Thank you Nigel! I think I went a bit overboard with the cinnamon. My wife certainly though so. 😋 I remember the story of your Yucca from the first video on it and I can only hope that this one will get at least close to how yours looks like.
Thank you for saving this little old Yucca plant. 🥰 So beautiful to watch all the loving care you gave it. You've restored my faith in both my own Yucca's chance of survival after I over watered it! 😢😢 & my faith in humans. 😊
Omg I have kept a trunk of one of my yuccas for months on the patio refusing to throw it away and now this video is like a miracle that tells me that I can still save it. Thank you !
It's a good thing you didn't throw it away. Check if the trunk is still hard and that the bark isn't detaching. If it's not too damaged or too dehydrated it could be saved. I hope you can manage to bring it back to life. 🤞
@@OddBonsai so the problem is that the trunk is rotten from the bottom with all of the roots because the pot has not been draining properly and I’m wondering if I can still do anything with that (it does not sound hollow above the bottom rot and the bark is not detaching there), it’s a long trunk, this was the middle plant of the 3 in the pot. The other 2 are still there but still slowly dying, I have once removed them and removed most of the roots leaving just some healthy ones and planting it in the new soil (I created a bed of perlite on the bottom of the pot and then topped it up with a cactus soil also mixed with perlite), but instead of letting the plants dry I watered them in the new soil, because that’s what you do with a lot of plants. The soil stays humid for a long time on the bottom of the soil, I tried not watering the plants for more than 3 weeks but felt like that’s not enough of water for such big plants so I watered them with ice cubes instead.
I thought oddly an off shoot just started sprouting in the pot with the other 2 plants, but from what I’m reading it’s the plants last ditch at creating offspring if it’s dying.
Cut off the rotten part and check if there is any more rot visible in the cut section. If there is you can cut again a bit higher. I understand why you felt it needed water but Yucca will survive long periods of drought. During winter I water mine once a mont or once every 6 weeks and they are growing well. I once managed to root a severly dehidrated segment of yucca cane, it was all shriveled up. The trunk holds a lot of water so don't worry about not watering. If there's an offshoot growing from the bottom part it's a good indicator that that section of the trunk is still ok. Most times the best way to save a yucca is just to neglect it. Good luck with making it bounce back!
Thank you for an excellent demonstration of working with Yucca plants. Your video with instructions in easy-to-follow audio is one of the best plant care UA-cam videos I have watched over the years.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I always try to convey the amount of information I myself would like to see in a video and I'm happy to hear when people find it useful.
Wow you did amazing! Thank you for showing how it looked after 6 months. I have a yucca plant and it's my first plant. I overwatered it and now the branches are yellow and the stalk is getting a little soft
Hi Stephan, it's true that one man's trash is another one's treasure!! Such a miraculous saving it's a shame that all the upper part died. But it's still alive and you have a new add to your collection. Great video
Thanks Saro! The part about the top part dying is my only regret. I was hoping it will grow some new shoots from there. Overall I'm glad it survived and it will be quite a challenge making it heal over that large cut.
@@RosarioCostanzo You are too kind. 😊It also helped a lot that yuccas are very resilient plants. So if you stop watering and remove the risk of the rot spreading the Yucca usually recovers on its own.
Its always amazing to save a plant like this! Awesome video and well done on showing all the tedious work and progression over such a long time period! I hope this plant grows strongly now!
Thanks! I'm also really glad it's alive. I was tempted to post my Yucca's story earlier but I decided to wait until there was no doubt that it will survive. I hope that the video will help other people dealing with yucca trunk rot and give them confidence when fearing that severe pruning could kill the Yucca. It's a very resilient plant.
It's not going to win any beauty contests anytime soon but I'm glad I could save it and I'm hoping it will look better once it grows bigger. An update will be coming sometime this year.
Thank you! It means so much to me to know my videos are helping out people which have similar problems. Yes cinnamon is a natural fungicide, admittedly not as powerful as synthetic fungicides but it's natural and it's something that most everyone has in the kitchen. Also it's particularly good for succulents since it dries out the area it is applied on. Maybe you heard about the cinnamon challenge (I don't recommend trying it) which shows how good cinnamon is at coating and drying the mouth and throat. 😊
Fascinating and informative video. I hope I can save my yucca plant too as both branches broke off. I did leave it alone for a while and did not cut off the broken part, so hopefully it's not too late to save it. New subscriber here.👍
Interesting video. I love how you made it over a number of months and it had some 'conclusions'. I am glad the Yucca survived and I am curious to see how you will evolve the tree :) Anyway, nice job Stefan!
Thanks David! Initially I was planning to end it with the first update but after seeing that it had quite some dieback after one month I decided to end a video when I was certain that it will survive so that I don't leave viewers in too much suspense. :) I'm also curious how it will evolve. My current goal is to promote healing over the large cut so I think that I have to let that top shoot thicken up a lot and also stimulate the growth of several other new shoots around the cut so that there's a bigger chance of it closing faster. Time will tell...
Hi Stefan, I found your material very interesting, thank you for the much needed advice. Could you please elaborate a bit into the water/fertilazer regime too. Regards Milla
Here are some questions to help me figure out potential issues. Where do you keep it (indoors/outdoors)? How much light does it get (full sun/indirect light, all day/only morning/only afternoon)? Did it just stop growing this past year or do you just have it for a year? How big is it and how large is the pot? What are your watering habits? Could it be rootbound?
Thanks! Sometimes I feel I need even more patience. 😋 If I remember correctly I watered it about a month after the first operation. It did get some water right after cleaning the roots since I washed them before repotting. I think you can see in the video at some point that the roots are wet, but that's something I forgot to mention.
Did it fully recover, and how long before you started to water it again? I bought a young yukka and repotted it into an appropriately sized pot, but seems the bag of soil (houseplant potting compost which probably wasn't right for a Yucca) was infested with fungus gnats and mushrooms started growing near the base of the plant, and it resulted in trunk rot down one half of the trunk the full length, so I have cut it all back and treated with cinnamon. There are a few roots on the health side. The top of the trunk looks frayed almost, so not sure whether to remove it as the plant is attached to it there. Not entirely sure what to do next, would you be able to advise at all please? I can send you a video of it, would really appreciate it :-) The plant itself is very healthy.
