca must be loose and permeable, because. This plant does not tolerate stagnant moisture. It can be prepared from equal volumes of soddy soil, humus, coarse sand (fraction more than 3 mm) or perlite. It will not be superfluous to add pumice (slag), pebbles or crushed stone, charcoal (1: 1: 1) to it. There are no strict requirements for soil acidity: yuccas grow well in the pH range of 5.6-7.5. If it is not possible to select components for the soil mixture, then you can buy ready soil for growing yucca, for example, from the Seliger-Agro series, Babylon Gardens, Biud, Flower Paradise, Botanist's Dream, etc.

Lighting

For good development, yucca needs bright lighting, especially young plants. However, in order to avoid leaf burns, it must be shaded at noon from direct sunlight. The best would be placement on the windows of the western or eastern direction. In winter, additional lighting with fluorescent phytolamps can be used to achieve the required 16-hour daylight hours. In summer, the yucca can be taken out into the open air, providing it with diffused light and protecting it from precipitation.

Temperature and humidity

During the warm season optimum temperature air for keeping yucca will be + 20-25 ° C. If the plant is on the south side, then it can overheat. In this case, it must be transferred to the shade so that it cools down, and then sprayed with water. In autumn-winter, yucca should be provided with + 8-12 ° C. At higher temperatures and lack of lighting, her shoots are strongly drawn out, the leaves become smaller, brighter and sag.

Some types of yucca need spraying warm water held before sunrise or after sunset. Otherwise, sunburn may occur on the leaves. To increase the humidity of the air, the pot can be placed in a container with wet expanded clay, gravel, moss.

Yucca: home care - reproduction, transplant

reproduction

At home, yucca is propagated by seeds and vegetatively.

from seed growing a "Spanish dagger" is much easier than getting these seeds: firstly, when kept indoors, the false palm tree blooms very rarely, and secondly, it does not set fruits (except for aloe yucca) in the absence of its symbiont pollinator - yucca moth. Yucca seeds have a rather long germination period (from a month to a year), therefore, to speed up this process, they must be scarified - rub each seed with an emery cloth. Seeds are sown in a bowl with a mixture of soddy soil and sand and placed in a greenhouse. You can keep the seeds in moist material (sponge, cotton pad, gauze, etc.) until pecking. For seed germination, it is necessary to maintain an air temperature of + 18-24 ° C and periodically ventilate. The emergence of seedlings from seeds sown immediately into the ground can take from a month to a year. After the growth of a pair of true leaves, the seedlings dive into separate cups. Young plants need to be repotted every year.

More simple and fast way propagate yucca - rooting cuttings. It is good to combine this with the planned pruning of an overgrown plant, which is done before the active growing season begins. The top of the yucca is cut off with a sharp, disinfected knife, leaving a few lower leaves on the trunk (new shoots will subsequently grow from their sinuses). The sections are dried and treated with charcoal powder. The cut off "apical" stalk is rooted in water, adding activated carbon to it to prevent the development of putrefactive processes, or in a soil mixture. On the remaining trunk - "hemp" from sleeping buds, lateral shoots will begin to grow. They can be thinned out or left all to form a lush “cap” of leaves.

Rooting the apical cuttings of yucca in the ground

You can grow yucca from pieces of stem. You can buy them in flower shops, cut them yourself from an existing plant. It is also common to sell such yucca cuttings as gift products in southern resorts - a living "magnet" as a keepsake of the holiday. When buying such planting material, you need to pay attention to its appearance: it should be elastic and juicy, with no signs of drying out or wet rot, the top and bottom ends must be marked (the top end is “sealed” with wax). Such cuttings are rooted in sand, vermiculite, a mixture of peat and sand. The lower end is stuck into the prepared substrate and placed in a greenhouse. Rooting occurs at a temperature not lower than + 20 ° C for 1-2 months.

If the purchased handle does not have end markings (it is not clear where the top is and where the bottom is), then in this case rooting carry out horizontally. Cuttings are placed on a moistened substrate, lightly pressed down and placed in a greenhouse or covered with glass. When sprouts with roots appear on the upper side of the cuttings, the stems are pulled out of the ground and divided into parts, each of which is planted in a separate pot.

