Yucca is a plant of the agave family, a shrub or a low tree. Yucca is called a "tree of happiness" and believe that it brings luck to its owners. Due to the fact that the plant comes from tropical and subtropical latitudes, it is rather thermophilic. In addition, the yucca is pollinated by only one species of butterfly, which does not live in a temperate climatic zone. For these reasons the plant fructifies only at home. But then the yucca blossoms with beautiful white flowers, like large bells. Often yucca is planted in pots, and it adorns not only the space of the garden plot, but also houses, offices, and institutions.
How to care for a garden yucca?
Care for the garden yucca does not require significant effort. Since the plant is very thermophilic, it is planted in a place well illuminated by the sun. Watering is moderate. Be sure to orientate when setting the regime of watering on the plant itself: straightened leaves with twisted threads indicate that the yucca gets enough moisture, if the leaves begin to curl, and the threads lifelessly sag, then the water is not enough. When growing in a flower pot, pay attention to the fact that moisture does not accumulate in the pan, because stagnation of water in the root system will lead to decay of the yucca. Accordingly, when planting a garden yucca in a pot, it is necessary to create a drainage layer, and when growing yucca in the garden, choose a place where moisture stagnation is impossible.
When planting a house at home, in spring and summer it is advisable to take it out into the open air, so it is more convenient to cultivate yucca in pots in a country house: in the cold season it decorates the interior, and in warm weather it feels great in the garden. If the plant feels a lack of sunlight, then it loses its thick fan-shaped leaves.
To yukka safely overwinter in the open ground, its leaves are tied in a bundle and covered, you can also trim the stem halfway and cover.
Yucca garden - breeding
The plant is more often propagated by seeds that are sown at the end of winter. Flowers are grown indoors at an average room temperature. Seedlings are growing for two years, and the transplantation of yucca garden into the open ground is made after this time in spring, when the temperature does not drop below 7 degrees. On the lateral processes of a filamentous yucca, tiny bushes can form, they perfectly coexist when planted in the soil.
Yucca also reproduces by root cuttings. To do this, dig a fairly deep pit (2 times wider and deeper than the roots of the flower) and create a large drainage layer. Mix half the sand and gravel with earth, sprinkle the root system and water the plant with water.
Pests and diseases
With properly conducted planting and good care garden yucca rarely falls ill. The main pest affecting the leaves is the scab . If the plant is attacked with a scab, it is covered with brown plaques. To combat the parasite, the affected leaves are daily wiped with a cotton swab dipped in water, and once a week the plaques are wiped off with cotton wool soaked in vodka.
Sometimes after wintering, the garden yucca is covered with yellowish spots.
Often, amateur gardeners ask the question, why does not flower garden yucca? The plant can blossom in the first year after planting, and possibly the beginning of flowering on the 4th or 5th year of life. To the plant to bloom, in no case is it possible to cut off the wilted leaves! With a clear unwillingness to bloom, the plant is satisfied with shock therapy: they hold some time in the end of winter in a room with a temperature of +5 degrees with minimal illumination.
We wish you success in cultivating the beautiful "tree of happiness"!