Hopefully, there will be an update video this summer. I just repotted the Yucca stump in a larger pot to help it grow better since it wasn't quite happy in that shallow one it was initially growing in.
Wow! Amazing video. Thank you. Have you ever rooted from the opposite side of the trunk? We had a tree fall over that gopher’s ate the root system from. Not sure if it can be saved.
Hello the Yucca plant Whisperer .... Im in the UK and have a container grown 7ft Yucca in an open porchway. It grew too tall and bent right over from the top . I cut the top leafy part off to make it straight again . Its taken a while to recover and now has a few pups growing from the trunk. Should i start feeding it yet and with what? How regularly should i water it in the summer and should i water it until the water flows out from the bottom of the container and how often should i top up the soil???? 🙏
Glad to to hear you found it useful. If I remember correctly the first time I watered it was a month after worked on it for the first time. If you look carefully during the removal of old soil and root pruning it appears to be wet at some point. That's because I washed the roots before pruning. So it got a bit of water then. Without having any leaves, it doesn't need that much water.
Thank you for this video. Your care for the plants is beautiful. I have a question. Someone gave me a yucca start a few days ago. I'm brand new to these plants. It has green growth at the top and the trunk is about 18 inches long but quite bent. I could use some advise as to how to get it straightened out and cared for! He had it in a pot for awhile and I think it got bent with weathering. Thank you!
Depending on how bent it is it may or may not be straightened back again. If you can straighten it by hand without breaking it then there's a chance, otherwise you run the risk of breaking the trunk. If there's a chance to straighten it you cut take a sturdy stake and use it as you would use a splint on a broken leg. Tie the yucca trunk to the stake with the bend touching the stake. Make one tie every 4 inches or so and slowly tighten the ties to pull the top and bottom of the trunk towards the stake until your yucca is straight. Be careful when you do this and don't pull too hard on the yucca at once. The trunk does have some elasticity but it can suddenly snap from too much tension. I hope you manage to fix the bend or at least straighten it up a bit. Please let me know what you decided and how it went.
Thank you! For me it looks like a lonely palm on a really small island at the moment. 😋 But I'm very glad it's alive and I hope it will someday look like a Yucca again.
I’m back again reviewing this video. It’s great, thank you! Im struggling and need advice. Is it unheard of to increase watering to every 3-5 days for an indoor yucca cane in an extremely well draining pot with soil similar to your bonsai soil mix? I have two indoor yucca can that I’ve reported in extremely well draining pot and soil that is very well draining. I use a water moisture meter and within a few days the soil reads “dry”. After almost a year experimenting I’m still struggling to know if I’m watering enough to too much. I’ve been doing about every 7-10 days but am considering shifting to 3-5 days. I did have yellowing leaves, and branches that died, but the main trunk was never soggy. Ans I never water when the soil feels damp. Thank you!
At a first glance I would say watering every 3-5 days is way too often. But there are various things to consider: - How large is the pot compared to the root mass? - What are your indoor growing conditions: temperature, light, humidity? - How deep do you stick your moisture meter in the pot? - What does "dry" mean for your moisture meter? It's normal for old leaves to turn yellow and die but if this happens on young leaves, it's a good indication of overwatering. You only notice the trunk getting soggy to the touch when you overwater for a very long period of time and the tree is slowly rotting from the inside out. At the time you notice this the roots are mostly dead and the trunk part that feels soggy is already compromised. I never used a moisture meter and I only water when the soil is bone dry. For example, during winter, when this yucca is indoors, I water it somewhere around once per month. My indoor growing conditions are 21 deg. C, relative humidity 45-60% and less than ideal lighting. During the hottest summer months, when it grows outside in full sun, I water it maybe once per week. A yucca is able to survive in extreme drought but it will slowly die when given too much water. Also consider that even if watering it more often doesn't have any negative impact this is not going to make it grow faster than when it has less water. Hope this helps!
Thank you! The pot is probably 3-4 times larger than the root mass. When I say dry in the moisture meter it is also when the soil looks and feels dry to the touch. I do stick the meter at various depths, all the way to the bottom of the pot. The yucca is in my office and I believe becomes dry bc of the central heat/air that runs. The light is bright office lighting and it is also next to a window, although I generally have the blinds closed bc it gets very hot. Very low humidity with an average temp probably around 68-75 F. Yes, it’s the new leaves that were continually dying, they were crumby and dry.
While the soil might look dry at the surface it may still stay moist underneath for a week or more (depending on the pot size). As I said, I don't use a moisture meter so I don't know how they work or how reliable they are for plants that do not like too much humidity. The dying leaves are a good sign of overwatering. And the best thing you can do in this case is to stop watering for a longer period of time to let it recover. Then when you resume watering, you should water it less often. Try to wait for at least one week (I would wait more) after the top soil has dried so that more of the soil dries up. The size of the pot also influences how fast the soil will dry up. The bigger the pot, the longer it will retain water. Usually, when repotting succulents, you use a pot that is only slightly larger than the current root ball. In your case, there's a lot more soil than roots so it will dry up slower. Soil components also matter. The soil may be fast draining but have components that retain a lot of water (e.g. pine bark, coco fiber, etc.). What I'm trying to say here is that it's impossible to recommend an exact watering schedule. Watering on a schedule is not a recommended practice regardless of the plant species. The rule for Yucca and other succulents is to leave all the soil dry up before watering. Don't be afraid of letting your yucca dry for too long. It will survive months without water but it can develop root rot in weeks from overwatering and improper soil. I really hope your yucca recovers and that there's no hidden rot damage. There was a duplicate comment, hope you don't mind I removed it.
Hi, nice video, I saved a large stem, yucca with 2 dead sponge rot stems, an the main stem, is large high ended. I follow your advice, only a have only spaghetti thin roots around the bottom stem. What is your advice?
Lack of roots is not a problem. Yucca will grow new roots very easily. You can cut away all the parts affected by rot, let the wounds dry off and then plant the Yucca in well draining soil. And remember, you should only water a yucca when the soil is completely dry.
Glad you enjoyed it. The Yucca is doing well. It didn't do too well last winter due to improper lighting but it's growing well again since I moved it outside in spring.
Yeah, I'm really glad I managed to save that one. It may never grow to be a nice looking plant with that huge hole in it but I'm still going to keep it.
