Yucca at home: care and reproduction
Yucca - it's quite unpretentious at homea plant that can be grown in almost any apartment. To create conditions for this flower is not difficult, and yucca grows at home very well. The country of the Soviets will tell you how to take care of the yucca.
Yucca is an evergreen plant thatbelongs to the family of agave. Previously, yucca was considered to be a subgenus of dracene family of lilac, but at the moment such a classification is invalid. In nature, yucca can blossom, but at home it is almost impossible to achieve because of the conditions of detention. For the development of pedicels, yucca will require a long winter period, which it is sometimes impossible to create for a plant due to certain circumstances. Therefore, if yucca has blossomed at home, consider that you have created ideal conditions for it, similar to natural ones.
Yucca: home care
Very large and unpretentious Yucca flower is notwill give you no hassle to care for him. The plant requires absolutely little: dry air and suitable land. This exotic plant comes from Mexico, where it is known that the arid climate reigns, therefore, to the hot air and a little moisture, the yucca is calm.
The yucca is growing at home for a very long time,therefore for a long time retains its decorative appearance. So, there are species of plants that reach a height of up to 2 meters, but due to their natural growth characteristics, a yucca will take a very long time to reach such a size. Of course, you can keep houses and other types of yucca, which in height reach no more than 50 cm.
The location of yucca in the apartment
For yucca you need a well-chosen positionin the room. Yucca is very fond of the sun, so try to arrange your plant in the southern part of the apartment. she very well tolerates direct sunlight, even with the deficit of watering. If the yucca does not have enough sun, the shoots of the plant will stretch, and the leaves will turn yellow and fall off.
Temperature below 12 degrees yucca does not tolerate. The optimum temperature is 18-25 degrees in summer and 16-18 degrees in winter. However, in summer the plant can completely withstand and much higher temperatures. However, in winter, the temperature should be really much lower than in the summer, otherwise the yucca may get sick: fungal diseases are manifested by yellow-orange spots on the leaves or decay of the stem.
On a note! If the south-facing windows are in yourthere is no apartment, you will have to provide the yucca with additional lighting. It is better for him to use special lamps with a full spectrum, simulating the sun. If you want your yucca to be symmetrical and not curved, rotate it relative to the light source 180 degrees every 2 weeks.
Watering yucca
Even though the yucca will beunder the sun, she does not need too much water. In the summer, you can water Yucca only once a week. In winter, the number of watering can be reduced to once in 10 days. Nevertheless, watering should be, although rare, but abundant.
Before watering, check how dry the soil is ina pot of yucca. Watering is possible only when the layer of dry ground reaches at least 5 cm. Water only with settled or filtered water. On 5 liters of ground yucca you need about a liter and a quarter of water for irrigation.
On a note! If you water the yucca wrong - tooabundant or unsuitable water - the leaves will start to curl, and brown formations appear along the edge of the sheet. Watch for the pallets: if there is water in it, watering is not necessary in any case.
Ground for yucca
Yucca at home requires a suitableEarth. It is best to keep yucca in a nutritious mixture. It should consist of equal parts of foliage and turf, sand and humus, with a small addition of gravel. Soil mixture for yucca must necessarily provide a quick drain of water, otherwise the roots of the plant can rot.
At the bottom of the pot should be poured a thick layerdrainage. It is perfectly suitable for expanded clay, but you can also use pieces of red brick or broken pottery chips. In the soil can also be added for additional drainage of pure pumice, perlite and large wood chips. However, avoid using components that quickly crumble and lose their structure - they will make it difficult to drain the water, and then your yucca can get sick.
On a note: If you decide to transplant yucca, choose a pot3-4 cm more than the diameter of its root system. And keep in mind that bending plastic yucca pots do not fit, it grows poorly in them and is often sick. It is best to replant yucca in early spring. Before replanting, soak yucca roots for 1 hour in warm water.
Yucca Feeding
You can feed yucca once every 2-4 weekssoluble mineral or organic fertilizers. More often, for top dressing use the usual fertilizer for houseplants. However, it is best to use slow granular fertilizers, which need to be seldom applied, only once a year in the spring. The ratio of minerals for fertilizing yucca: 3 parts of nitrogen fertilizer, 1 part of phosphorus and 2 parts of potassium.
