A thick, woody stem and a luxuriant tuft of broad, dark green leaves: the yucca is one of the most popular indoor plants due to its exotic appearance. But that's not the only reason, because the agave plant (which is not remotely related to the tropical palm trees!) is also considered to be very easy to care for. However, too much water can cause the plant to rot from the inside out.
If the trunk of the yucca palm is soft and hollow, it can often no longer be saved
Causes of hollow trunk
If the trunk feels soft, maybe even squeezable with your fingers, or shoots that appear healthy on the outside just snap off, then that part of the yucca is probably hollow. You can check this by inspecting a shoot - for example a broken one - more closely. Sometimes the trunk is not only hollow, but even rotten. In fact, this phenomenon is the gradual death of the plant due to root rot caused by waterlogging. This occurs when the yucca, which is naturally accustomed to drought
- is watered too often or too much
- there is no or insufficient pot drainage
- and/or the yucca is left in excess irrigation water for too long (e.g. in the saucer).
The yucca originally comes from the deserts and semi-deserts of the American state of Texas and parts of Mexico and is therefore adapted to a very dry and hot location. So don't be too wasteful with the watering.
Save yucca with hollow trunk?
Once the yucca has a hollow trunk, it can no longer be saved entirely - the rotting process is already too far advanced at this point. You can only try to cut off healthy parts of the affected plant with a clean and sharp knife or saw and reroot them in a plant pot filled with a mixture of sand and potting soil. This shouldn't be a problem, as the yucca is one of the easiest houseplants to root - it's basically impossible to kill, as a cutting can still be taken from even the most severely affected plant. Suitable cuttings should be at least 10 centimeters long.
tips
Rot is first noticeable through rather inconspicuous symptoms such as yellowing of the leaves. If you notice such signs, you should act quickly - and replant the affected yucca in fresh, dry substrate after both above-ground and root cutting. Then water them much less frequently than before.