I´m just trying to save a 16 year old overwatered house yukka, today I cut it back and repotted it and left it on the balcony where hopefully the sun can dry it out a bit. But I put it in soil not stones, is that a mistake?
@@OddBonsai that's good!! I like Stumpy! 👍👍 My first bonsai (that I killed 😭) was named Spud. He was a ficus with a big fat trunk divided into 2 at the base (honestly probably was a root cutting) with 1 tiny branch and a couple of leaves. So he kind of looked like a potato, hence Spud 😂 (Actually spud might be an Aussie word... It's what we call potatos haha)
Then Stumpy it shall be! :) I also learned something new today. I didn't know potatoes are called spuds in some parts of the English speaking world. Sorry to hear about your Spud.
@@OddBonsai haha yes I think it's only in Australia? Maybe some parts of Britain I'm not sure. So we also call potato cakes spud cakes! It was my fault Spud died. The guy we bought it from said to just water it every couple of days, it'll be fine. So I didn't repot, fertilise, etc. I had no idea! But after Spud died and I couldn't find a place to buy another one, I decided to learn how to grow bonsai from seed, and now I'm overrun with bonsai! 😂 What's amazing is Spud actually survived about 5 or 6 years with this treatment and really bad irregular watering!
I like to think that if I learned a lesson after killing a plant it didn't die for nothing. You sure learned your lesson so you wil surely care better for the next one. 👍
May u be blessed In abundance for saving this beauty 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️ love is what makes the world go around. I found a yucca today left outside with no pot. Everyone says it’s dead but I want to try 🙏🏽 hopefully u cab advise me 🙏🏽
Amazing! Our yucca is very tall and has so many pups growing at the bottom. It’s beautiful!! Recently suffering from so much rain she isn’t doing well. All the top shoots have gone brown and are rotting in the centre. I have chopped them away to healthy tissue and added cinnamon. It’s a bit early in the year here to cut back but I was so worried the rot would spread so I’ve taken a chance! So worried for her, as she is years old! Many of the neighbours yuccas also look the same so it must be the weather this year as theirs been excessive rain which has collected between the leaves near the trunk 😢
I'm guessing your yucca is planted directly in the ground. If so, there's not much you can do to protect it from rain. Be careful when making cuts during a rainy period. Water will get inside the trunk through the cut points. So it's best to do this during dry periods and it would be great if you could seal the cuts. Hope your yucca recovers well.
@@OddBonsai hopefully she will, unfortunately in the uk there’s never an extended dry period 😫 Any advise on what to seal the cuts with? I’ve topped them with cinnamon for now
Oh, I didn't know you live in the UK. There's a horticultural cut paste usualy used by nurseries to seal cuts on pottes yuccas but I don't know of a specific product name. Maybe you can find it in shops selling horticultural products. I haven't managed to find anything like that for sale where I live, maybe you have more luck.
Yes, I used a completely inorganic mix. I am providing the nutrients needed by fertilizing when I water the yucca. My main concern was to provide a well draining mix. Organic matter tends to break down relatively fast so it ends up accumulating at the bottom of the pot and may block the drainage holes in time.
Than you very much! I got that soil scoop as a gift/bonus from the guy that I bought my Bonsai tools from a long time ago (I think it was over 10 years ago). I think you should be able to find some for sale on sites like Amazon/ebay/Aliexpress if you search for soil scoop. I don't know about stainless steel ones but I remember seeing plastic soil scoops for sale for a few dollars.
It's a good natural antifungal agent. It may not be as powerful as the synthetic ones you can find in specialized stores but it will do the job in many cases.
I’m going to give it a try this weekend if weather allows. My plant has a crown rot so will have to sort it out and will definitely seal the top. Can send you pic of the bottle I plant to use. My one is from B&Q
Is what you got from Amazon really sealing wax or is it a cut paste? I would appreciate it if you could either write the name of the product here in a comment or send me a pic on my Instagram or Facebook account. Unfortunately, there's no way to send pics directly via UA-cam. Thanks!
@@OddBonsai it’s Arbrex seal and heal, I bought it at B&Q. I’ll send you pics of the bottle on Insta. I can also send pics of what I’ve done today to the plant. Maybe this isn’t a proper wax but it was like a glue and I really needed to do something with the plant. Lots of rot 😢😢😢 and it was such a beautiful plant.
I have two yucca plants in one pot. One of it is dying and the other is happy. Should I transplant and perform surgery on the dying one or will the transplant effect the healthy one too? Also, the bark of the dying one is also soft on the outside.. And the top black portion is peeling..
I would take both Yucca plants out and check the soil and the roots. Even if one Yucca is still happy, whatever is affecting the other one can end up affecting the healthy one as well. Make sure you put them in well draining soil (any succulent soil mix should be good) and don't water them too often. I only water mine when the soil is completely dry and they are doing very well. For example, when I keep them inside during winter I water maybe once a month. On the dying Yucca you should remove all affected tissue. If bark is soft when you squeeze the trunk or it is peeling away, that section of the trunk is dead and should be removed. Cut back until you get heathy tissue and you can either let the wound dry out for a day or two or apply some fungicide and put it directly in the soil. Hope this helps save your yucca. Let me know how it turns out.
@@OddBonsai Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I think I water them too often (once a week), not realizing its once a month. I will cut out the dying yucca. Also, is it ok to leave the yucca on a bright window?
@@ShilpiMahajan1 You're very welcome! Once a week is way too often. Don't try to water according to a fixed schedule. Just stick a finger in the soil (or use a humidity gouge) and if it's wet don't water. It's OK to leave it on the window, Yucca loves light. The fact that it can survive with little light has led to the misconception that it doesn't love light. I keep mine outside in full sun from spring until autumn and next to a window during winter and there's a noticeable difference between winter and summer growth. Good luck with your yucca!
@@OddBonsai Thank you: your video made me treat my yuccas like a baby. I have three. My dying yucca has soft bark all till the roots. Can I assume, its already dead :(
@@ShilpiMahajan1 If the entire yucca cane is soft from top to bottom then it's probably too late. Does it still have leaves on top? If it does, the top part should still be viable. If you like you can send me a photo of the plant via Instagram or Facebook (links on about page) and I can have a look. Yucca thrives on neglect so you should try not to baby it too much even though this may be easier said than done. 😊
Hey I am going to do this to two stalls of yucca that I got dying I only found pumice and perlite No vermicule. The stalks are a lot smaller so I had to find something more shallow and small.