In addition to basic fertilizers, yucca is requiredfoliar top dressing with microelements. It is best to buy special pills, liquids or granules with microelements for indoor plants. They are dissolved in water and applied directly to the leaves of the plant. Since the yucca does not tolerate spraying well, the leaves should first be gently wiped with wet gauze, then apply a solution of trace elements to them with a gauze swab. Do not forget that you need to apply the solution on both parts of the sheet, both upper and lower. Top-dressing with microelements is required for yucca also only from May to September, that is, during the period of rapid growth of the plant. Do them once a month.
On a note! Although yucca needs regular feeding,The need for mineral substances is less than for ordinary houseplants. Make about half or slightly more than half of the amount of fertilizers that will be recommended in the instructions for the drugs you bought.
Yucca: Reproduction
Yucca grows in the form of a tree - it has a trunk, from which the leaves grow. The adult yucca is very similar to a palm tree, although it is not. You can propagate it in several ways.
Reproduction of yucca by cuttings
In early summer or in the spring cut off the upper part of the plant with a size of at least 5-10 cm.
Important! Cutting yucca is possible only if the height of the plant has reached at least 30 cm. You can do this from March to August, but it is best in spring, during the rapid growth of the plant.
Sliced plants must sprinkle with crushed charcoal.
To root the cuttings of the plant, cut it firstly for 12 hours.
Remove from the petiole 80% of leaves, it is best to leave only 1-2 sheets.
Then the stalk can be planted in a pot with wet sand or put in water with the addition of activated charcoal pills. However, it is best to plant the petiole for rooting in a wet perlite.
During the rooting of the yucca in the water, the lower leavescuttings can rot, which will not only cause an unpleasant odor, but can also lead to rotting of the trunk. Decaying leaves should be removed.
Do not allow the primer to dry out, but do not fillits water. The soil must be constantly scraped, but not wet. It is also possible from time to time to spray the rooting yucca - this is the only time when spraying will do her good.
When roots appear on the cuttings, it can be planted in a substrate. Usually the process of rooting lasts 3-4 weeks.
On a note! A plant from which you cut off the tip onstalk, will not perish. Just leave on it still more leaves - the more leaves remain, the quicker and easier the yucca will recover after cutting. After a while, new shoots will begin to develop on the trunk, and you will get a branching tree, still similar to a palm tree.
Reproduction of yucca seeds
Best yucca grows from the seeds at home.
Carry out the scarification of the yucca seeds: gently scratched the skin of the yucca with sandpaper so that it is easier for him to get out in the wild.
Sow the seeds in a light soil mixture, which consists of an equal amount of sand, turf and leaf land. Depth of sowing - 2,5-3 diameter of seed.
The pot should be covered with glass and air the crops daily. Do not allow the substrate to dry.
The optimum temperature for germination of yucca seeds is 25-30 degrees.
After germination, let the yucca form 1 sheet.
Pump the plants into disposable cups with a capacity of 100 ml. The soil should be used already the same as for an adult plant.
One week after picking, fertilize small yucca plants with a solution of 1 g of nitroammophoska in 1 liter of water. Repeat such fertilizing every 2 weeks.
After forming 4-5 leaves, yucca can be considered already adult. Now she needs only transplant and appropriate care.
On a note! Although the yucca seeds are sprinkled with earth, they need good illumination for bright and scattered light to germinate. The first shoots will appear no earlier than a month after sowing.
Propagation of yucca by offspring
In some cases, especially if the yucca you have for some reason remained without roots and there is only a stem, it can be propagated with the help of offspring or rooting part of the trunk.
Take a low and long pot (any container with holes below will fit for excess water flow) and fill it with moist sand, well ramming.
The yucca stem is placed horizontally in the pot and slightly pressed for good contact with wet sand.
Soon, the sleeping buds will wake up on the trunk and give new shoots along with the roots.
Cut the barrel into as many parts as there are shoots.
Each part of the trunk is planted in a separate pot.
On a note: Care for entrenched yucca offspring is required exactly the same as for plants that have emerged from the seeds. When the shoots have 4-5 leaves, they can already be considered adult plants of yucca.
