Question
Hi Darlene,
I have a 3 - 3 and 1/2 feet tall yucca elephantines plant. For the 2 years I've had it - its mostly been problem free. There are 3 stems (of different heights) in a 10 inch pot. However, a few days ago, I noticed the leaves on the tallest cane turning yellow. On touching they were soft - unlike the hard spiky leaves - I had so far. I must've pulled out at least 20-30 leaves. When I moved the plant - I noticed its saucer had about an inch of water in it (I am usually very careful about draining water from saucers - probably I missed it this time). More importantly - I found a long root winding out of the draining hole of the pot - sitting in the water. I cut off that root bit sticking out of the hole, drained the water and put the plant outside - it gets full sun for 4-5 hours now. The top half of the soil was dry and I didnt do anything else. But the leaves continue to stay soft and droopy (I had hard spiky standing upright leaves earlier). Is there something else I ought to have done? Re-pot perhaps? Take the roots apart and check for root rot? I notice the tallest cane is now a little wobbly in its spot. It now leans when I move the pot. Please help.

Farah

Answer
Farah,

You did not say how often you water it. Indoors it should not be watered more often than once a week if it is in a very sunny window. Once every 2 weeks if it is in an east or west window. This plant needs to get very dry between waterings and be dry for at least 3-4 days. In winter it should only be watered every 3 weeks.

You moved it out doors, it should be in a location that it is in the shade in the hot afternoon or the leaves will soon have brown spots from sunburn.

You can unpot it and check the roots for rot but then it will be wobblier when you put it back in the pot. You could pick up a bag of sand and put it on top of the soil and it will slowly wash down into the soil as you water the plant from the top. It is very important that you empty excess water from the saucer of this plant and do not water it too often. Right now I would let it dry out for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

If the tallest spike dies you can take a cutting off the next one in a couple of years and use that to replace it. It is an easy plant to root cuttings from. Good luck!

Darlene