When you rrmove the part affected by rot make sure you cut all the way back to healthy tissue. Check the roots and the trunk as well. You don't necessarily have to uae the exact same soil recipee like I did. Cactus or aucculent soil should be fine. A shalow pot lets the soil dry out faster and it's ok in case you tend to overwater. But a larger pot is also ok as long as you only water when the soil is completely dry. Good luck wirh your yucca!
@@OddBonsai oh man to my surprise only one stalk was fine The other two were black rotted with mold and super wet. Oh well I tried! Thanks for replying so soon
@@marlenelaravillegas That sound like the rot damage was pretty extensive. Make sure you remove as much as you can of the affected tissue. And of course refrain from watering for a couple of weeks. To let all the cut wounds dry out properly. I'm sure your yucca should be ok now that you removed the rotted parts.
Organic matter is not in itself a bad idea in any soil mix. I am experimenting here with an inorganic mix to provide good drainage for longer. So it's up to you if you decide to stop using compost for your Yucca but if you do don't just use plain compost. Mix it with other components to get a good draining soil mix.
I'm using a generic 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer on all my plants. The brand doesn't matter that much as long as it provides the required elements to feed your plant. The only thing that I vary is how often I fertilize since it depends on how often I water.
Since a stump like this has no leaves it doesn't really need much light. Once the new shoots start popping out you should provide bright indirect light. Then when the shoots are better developed you can move the plant in full sun.
Thank you Xin! The only thing that I hate about dislikes is that the people pressing the button don't share their thoughts in a comment too. I'm sure I must be doing some things wrong as I don't have a degree in horticulture but I'm always happy to learn from my mistakes.
@@OddBonsai yes the dislike is very confusing, I have seen so many news stories with a ton of dislikes and they are just reporting something that happened, it makes no sense at all. It would be nice to have feedback on the dislikes.
Maybe they don't like how the event was covered in the news report :) I agree. It's impossible to tell what a dislike means to the person giving it but as long as the large majority of viewer reactions are likes it means the video is ok. A question about ordering bonsai tools:I understand that you ordered them directly from the app? So as long as you cand manage to place the order they will ship worldwide?
@@OddBonsai ok so taobao only ships in China, but there are tons of shipping companies which you need to ship overseas. You would signup with a shipping company that ships to Romania, and they would give you a shipping address for taobao to ship to. Then once they get your stuff, they ship it to you. You can google taobao romania and results come up for shipping/buying. You can check one of those and call or email to get all the info you need before committing to one. I haven’t used taobao myself, my wife does all this for me because she ships stuff all the time.
@@MaybeBonsai I looked this up when you wrote me the info last time but there are many companies that do this. So the question is how do you know which one you can trust?
If you squeeze along the stems with your finger is there any place where they are soft? It is also possible that the rot is on the inside.If you can shar a photo I could have a look.
I'm so grateful I going your video. My yucca looks quite sad and I don't know what to do. I'll send you a message on Instagram, hope you can help me save my yucca...
This made me so happy and gives me hope! I don't want to lose my yucca, my first ever house plant!!
That's exactly how I started my Yucca, I found it at the curb thrown out! Awesome video Stephan, probably the best smelling bonsai on UA-cam!
Thank you Nigel! I think I went a bit overboard with the cinnamon. My wife certainly though so. 😋
I remember the story of your Yucca from the first video on it and I can only hope that this one will get at least close to how yours looks like.
Thank you for saving this little old Yucca plant. 🥰 So beautiful to watch all the loving care you gave it. You've restored my faith in both my own Yucca's chance of survival after I over watered it! 😢😢 & my faith in humans. 😊
One of the best step by step gardening videos Ive seen. Gread job!
Omg I have kept a trunk of one of my yuccas for months on the patio refusing to throw it away and now this video is like a miracle that tells me that I can still save it. Thank you !
It's a good thing you didn't throw it away. Check if the trunk is still hard and that the bark isn't detaching. If it's not too damaged or too dehydrated it could be saved. I hope you can manage to bring it back to life. 🤞
@@OddBonsai so the problem is that the trunk is rotten from the bottom with all of the roots because the pot has not been draining properly and I’m wondering if I can still do anything with that (it does not sound hollow above the bottom rot and the bark is not detaching there), it’s a long trunk, this was the middle plant of the 3 in the pot. The other 2 are still there but still slowly dying, I have once removed them and removed most of the roots leaving just some healthy ones and planting it in the new soil (I created a bed of perlite on the bottom of the pot and then topped it up with a cactus soil also mixed with perlite), but instead of letting the plants dry I watered them in the new soil, because that’s what you do with a lot of plants. The soil stays humid for a long time on the bottom of the soil, I tried not watering the plants for more than 3 weeks but felt like that’s not enough of water for such big plants so I watered them with ice cubes instead.
I thought oddly an off shoot just started sprouting in the pot with the other 2 plants, but from what I’m reading it’s the plants last ditch at creating offspring if it’s dying.
Cut off the rotten part and check if there is any more rot visible in the cut section. If there is you can cut again a bit higher.
I understand why you felt it needed water but Yucca will survive long periods of drought. During winter I water mine once a mont or once every 6 weeks and they are growing well. I once managed to root a severly dehidrated segment of yucca cane, it was all shriveled up. The trunk holds a lot of water so don't worry about not watering.
If there's an offshoot growing from the bottom part it's a good indicator that that section of the trunk is still ok.
Most times the best way to save a yucca is just to neglect it. Good luck with making it bounce back!
@@OddBonsai Thank you very much, much appreciated!
My huge yucca was dying so i followed your instructions and today I have 1/8" growth from the trunk. I'm really excited.
Thank you for an excellent demonstration of working with Yucca plants. Your video with instructions in easy-to-follow audio is one of the best plant care UA-cam videos I have watched over the years.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I always try to convey the amount of information I myself would like to see in a video and I'm happy to hear when people find it useful.
Wow you did amazing! Thank you for showing how it looked after 6 months. I have a yucca plant and it's my first plant. I overwatered it and now the branches are yellow and the stalk is getting a little soft
Hi Stephan, it's true that one man's trash is another one's treasure!! Such a miraculous saving it's a shame that all the upper part died. But it's still alive and you have a new add to your collection. Great video
Thanks Saro! The part about the top part dying is my only regret. I was hoping it will grow some new shoots from there. Overall I'm glad it survived and it will be quite a challenge making it heal over that large cut.
