Like all living creatures, the most beautiful yucca or palm lily grows older. Especially large specimens of the Yucca elephantipes cultivated as a houseplant tend to grow lopsided over the years - the trunk grows "crooked" - and gradually bare. A makeover is therefore absolutely necessary.
The yucca palm is ideal for stimulating the formation of new shoots
Lack of light causes thin shoots and sparse vegetation
If your yucca palm has a rather thin trunk and only a few leaves or no more and if so, then only very long and thin shoots, then this could be due to a lack of light. Yuccas are plants that need a lot of light and are best placed directly in front of a south-facing window - and in a sunny and warm place outside during the summer months. If your yucca looks as described, then rejuvenate it - and then look for a new, more suitable location. In addition to the lack of light and the associated reduced growth, there are other reasons why a rejuvenation of the yucca may be necessary:
- The plant has already grown very large and no longer fits under the ceiling.
- The yucca should be encouraged to develop more shoots and a bushier growth.
- The plant has been exposed to drafts or even frost, which is why some parts have died.
- The plant is sick with an infection
- or suffers from a severe pest infestation.
- The plant has very many yellow or brown leaves and/or a soft stem.
With all of the causes mentioned, the best method is to cut the yucca into several pieces and re-root healthy shoots as cuttings.
Split and rejuvenate dead yucca palm
As a rule, this type of propagation works very well, even if you have to prune the plant for it. You can cut the whole yucca into pieces or simply "decapitate" them and place the top tuft in a mixture of sand and potting soil. In all probability, this will re-root itself, so that you will soon have another plant - which you can either cultivate alone or put together with the mother plant in a (larger!) pot. The cut original yucca will also sprout again and, with a bit of luck, even develop several shoots.
tips
Even the frost-hardy relatives of the Yucca elephantipes, the garden yuccas such as Yucca gloriosa or Yucca filamentosa, can be easily rejuvenated. These stemless yucca species can easily be divided.