Question
I have a beautiful yucca plant which is approx 8 foot tall, I have had it since it was a baby and it is now 27 years old. My problem is that it is now getting too big for my conservatory with the top leaves almost touching the ceiling. How can I prune it without taking drastic action?

Many thanks

Yvonne

Answer
Yvonne,

It is best to prune it in the spring but it can be done now. Use what you prune off to start a new plant. First go to a garden center and buy some rooting hormone, Lowes, Walmart, Home Depot all carry it, it comes in a small plastic bottle. You can cut the plant down as far as you would like to. In fact I would reccommend that you cut the stalk in half so it has plenty of room to grow again.

You can then cut the part that you cut off into 2 foot sections, keeping track of which end of each section was toward the soil. If there are leaves on the sections remove the 2-3 lowest leaves. If it is bare stalks that is okay too, they will still root. Then dip the lower part of
each section into the rooting hormone and insert that into a new pot of soil and firm the soil around the stalks. Do not use a pot larger than 12 inch pots. Do not try to root sections longer than 24 inches. It should root within 2 months. It will take awhile this time of year, they would root sooner in the spring. Be patient. Set the new pot in the same light that the parent plant is getting. Water it the same as you do the parent plant. Good luck.

Darlene