@@OddBonsai it survived because of your care, despite it was un a desperate condition. That's a big achievement 👏
@@RosarioCostanzo You are too kind. 😊It also helped a lot that yuccas are very resilient plants. So if you stop watering and remove the risk of the rot spreading the Yucca usually recovers on its own.
@@OddBonsai yes but your lovely caring was fundamental 🙂
😎👍
Its always amazing to save a plant like this! Awesome video and well done on showing all the tedious work and progression over such a long time period! I hope this plant grows strongly now!
Thanks! I'm also really glad it's alive. I was tempted to post my Yucca's story earlier but I decided to wait until there was no doubt that it will survive. I hope that the video will help other people dealing with yucca trunk rot and give them confidence when fearing that severe pruning could kill the Yucca. It's a very resilient plant.
I just rescued one, it's in poor condition but I'm sure it will survive. thanks for this informative video!
Yucca is a tough plant. The only thing that seems to harm it is too much water. So I'm sure yours will also be fine. I hope it recovers soon!
It's a funny looking thing but very adorable! Hope we get an update sometime.
It's not going to win any beauty contests anytime soon but I'm glad I could save it and I'm hoping it will look better once it grows bigger. An update will be coming sometime this year.
What an amazing video! This has taught me so much. Using cinnamon?!?! Amazing 😊 Thank you for this helpful information !
Thank you! It means so much to me to know my videos are helping out people which have similar problems. Yes cinnamon is a natural fungicide, admittedly not as powerful as synthetic fungicides but it's natural and it's something that most everyone has in the kitchen. Also it's particularly good for succulents since it dries out the area it is applied on. Maybe you heard about the cinnamon challenge (I don't recommend trying it) which shows how good cinnamon is at coating and drying the mouth and throat. 😊
Thank you I just bought a very large yucca with rot and fungal infected leaves, I will follow these steps :)
I'm sure it will survive if the fungat infection did not affect too much of the trunk. Good luck!
Fascinating and informative video. I hope I can save my yucca plant too as both branches broke off. I did leave it alone for a while and did not cut off the broken part, so hopefully it's not too late to save it. New subscriber here.👍
Great video! It's so rewarding to see people caring, greetings and keep up the good job!
Thank you so much! I hope I can live enough to see that large wound heal over. :)
Interesting video. I love how you made it over a number of months and it had some 'conclusions'. I am glad the Yucca survived and I am curious to see how you will evolve the tree :) Anyway, nice job Stefan!
Thanks David! Initially I was planning to end it with the first update but after seeing that it had quite some dieback after one month I decided to end a video when I was certain that it will survive so that I don't leave viewers in too much suspense. :)
I'm also curious how it will evolve. My current goal is to promote healing over the large cut so I think that I have to let that top shoot thicken up a lot and also stimulate the growth of several other new shoots around the cut so that there's a bigger chance of it closing faster. Time will tell...
Hi Stefan, I found your material very interesting, thank you for the much needed advice. Could you please elaborate a bit into the water/fertilazer regime too. Regards Milla
Great job. Never knew I could do this. thanks.
Thanks, glad to share my experience with yucca plants.
Love this! Great to see the plant got saved! ❤️👌🏼
Wow what a great job You did here! Awesome!
Thank you very much! I'm also happy it survived. Cheers!
Amazing exsperimen four yoe,good jobs 👍
Thank you very much! 🙏
👍🏽👏 wish i had some one like you to take care of my yucaa. It 's been one year and still the same. I tried everything. God bless continue
Here are some questions to help me figure out potential issues. Where do you keep it (indoors/outdoors)? How much light does it get (full sun/indirect light, all day/only morning/only afternoon)? Did it just stop growing this past year or do you just have it for a year? How big is it and how large is the pot? What are your watering habits? Could it be rootbound?
You have a great patience! Well done! Did you water the pumice after a month or after 2 months?
Thanks! Sometimes I feel I need even more patience. 😋 If I remember correctly I watered it about a month after the first operation. It did get some water right after cleaning the roots since I washed them before repotting. I think you can see in the video at some point that the roots are wet, but that's something I forgot to mention.
Did it fully recover, and how long before you started to water it again? I bought a young yukka and repotted it into an appropriately sized pot, but seems the bag of soil (houseplant potting compost which probably wasn't right for a Yucca) was infested with fungus gnats and mushrooms started growing near the base of the plant, and it resulted in trunk rot down one half of the trunk the full length, so I have cut it all back and treated with cinnamon. There are a few roots on the health side. The top of the trunk looks frayed almost, so not sure whether to remove it as the plant is attached to it there. Not entirely sure what to do next, would you be able to advise at all please? I can send you a video of it, would really appreciate it :-) The plant itself is very healthy.
We need a Yucca update!!😍
Hopefully, there will be an update video this summer. I just repotted the Yucca stump in a larger pot to help it grow better since it wasn't quite happy in that shallow one it was initially growing in.
Wow! Amazing video. Thank you.
Have you ever rooted from the opposite side of the trunk? We had a tree fall over that gopher’s ate the root system from. Not sure if it can be saved.
Hello the Yucca plant Whisperer ....
Im in the UK and have a container grown 7ft Yucca in an open porchway. It grew too tall and bent right over from the top . I cut the top leafy part off to make it straight again .
Its taken a while to recover and now has a few pups growing from the trunk.
Should i start feeding it yet and with what? How regularly should i water it in the summer and should i water it until the water flows out from the bottom of the container and how often should i top up the soil???? 🙏
You've succeeded in saving that yucca plant my friend... 👍👍👍
Yes, I'm very happy it is alive. Thank you very much!
Thank you for this video has given me immense insight. Just wondering were you watering the yucca at all through the time you were working on it ?
Glad to to hear you found it useful. If I remember correctly the first time I watered it was a month after worked on it for the first time. If you look carefully during the removal of old soil and root pruning it appears to be wet at some point. That's because I washed the roots before pruning. So it got a bit of water then. Without having any leaves, it doesn't need that much water.
Thank you for this video. Your care for the plants is beautiful. I have a question. Someone gave me a yucca start a few days ago. I'm brand new to these plants. It has green growth at the top and the trunk is about 18 inches long but quite bent. I could use some advise as to how to get it straightened out and cared for! He had it in a pot for awhile and I think it got bent with weathering. Thank you!