Rooting yucca with pieces of the trunk: 3 - vertically (if there are end markings), 4 - horizontally (if it is not clear where the upper and lower ends are)

Another way to propagate yucca is air layers. This method can be used if the plant dies from excessive watering. To do this, on the trunk, stepping back from the crown of at least 60 cm, cut off a strip of bark in the form of a ring 5-15 mm wide. The wound should be wrapped with sphagnum, and on top with a film, leaving a small hole in the upper part to further moisten the moss. This strapping is left on the yucca until the roots appear and develop (3-4 weeks). Then the rooted top of the plant is cut off a couple of centimeters below the place where the bark was removed, and, having processed the cut, they are planted in a pot.

Rooting by air layering

Transfer

Young plants need to be transplanted annually, and adults - every 2-4 years. It is better to carry it out in the spring. Healthy specimens are simply transferred (without destroying the earthy coma) into a new pot with a drainage layer of 3-4 cm. This method allows minimizing trauma to the root system and shortening the adaptation period. If the yucca roots began to rot, then they must be freed from the old soil, cut out the rotten parts. After that, the plant is transplanted into a fresh substrate and not fed for a month. It is obligatory to transplant yucca bought in the store (after 2 weeks of adaptation in a new place), because. soil in a transport pot is not suitable for long-term cultivation of plants.

new pot selected in such a way that its diameter is 2-3 cm larger than the size of the old container.

Yucca: home care - feeding and watering

Watering

The frequency of watering a false palm tree depends on factors such as the size of the plant, the size and material of the pot, soil properties, temperature and humidity. In the warm season, yucca is watered abundantly, while the soil in the pot between waterings should dry out at least 5 cm deep. It is important to prevent stagnation of moisture in the soil, otherwise the root system will rot and the plant will die. In winter, the strait is reduced.

top dressing

Fertilizing begins in the spring with a frequency of 2-3 weeks and continues throughout the entire period of active vegetation. Taking into account the fact that yucca blooms very rarely at home, it is optimal for it to use fertilizers for ornamental plants or special fertilizers for palm trees (Absolute, Pokon, Garden of Miracles, Biopon, Health turbo, Stimovit, Florovit). At foliar top dressing leaves from the underside are sprayed with a solution mineral fertilizers.

Why is the yucca dying?

Most often, yucca dies from improper care. Excessive soil moisture leads to decay of the root system and trunk: leaves droop, softened and dark spots, exfoliate or swell the bark. In this case, if healthy areas remain, then you can try to save the plant (by rooting the crown or parts of the trunk).

Yucca can shed some of its leaves when transplanting or changing conditions. This is a completely normal plant reaction to stress. If massive leaf fall occurs, then hypothermia or drafts may be the reason for this.

Yellowing and falling of leaves occurs for the following reasons:

Natural aging process;

Waterlogging of the soil;

Hypothermia.

With a lack of lighting, yucca leaves turn pale and droop.

Browning of the tips and edges of the leaves indicates low indoor humidity or poor watering.

Frequent spraying low temperature and high humidity, excess irrigation and nitrogen lead to the development of fungal and bacterial diseases. Common ones are:

cercosporosis- characterized by the development of brown spots on the leaves, which increase with time;

brown spotting caused by the fungus Coniothyrium concentricum. The main symptom of this disease is colorless small spots on old leaves. As the disease progresses, the spots turn yellow and then turn brown. In the center of them, a black mycelium of the fungus develops;

marginal necrosis appears most often on old yucca leaves. The edges of the leaf plates become yellow-brown, subsequently these areas die off;

fusarium rot caused by fungi of the genus Fusarium. Leaves begin to rot at the base. The pathogen persists in the soil for a long time, is easily transmitted by contact;

bacterial rot the lower part of the plant is affected. The development of the disease is accompanied by a putrid fishy smell. It is not amenable to treatment, the affected yucca will have to be thrown away;

white rot provoked by the fungus Sclerotium, which most often affects lower leaves: they become colorless and watery, when high humidity formed on them white mold. The disease is acutely manifested at low air temperature or with sudden changes and high humidity.

If a fungal disease is suspected, the plant must be treated with a fungicide solution (Topaz, Vitaros, Fundazol, Ridomil Gold, Previkur), the affected parts should be removed. In some cases, the treatment does not bring positive results and it is better to throw the plant along with the soil.