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The experience of growing yucca in Russia has more than a hundred years. But if at the end of the XIX century, the plants were decorated with park ensembles of palaces, today, planting and caring for yucca, in the photo, is carried out even in private plots and in city squares.
A plant that can be found in nature in the subtropical and tropical zones of the Americas, despite the exotic appearance, was not so capricious. The semi-desert yukks, accustomed to arid with sharp temperature fluctuations, were able to acclimatize even in the middle lane. True, transferring in open ground only slight frost, the plants need a good shelter for the winter. And in the southern regions of the country are often grown without any restrictions. For planting and caring for yucca in the open field are suitable two types. This is a yucca filamentous, so named because of the long fibers hanging from the edges of stiff foliage, and the yucca is glorious. The first type prevails in the Russian plantings, because it has a greater winter hardiness.
A large evergreen is easily recognizable by the pointed, lance-shaped leaves that form a dense rosette. With a width of 3–6 cm, the length of a single leaf plate can reach 50–70 cm. As it grows, the lower rows of leaves fade, and when they dry up, sag, forming a kind of skirt around the trunk. If the garden yucca is in good conditions, does not freeze and does not suffer from waterlogging, it blooms annually. Powerful up to 1.5-2 meters flower stalks can not be overlooked. And when on them from 80 to 150 white, yellowish or pink bells with a diameter up to 6 cm are revealed, the type of a yucca amazes imagination of any gardener.
How to plant a yucca?
Yucca unpretentious and hardy. She is not afraid of drought, heat and wind, the main enemy of the plant is waterlogging and heavy soils, where there is a risk of moisture stagnation.
To simplify the care of garden yucca, in the photo, landing is carried out in a well-ventilated, sunny place. When choosing a site for an exotic beauty, you should avoid the lowlands and the corners of the garden with thick shadow. A long stay of the penumbra leaves a mark on the appearance of the culture. The leaves lose their former density, the trunk is drawn out. As a result, the plant looks rather untidy even when receiving full-scale care.
Yucca has no special requirements for soil composition. The main thing is that the roots get enough air, and the water does not linger in the ground. Therefore, before planting a yucca, in areas with dense black soil or clay, sand is added to the substrate to fill the pit. At the bottom, a drainage layer is needed, and humus is added to the substrate to ensure nutrition, especially on poor soils.
Despite the unpretentiousness of the culture, it will not be possible to do without leaving after planting the yucca in the open field.
How to care for a garden yucca flower?
After planting, plants need very moderate watering, sanitization, consisting of the removal of dead foliage and faded peduncles, rare dressings and pruning.
Watering is carried out under the root, being careful not to flood the core of the outlet, since the water that remains here for a long time is the main reason for the rotting of the crown and the need for cardinal yucca trimming.
As a rule, garden yucca is rarely affected by pests or diseases, and with good shelter it overwinters well, even in Moscow region. In order for the roots of the plant to breathe more actively, and the moisture remaining under the dense rosette did not cause the rotting of the lower leaves and roots, the space under the garden yucca is regularly loosened, simultaneously removing weeds and fallen leaf plates.
If the place for the crop was initially chosen incorrectly, the plant up to the age of three can be transferred to another, more suitable site.
How to transplant yucca? Although the plant belongs to the evergreen crops, for the winter its biological processes freeze, and a new growing season begins only in spring. This time and is used for transplantation of garden yucca, care for which in such a situation is sometimes complicated by the painful addiction to a new place of residence. When transferring a bush, it is important to try to preserve the entire root system of the plant, preventing it from drying out. For this, during transplantation, any means are used to moderately moisten the roots of the dug out plants.
Transplanted specimens are not fed for about a month, and the rest of the yuccas in the garden should be fertilized in spring and then in summer, before flowering and after the inflorescences wither.
In 3-4 years, yuccas bloom for the first time, and the racemose inflorescence retains its decorative effect for about a month. Maintain the strength of the plant will help feeding complex compounds with a predominance of nitrogen. Fertilization is stopped a month before the onset of autumn coolness. This will allow the yucca to prepare for the winter and successfully survive the cold.
Shelter for a garden yucca for the winter
Falling out in the fall or spring, the sudden snow of the plant is tolerated without loss, as long as it melts within a couple of days. But stable colds and snowless winters are deadly for garden yucca.
The growth point at the core of the socket, and then the vegetative root system suffers from frost. The frame shelter, representing a spacious box as tall as an adult plant, helps to protect the culture.
Before covering the foliage, yuccas are picked up and wrapped tightly with a strong twine. Then from above the plant is covered with a box and plentifully sprinkled with spruce leaves or fallen leaves. The whole construction is wrapped with a covering material and fixed with adhesive tape. Checking the stability of the structure. In this form, the plant will spend the winter without problems, it will be especially comfortable for him under a layer of snow.
Remove the frame and remove foliage with the arrival of stable positive temperatures. If you are late with the “release of the captive” there is a danger of mold and rotting due to the activation of respiration and the beginning of the growing season of the plant inside the confined space.
How to propagate yucca?
Although with proper care after planting, the garden yucca, as in the photo, blooms, it will not work to wait for its seeds in the middle lane. How to propagate yucca grown in the garden? To get young independent plants there are several ways. The most commonly used are daughter outlets that form at the base of an adult bush. It is better to take layers with an already developed own root system. This will accelerate acclimatization and enable plants to grow rapidly in a new place.
Affiliated sockets are easily separated when transplanting a garden yucca, but caring for them is no different from what other plants get. It should not be forgotten that the cut-off sites are most susceptible to all sorts of infections and pest attacks. Therefore, they are slightly dried and sprinkled with crushed coal or cinnamon powder.
During the spring transplant, you can cut several cuttings from 5 to 10 cm long from a healthy strong root. They are treated with coal and planted in a greenhouse, lightly sprinkled with a wet sandy-peat mixture. The formation of germs in this case occurs due to dormant buds.
Another way to not only rejuvenate a plant that has grown and become less compact, but also to propagate an exotic guest, is pruning. How to make yucca more fluffy and get high-quality planting material?
How to trim a yucca?
Plant pruning is best in the spring, when it is only released from the winter shelter. Since yucca has only one growth point, the gardener completely stops its vertical development by cutting off the stem. And yet the life of the flower will not freeze, the buds sleeping on the stem will wake up and will already give several new outlets.
Pruning is a great way to rejuvenate a flower, to get strong seedlings of garden yucca, as well as to rescue people affected by rot or frost.
Before pruning a yucca, a few days before the operation, the plant is watered. The cut is made with a very sharp clean knife so that:
- in its place there were no splits of the stem, damage or detachment of the bark;
- it fell 8 to 10 cm below the foliage growth line.
When the cut areas dry out a little, they, on the stump, and on the top, are treated with a fungicide and charcoal powder.
In the top of the hemp remaining to the ground after trimming yucca can be covered with garden pitch, which will provide long reliable protection in the garden.
In the old plant, covered from the scorching sun, in 2–3 weeks, newer sprouts will appear. If the yucca is strong, from 3 to 5 of the buds are left on the stump. Small specimens will not be able to support the growth of more than two young tops.
The old top is not thrown away, but is used for planting garden yucca, the care for which is little different than the situation when daughter outlets are carried into the ground. True, before this seedling need to root. This is best done in a greenhouse, observing, preventing the formation of condensate and monitoring the moderate humidity of the sandy substrate.