Depending on how bent it is it may or may not be straightened back again. If you can straighten it by hand without breaking it then there's a chance, otherwise you run the risk of breaking the trunk.
If there's a chance to straighten it you cut take a sturdy stake and use it as you would use a splint on a broken leg. Tie the yucca trunk to the stake with the bend touching the stake. Make one tie every 4 inches or so and slowly tighten the ties to pull the top and bottom of the trunk towards the stake until your yucca is straight.
Be careful when you do this and don't pull too hard on the yucca at once. The trunk does have some elasticity but it can suddenly snap from too much tension.
I hope you manage to fix the bend or at least straighten it up a bit. Please let me know what you decided and how it went.
From yucky to yucca! Good job "doctor". 👍
Thank you! For me it looks like a lonely palm on a really small island at the moment. 😋 But I'm very glad it's alive and I hope it will someday look like a Yucca again.
Wow, I love this so much
Thanl you!
I’m back again reviewing this video. It’s great, thank you!
Im struggling and need advice.
Is it unheard of to increase watering to every 3-5 days for an indoor yucca cane in an extremely well draining pot with soil similar to your bonsai soil mix?
I have two indoor yucca can that I’ve reported in extremely well draining pot and soil that is very well draining. I use a water moisture meter and within a few days the soil reads “dry”. After almost a year experimenting I’m still struggling to know if I’m watering enough to too much. I’ve been doing about every 7-10 days but am considering shifting to 3-5 days.
I did have yellowing leaves, and branches that died, but the main trunk was never soggy. Ans I never water when the soil feels damp.
Thank you!
At a first glance I would say watering every 3-5 days is way too often. But there are various things to consider:
- How large is the pot compared to the root mass?
- What are your indoor growing conditions: temperature, light, humidity?
- How deep do you stick your moisture meter in the pot?
- What does "dry" mean for your moisture meter?
It's normal for old leaves to turn yellow and die but if this happens on young leaves, it's a good indication of overwatering. You only notice the trunk getting soggy to the touch when you overwater for a very long period of time and the tree is slowly rotting from the inside out. At the time you notice this the roots are mostly dead and the trunk part that feels soggy is already compromised.
I never used a moisture meter and I only water when the soil is bone dry. For example, during winter, when this yucca is indoors, I water it somewhere around once per month. My indoor growing conditions are 21 deg. C, relative humidity 45-60% and less than ideal lighting. During the hottest summer months, when it grows outside in full sun, I water it maybe once per week.
A yucca is able to survive in extreme drought but it will slowly die when given too much water. Also consider that even if watering it more often doesn't have any negative impact this is not going to make it grow faster than when it has less water.
Hope this helps!
Thank you!
The pot is probably 3-4 times larger than the root mass. When I say dry in the moisture meter it is also when the soil looks and feels dry to the touch. I do stick the meter at various depths, all the way to the bottom of the pot. The yucca is in my office and I believe becomes dry bc of the central heat/air that runs. The light is bright office lighting and it is also next to a window, although I generally have the blinds closed bc it gets very hot. Very low humidity with an average temp probably around 68-75 F.
Yes, it’s the new leaves that were continually dying, they were crumby and dry.
While the soil might look dry at the surface it may still stay moist underneath for a week or more (depending on the pot size). As I said, I don't use a moisture meter so I don't know how they work or how reliable they are for plants that do not like too much humidity. The dying leaves are a good sign of overwatering. And the best thing you can do in this case is to stop watering for a longer period of time to let it recover. Then when you resume watering, you should water it less often. Try to wait for at least one week (I would wait more) after the top soil has dried so that more of the soil dries up.
The size of the pot also influences how fast the soil will dry up. The bigger the pot, the longer it will retain water. Usually, when repotting succulents, you use a pot that is only slightly larger than the current root ball. In your case, there's a lot more soil than roots so it will dry up slower. Soil components also matter. The soil may be fast draining but have components that retain a lot of water (e.g. pine bark, coco fiber, etc.). What I'm trying to say here is that it's impossible to recommend an exact watering schedule. Watering on a schedule is not a recommended practice regardless of the plant species. The rule for Yucca and other succulents is to leave all the soil dry up before watering.
Don't be afraid of letting your yucca dry for too long. It will survive months without water but it can develop root rot in weeks from overwatering and improper soil. I really hope your yucca recovers and that there's no hidden rot damage.
There was a duplicate comment, hope you don't mind I removed it.
Thank you very much for your feedback and time! I will report back later in the year with an update.
You're very welcome! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Hi, nice video, I saved a large stem, yucca with 2 dead sponge rot stems, an the main stem, is large high ended.
I follow your advice, only a have only spaghetti thin roots around the bottom stem.
What is your advice?
Lack of roots is not a problem. Yucca will grow new roots very easily. You can cut away all the parts affected by rot, let the wounds dry off and then plant the Yucca in well draining soil. And remember, you should only water a yucca when the soil is completely dry.
This plant look good
Good info for me friend
Thanks! Glad you found it useful!
I loved watching this!! How is this plant doing now???
Glad you enjoyed it. The Yucca is doing well. It didn't do too well last winter due to improper lighting but it's growing well again since I moved it outside in spring.
Hurrah for the yucca rescue!!!
Yeah, I'm really glad I managed to save that one. It may never grow to be a nice looking plant with that huge hole in it but I'm still going to keep it.
@@OddBonsai I am delighted to hear they're still doing well. Hurray!
Great work!
Thank you! Cheers!
I´m just trying to save a 16 year old overwatered house yukka, today I cut it back and repotted it and left it on the balcony where hopefully the sun can dry it out a bit.
But I put it in soil not stones, is that a mistake?
Great job bro 👍and wonderful rescue 👋👋👋. Thanks for saving a plant 🙏
Thank you my friend! 🙏 I'm also very happy I managed to save it.
How interesting! I think after all this yucca's been through, it deserves a name haha
I never named a plant before. But, hey, why not? How about Stumpy? 😋
@@OddBonsai that's good!! I like Stumpy! 👍👍
My first bonsai (that I killed 😭) was named Spud. He was a ficus with a big fat trunk divided into 2 at the base (honestly probably was a root cutting) with 1 tiny branch and a couple of leaves. So he kind of looked like a potato, hence Spud 😂
(Actually spud might be an Aussie word... It's what we call potatos haha)
Then Stumpy it shall be! :)
I also learned something new today. I didn't know potatoes are called spuds in some parts of the English speaking world. Sorry to hear about your Spud.
