Like all living things, even the most beautiful yucca or palm lily gets older. Large specimens of the Yucca elephantipes cultivated as houseplants in particular tend to grow crooked over the years - the trunk grows "crooked" - and gradually become bald. So a rejuvenation treatment is absolutely necessary.
How to rejuvenate a yucca palm?
To rejuvenate a yucca palm, the trunk should be cut into several pieces and he althy shoots should be re-rooted as cuttings. By deadheading and planting the crest in a sand-potting soil mix, a new plant is created, while the cut original plant develops 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 leaves 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, rejuvenate it - and then look for a new, more suitable location. In addition to the lack of light and the resulting reduced growth, there are other reasons why a rejuvenation treatment may be necessary for the yucca:
- The plant has grown very large and no longer fits under the ceiling.
- The Yucca should be encouraged to develop additional shoots and a bushier growth.
- The plant was exposed to drafts or even frost, which is why some parts died.
- The plant is suffering from an infection
- or suffers from a severe pest infestation.
- The plant has a lot of yellow or brown leaves and / or a soft trunk.
For all of the reasons mentioned, the best method is to cut the yucca into several pieces and re-root he althy shoots as cuttings.
Dividing and rejuvenating a bare yucca palm
As a rule, this type of propagation works very well, even if you of course have to trim the plant to do it. You can cut whole yuccas into pieces or simply “head” them and place the top head in a mixture of sand and potting soil. This will most likely re-root itself, so that you will immediately have another plant - which you can either cultivate alone or plant 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.
Tip
The frost-hardy relatives of Yucca elephantipes, the garden yuccas such as Yucca gloriosa or Yucca filamentosa, can also be easily rejuvenated. These stemless palm lily species can be easily divided.