@@OddBonsai haha yes I think it's only in Australia? Maybe some parts of Britain I'm not sure. So we also call potato cakes spud cakes!
It was my fault Spud died. The guy we bought it from said to just water it every couple of days, it'll be fine. So I didn't repot, fertilise, etc. I had no idea! But after Spud died and I couldn't find a place to buy another one, I decided to learn how to grow bonsai from seed, and now I'm overrun with bonsai! 😂
What's amazing is Spud actually survived about 5 or 6 years with this treatment and really bad irregular watering!
I like to think that if I learned a lesson after killing a plant it didn't die for nothing. You sure learned your lesson so you wil surely care better for the next one. 👍
May u be blessed In abundance for saving this beauty 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️ love is what makes the world go around. I found a yucca today left outside with no pot. Everyone says it’s dead but I want to try 🙏🏽 hopefully u cab advise me 🙏🏽
Amazing! Our yucca is very tall and has so many pups growing at the bottom. It’s beautiful!! Recently suffering from so much rain she isn’t doing well. All the top shoots have gone brown and are rotting in the centre. I have chopped them away to healthy tissue and added cinnamon. It’s a bit early in the year here to cut back but I was so worried the rot would spread so I’ve taken a chance! So worried for her, as she is years old! Many of the neighbours yuccas also look the same so it must be the weather this year as theirs been excessive rain which has collected between the leaves near the trunk 😢
I'm guessing your yucca is planted directly in the ground. If so, there's not much you can do to protect it from rain. Be careful when making cuts during a rainy period. Water will get inside the trunk through the cut points. So it's best to do this during dry periods and it would be great if you could seal the cuts.
Hope your yucca recovers well.
@@OddBonsai hopefully she will, unfortunately in the uk there’s never an extended dry period 😫
Any advise on what to seal the cuts with? I’ve topped them with cinnamon for now
Oh, I didn't know you live in the UK. There's a horticultural cut paste usualy used by nurseries to seal cuts on pottes yuccas but I don't know of a specific product name. Maybe you can find it in shops selling horticultural products. I haven't managed to find anything like that for sale where I live, maybe you have more luck.
@@OddBonsai excellent thanks! I’ll take a look 👀
@@OddBonsai I’ve also read to use paraffin wax to seal?
Hi Stephen, my yucca plant is dying I don't know what to do? How it can grow back I bought it from ikea 1 and half Yr ago.
Did you change the soil less mixture? You used only perlite, vermiculite and pumice. There was no soil in your mixture. Thanks for the tutorial video.
Yes, I used a completely inorganic mix. I am providing the nutrients needed by fertilizing when I water the yucca. My main concern was to provide a well draining mix. Organic matter tends to break down relatively fast so it ends up accumulating at the bottom of the pot and may block the drainage holes in time.
@@OddBonsai thank you for the quick reply and your tips. God bless you
My pleasure!
Nice job!
Thank you! Cheers!
Great job 👍👍👌. And I have a question. Where you get that cup, that you use for adding soli ?
Than you very much! I got that soil scoop as a gift/bonus from the guy that I bought my Bonsai tools from a long time ago (I think it was over 10 years ago). I think you should be able to find some for sale on sites like Amazon/ebay/Aliexpress if you search for soil scoop. I don't know about stainless steel ones but I remember seeing plastic soil scoops for sale for a few dollars.
First time hearing that you can use cinnamon in this way. Will give it a go
It's a good natural antifungal agent. It may not be as powerful as the synthetic ones you can find in specialized stores but it will do the job in many cases.
Is there an update how the stump is doing 3 years later?
Hi friend good day thanks for sharing full support sending back #bonsai toturial great ideas thanks
Thank you! You also make some nice videos on coconut bonsai I see!
At what point did you begin watering? Thank you!
If I remember correctly, it was about 2-3 weeks after the operations seen in the video.
Bravissimo!!!
Grazzie!
Very nice idea. Thank you dear friend.👍🏻👌❤ ...
Thank you my friend! 🙏
Hey, have you thought of sealing the top of the trunk with gardening wax to stop it from drying out?
I actually want to do just that. The problem is that I could not find such a wax based sealant in plant stores in my area.
@@OddBonsai oh that’s a shame. I saw some on Amazon if you would like.
I’m going to give it a try this weekend if weather allows. My plant has a crown rot so will have to sort it out and will definitely seal the top. Can send you pic of the bottle I plant to use. My one is from B&Q
Is what you got from Amazon really sealing wax or is it a cut paste?
I would appreciate it if you could either write the name of the product here in a comment or send me a pic on my Instagram or Facebook account. Unfortunately, there's no way to send pics directly via UA-cam. Thanks!
@@OddBonsai it’s Arbrex seal and heal, I bought it at B&Q. I’ll send you pics of the bottle on Insta. I can also send pics of what I’ve done today to the plant.
Maybe this isn’t a proper wax but it was like a glue and I really needed to do something with the plant. Lots of rot 😢😢😢 and it was such a beautiful plant.
Thank you friend
Nice sharing
Thank you! 🙏 Cheers!
I have two yucca plants in one pot. One of it is dying and the other is happy. Should I transplant and perform surgery on the dying one or will the transplant effect the healthy one too? Also, the bark of the dying one is also soft on the outside.. And the top black portion is peeling..
I would take both Yucca plants out and check the soil and the roots. Even if one Yucca is still happy, whatever is affecting the other one can end up affecting the healthy one as well.
Make sure you put them in well draining soil (any succulent soil mix should be good) and don't water them too often. I only water mine when the soil is completely dry and they are doing very well. For example, when I keep them inside during winter I water maybe once a month.
On the dying Yucca you should remove all affected tissue. If bark is soft when you squeeze the trunk or it is peeling away, that section of the trunk is dead and should be removed. Cut back until you get heathy tissue and you can either let the wound dry out for a day or two or apply some fungicide and put it directly in the soil.
Hope this helps save your yucca. Let me know how it turns out.
@@OddBonsai Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I think I water them too often (once a week), not realizing its once a month. I will cut out the dying yucca. Also, is it ok to leave the yucca on a bright window?
@@ShilpiMahajan1 You're very welcome! Once a week is way too often. Don't try to water according to a fixed schedule. Just stick a finger in the soil (or use a humidity gouge) and if it's wet don't water.
It's OK to leave it on the window, Yucca loves light. The fact that it can survive with little light has led to the misconception that it doesn't love light. I keep mine outside in full sun from spring until autumn and next to a window during winter and there's a noticeable difference between winter and summer growth.
Good luck with your yucca!
@@OddBonsai Thank you: your video made me treat my yuccas like a baby. I have three. My dying yucca has soft bark all till the roots. Can I assume, its already dead :(
@@ShilpiMahajan1 If the entire yucca cane is soft from top to bottom then it's probably too late. Does it still have leaves on top? If it does, the top part should still be viable. If you like you can send me a photo of the plant via Instagram or Facebook (links on about page) and I can have a look.
Yucca thrives on neglect so you should try not to baby it too much even though this may be easier said than done. 😊
Amazing!
Thank you! Cheers!
Hey
I am going to do this to two stalls of yucca that I got dying
I only found pumice and perlite
No vermicule. The stalks are a lot smaller so I had to find something more shallow and small.
When you rrmove the part affected by rot make sure you cut all the way back to healthy tissue. Check the roots and the trunk as well.
You don't necessarily have to uae the exact same soil recipee like I did. Cactus or aucculent soil should be fine. A shalow pot lets the soil dry out faster and it's ok in case you tend to overwater. But a larger pot is also ok as long as you only water when the soil is completely dry. Good luck wirh your yucca!
@@OddBonsai oh man to my surprise only one stalk was fine
The other two were black rotted with mold and super wet.
Oh well I tried!
Thanks for replying so soon
@@marlenelaravillegas That sound like the rot damage was pretty extensive. Make sure you remove as much as you can of the affected tissue. And of course refrain from watering for a couple of weeks. To let all the cut wounds dry out properly. I'm sure your yucca should be ok now that you removed the rotted parts.
Is there an update video for this yucca?
Really want to see what this grew in to.
Very interesting video
Thanx for sharing
Big like
Thank you too! Glad you found it useful.
Should I remove compost from my Yucca soil mix?
Organic matter is not in itself a bad idea in any soil mix. I am experimenting here with an inorganic mix to provide good drainage for longer. So it's up to you if you decide to stop using compost for your Yucca but if you do don't just use plain compost. Mix it with other components to get a good draining soil mix.
@oddbonsai can we get an update on this?
Interesting
Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍
My pleasure. Thanks!
Hallo my friend,,thanks for sharing🙏👌
Thank you too! 🙏
What did you use as fertilizer/soil?
I'm using a generic 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer on all my plants. The brand doesn't matter that much as long as it provides the required elements to feed your plant. The only thing that I vary is how often I fertilize since it depends on how often I water.
Great uplud my bro 🙏🙏👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Thank you very much! 🙏
👍🏼. Love & Light 🌻xxx
Exactly! I would also add warm temperatures :)
Great job🎉
When doing this what type of light should the trunk be exposed to?
Since a stump like this has no leaves it doesn't really need much light. Once the new shoots start popping out you should provide bright indirect light. Then when the shoots are better developed you can move the plant in full sun.
Very good
Thanks! 🙏
Listening master👍🏻
Thank you! I'm far from being a master, just a learning apprentice.
Very well....
Thank you very much!
Is there an update video?
Great job in reviving the yucca 👍
Thank you J! I just did part of the work. The Yucca did the rest. Luckily it's a very resilient plant. 💪
Can we see an update video?
Can yuccas be grown outdoor in UK?
Not this one, but you could probably grow Adam's Needle, Yucca Filamentosa, outdoors there. It's very cold-hardy.
Great job saving this plant Stephan, I see someone has put a dislike on the video, you know you made it when you get dislikes on youtube haha
Thank you Xin! The only thing that I hate about dislikes is that the people pressing the button don't share their thoughts in a comment too. I'm sure I must be doing some things wrong as I don't have a degree in horticulture but I'm always happy to learn from my mistakes.
@@OddBonsai yes the dislike is very confusing, I have seen so many news stories with a ton of dislikes and they are just reporting something that happened, it makes no sense at all. It would be nice to have feedback on the dislikes.
Maybe they don't like how the event was covered in the news report :)
I agree. It's impossible to tell what a dislike means to the person giving it but as long as the large majority of viewer reactions are likes it means the video is ok.
A question about ordering bonsai tools:I understand that you ordered them directly from the app? So as long as you cand manage to place the order they will ship worldwide?
@@OddBonsai ok so taobao only ships in China, but there are tons of shipping companies which you need to ship overseas. You would signup with a shipping company that ships to Romania, and they would give you a shipping address for taobao to ship to. Then once they get your stuff, they ship it to you. You can google taobao romania and results come up for shipping/buying. You can check one of those and call or email to get all the info you need before committing to one. I haven’t used taobao myself, my wife does all this for me because she ships stuff all the time.
@@MaybeBonsai I looked this up when you wrote me the info last time but there are many companies that do this. So the question is how do you know which one you can trust?
any updates yet?
When did you start to water it?
I don't remember exactly but I think it was 2-3 weeks after potting.
Wow.
Glad you liked it! Cheers!
Nice
Poor yucca after a few yrs somehow he died on me.but i love these trees only they r too sensitive
My rot isn’t spongy , it’s pretty hard but the stems are dying ):
If you squeeze along the stems with your finger is there any place where they are soft? It is also possible that the rot is on the inside.If you can shar a photo I could have a look.
@@OddBonsai there’s no rot nor mushiness at all ): - I even pulled some bark from the trunk & it looks very white/rip- no rot
@@aideem9003 Then how are the stems dying? Are the tips drying out? Did you also take it out of its pot and check the roots? It might be root rot.
@@OddBonsai I’m not sure honestly /: & yes I did take it out! Where could I send a pic?
You can send a picture via instagram. I have the link on the About page of my channel.
Elephant foot pony tail palm
I'm so grateful I going your video. My yucca looks quite sad and I don't know what to do. I'll send you a message on Instagram, hope you can help me save my yucca...
I'll have a look and will try to help.